Environmental-economic total factor productivity of vegetable production in China from the life cycle perspective

Enhancing agricultural green total factor productivity (GTFP) is crucial for promoting sustainable economic development. However, the absence of systematic approaches to assess the environmental-economic productivity from a full life cycle perspective hinders sustainable agricultural development and constrains the transition to a green economy. This study introduced an innovative framework of life cycle GTFP (LCGTFP) through interdisciplinary collaboration. This framework integrated regionalized life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), multimedia LCIA-based life cycle costing analysis, and the epsilon-based measure combined with the global Malmquist-Luenberger approach. This integration allows for the inclusion of comprehensive environmental burdens into GTFP analysis. Empirical results from the production of 10 types of vegetables in China reveal a "win-win" trend in vegetable industry from an environmental-economic perspective. The LCGTFP reached a value of 1.036 (CV: 0.021) over the past decade, indicating a 3.6% increase in environmental-economic productivity. However, challenges (e.g., fertilizer overuse and regression on the technical frontier) persist in sustainable vegetable production. This study highlights the necessity of technical dissemination, agricultural education, high-quality crop varieties, and e-commerce. Furthermore, the development of the vegetable industry must incorporate environmental and economic conditions, because environmental-economic misallocation occurs in areas that are recognized as having geoclimatic-locational advantages.