Is organic agriculture sustainable? For which aspects? These research combine the agroecologi- cal with the socio-economic dimension of sustainability. It has been performed in the three years 2006/08, over 12 organic farms located in 6 regions of central and northern Italy. To assess agri- cultural sustainability at farm level the following environmental subsystems were identified: the physical system (soil and water) and biological (flora and fauna) and the production system (crop rotation and energy). For each of these systems different agro-ecological indicators are pro- cessed to evaluate a specific attribute of the system and its critical points. The socio-economic indicators evaluate structural and economic performance of the farms. Agro-ecological and eco- nomic indicator were integrated into a Global Sustainability Index (GSI), able to synthesize the information contained in the multiple-derived variables, ranging from 1 to 2. The indicator values were first converted into a sustainability score applying continuous non-linear sustainability func- tions. Consequently, stratification was performed on three levels of sustainability: weak, interme- diate, strong. Results shown that not all the farms reach satisfactory level of sustainability.
Sustainability assessment of stockless organic farming system with agro- ecological and socio-economic indicators in Italy
CHIORRI, Massimo;
2012
Abstract
Is organic agriculture sustainable? For which aspects? These research combine the agroecologi- cal with the socio-economic dimension of sustainability. It has been performed in the three years 2006/08, over 12 organic farms located in 6 regions of central and northern Italy. To assess agri- cultural sustainability at farm level the following environmental subsystems were identified: the physical system (soil and water) and biological (flora and fauna) and the production system (crop rotation and energy). For each of these systems different agro-ecological indicators are pro- cessed to evaluate a specific attribute of the system and its critical points. The socio-economic indicators evaluate structural and economic performance of the farms. Agro-ecological and eco- nomic indicator were integrated into a Global Sustainability Index (GSI), able to synthesize the information contained in the multiple-derived variables, ranging from 1 to 2. The indicator values were first converted into a sustainability score applying continuous non-linear sustainability func- tions. Consequently, stratification was performed on three levels of sustainability: weak, interme- diate, strong. Results shown that not all the farms reach satisfactory level of sustainability.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
