Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2020
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Assessing agro-ecological practices using a combination of three sustainability assessment tools
Landert, Jan; Pfeifer, Catherine; Carolus, Johannes; Schwarz, Gerald; Albanito, Fabrizio; Muller, Adrian; Smith, Pete; Sanders, Juern; Schader, Christian; Vanni, Francesco; Prazan, Jaroslav; Baumgart, Lukas; Blockeel, Johan; Weisshaidinger, Rainer; Bartel-Kratochvil, Ruth; Hollaus, Alexander; Mayer, Andreas; Hrabalova, Andrea; Helin, Janne; Aakkula, Jyrki;Show more authors
Abstract
The alignment of the environmental, economic and social sustainability of farms is necessary for enhancing the provision of public goods in farming. This study combines the use of three tools for the assessment of farm sustainability. It provides first insights into the sustainability performance of farms at different stages of agro-ecological transitions in 15 case studies covering a range of different farming systems across Europe. Each case study reflects a different-transition towards agro-ecological farming. The tools applied were COMPAS (an economic farm assessment tool); Cool Farm Tool (a greenhouse gas inventory, water footprint and biodiversity assessment tool); and the SMART Farm Tool (a multidimensional sustainability assessment tool).First results of the use of combined sustainability assessments deepen the understanding of different farming systems. Sustainability performance varies greatly between farms, but overall, agro-ecological farms tend to enhance biodiversity and water quality. For soil quality, no clear patterns could be identified. The same applies to economic performance at different stages of the agro-ecological transition. Quality of life was generally rated medium to high on all investigated farms. The combined sustainability assessment enabled the identification of areas for further policy development.Aligning the tools required harmonising definitions, simplification and assumptions with regard to the input data of the tools.Keywords
agro-ecology; agro-ecological farming practices; sustainability assessment tools; SMART Farm Tool (RRID:SCR_018197); Cool Farm ToolPublished in
Landbauforschung2020, volume: 70, number: 2, pages: 129-144
Publisher: JOHANN HEINRICH VON THUNEN INST-VTI
Authors' information
Landert, Jan
Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)
Pfeifer, Catherine
Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)
Carolus, Johannes
Johann Heinrich von Thunen Institute
Schwarz, Gerald
Johann Heinrich von Thunen Institute
Albanito, Fabrizio
University of Aberdeen
Muller, Adrian
ETH Zurich
Smith, Pete
University of Aberdeen
Sanders, Juern
Johann Heinrich von Thunen Institute
Schader, Christian
Research Institute for Organic Agriculture (FiBL)
Vanni, Francesco
Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e L'analisi Dell'economia Agraria (CREA)
Prazan, Jaroslav
Institute of Agricultural Economics and Information - Czech Republic
Baumgart, Lukas
Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)
Blockeel, Johan
Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)
Weisshaidinger, Rainer
University of Bodenkultur Wien
Weisshaidinger, Rainer
Res Inst Organ Agr FiBL
Bartel-Kratochvil, Ruth
University of Bodenkultur Wien
Bartel-Kratochvil, Ruth
Res Inst Organ Agr FiBL
Hollaus, Alexander
University of Bodenkultur Wien
Mayer, Andreas
University of Bodenkultur Wien
Hrabalova, Andrea
Bioinst Ops
UKÄ Subject classification
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3220/LBF1612794225000
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/111723