Abstract

Various frameworks for assessing sustainability in agriculture have emerged in recent years. We analysed how sustainability is framed as a governing concept for agriculture within three such frameworks. The results suggest that in all three frameworks sustainability is perceived as a fixed, definable end goal, rather than a process, and its assumed that if all stake holders understand each other and are informed about the negative impacts of agriculture, sustainability will be achieved. The characteristics of the assessment frameworks, which are primarily developed by and based on expert knowledge, provide limited possibilities for farmers to influence how sustainable agriculture is framed and acted upon, limiting the utility of the frameworks. A number of challenges that need to be solved for successful implementation were uncovered, including how assessment frameworks should be used in practice and identification of conflicts between different goals in relation to assessment results.

Published in

Sociologia Ruralis
2017, Volume: 57, number: 3, pages: 378-395
Publisher: WILEY

SLU Authors

• Slätmo, Elin

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Fischer, Klara

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Röös, Elin

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture


UKÄ Subject classification

Social Sciences Interdisciplinary


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12156

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/84826