2. Sustainable agriculture

that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" [4]. The formalization of this concept was completed by three pillars—social, environmental, and economic—described in the World Summit on Sus-

According to Hamrin [6], natural resources and the environment "constitute the ultimate foundation upon which all future economic activity must be construed. From this, it follows that future economic progress will be increasingly dependent on the sustained integrity of the resource and environmental base." The economic crisis shows that maintaining economic growth is an essential objective accepted and growth has been the most important policy goal across the world; it is the reason why it is difficult to find a balance between sustainability and

Social sustainability requires that the cohesion of society and its ability to work towards common goals are maintained. Social sustainability (social values, identities, relationships, and institutions) is probably the most important and critical long-term "pillar" of sustainable development for survival of civilization as shown in the study of past (and contemporary)

Environmental sustainability seeks to protect the sources of raw materials ensuring that the sinks for human wastes are not exceeded to prevent harm to humankind [10]. This conceptualization fits into the resource-limited ecological framework and "limits to growth" described by Meadows et al. [11]. OECD [12] considered criteria like regeneration (renewable resources should be used efficiently and their use should not be permitted to exceed their long-term rates of natural regeneration), substitutability (non-renewable resources should be used efficiently and their use limited to levels which can be offset by substitution with renewable resources or other forms); assimilation (releases of hazardous or polluting substances into the environment

There is a recognition that the three pillars of sustainable development need to be complemented by institutional, cultural, or ethical dimensions and including governance, efficiency, motivation, values, and other factors that may be important for sustainable human prosperity. It is essential to maintain the ecosystem and nature's services to assure the human well-being. Sustainability science must research the most significant driving forces, impacts, and their causal relationships and identify the relevant indicators to the points in the system where management actions would be most effective. Compiling many separate indicators cannot provide an adequate measure of the systems sustainability. But modeling systems help to explore resilience and tipping points or developing alternative scenarios to anticipate vulnerabilities in the natural, social, and economic dimensions. Indicators at the individual level are relevant to the changes in personal motivation and their

The aim of this paper is to review the main methodologies for assessing sustainability in

should not exceed their assimilative capacity); and irreversibility.

behavior and essential for a sustainable society [13].

tainable Development in 2002 [5].

34 Sustainability Assessment and Reporting

the economic growth [7].

societies [8, 9].

farming systems.

Conventional agriculture is characterized as a system with intensive use of capital, large-scale, highly mechanized agriculture with monocultures of crops and extensive use of artificial fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, with intensive animal husbandry [14]. This has led to an increase in the use of fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, and fossil fuels and consequently led to an increase in environmental problems [15]. The problems associated with "conventional agriculture" were perceived as unsustainable [16]. These impacts, such as depletion of non-renewable resources, soil degradation, environmental effects of agricultural chemicals, inequity, declining rural communities, loss of traditional agrarian values, farm worker safety, decline in self-sufficiency, and decreasing number and increasing size of farms, reflect the goal of promoting alternatives.

The definition of "sustainable agriculture" is an activity that permanently satisfies a given set of conditions for an indefinite period of time [17]. Sustainable agriculture has been described as a term encompassing several ideological approaches including organic farming, biological agriculture, ecological agriculture, biodynamic agriculture, regenerative agriculture, permaculture, and agroecology [16, 18–20]. Neher [21] considered it as an approach or a philosophy that integrates land stewardship with agriculture, where land is managed with respect to allow a future for next generations. This philosophy guides the application of prior experience and the latest scientific advances to create integrated, resource-conserving, equitable farming systems [22].

A sustainable agricultural system is often defined as one that fulfills a balance of several goals including some expression of maintenance or enhancement of the natural environment, provision of human food needs, economic viability, and social welfare through time [17]. This multidimensional character inherent in the concept of sustainable development requires from the triple perspective of profitable operation, fair and equitable distribution of the generated wealth, and its compatibility with the maintenance of natural ecosystems [23].

For agriculture with alternative practices, Beus and Dunlap [24] listed values like community, independence, decentralization, diversity, and harmony with nature. Social values such as equity, self-sufficiency, preservation of agrarian culture, and preference for small owneroperated farms have been incorporated into definitions of sustainability [22, 25].

Excessive chemical input levels degrade natural resources through accumulation, while inadequate levels degrade resources through exhaustion. Zandstra [26] and Stinner and House [27] in sharp contrast described sustainability as a function of chemical input levels.

In general, the society accepted that organic production may contribute to mitigate environmental problems. Organic farming practices help to promote the sustainable land use and improve environment conservation, animal welfare, and products' quality [28–30]. As a general principle, this organic agriculture should be managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and well-being of future generations and the environment [31].

Sustainable land use management is necessary to shorten the gap between planning practice and research regarding landscape [32–34].

interests, or cultural and academic context. Most of the literature on stakeholder participation associated with sustainability indicators focus on participation in the design and development of indicator systems or in data collection for indicator calculation [52]. According to Jackson et al. [53], a useful indicator must produce results that are clearly understood and accepted by

Methodologies for Assessing Sustainability in Farming Systems

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.79220

37

At another related level, self-assessment approaches used by local communities are examples of complementary approaches to the more traditional use of indicators for measuring and communicating sustainability-related issues. Community-based monitoring refers to a range of activities through which concerned citizens gather and record systematic observations about social or environmental conditions, often in collaboration with academia, industry, government, or community institutions [55]. Through participatory monitoring and evaluation, research in the late 90s has revolved around finding ways to help different people to identify clearly their information needs and acceptable forms of assessing information [56]. Stakeholders' own assessment of sustainability performance could be used to make qualitative comparative analysis with the formal technical assessments that are provided by indicators. As an indirect way of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the technical indicator sets and concluding about its overall utility, an evaluation of sustainability indicators by stakeholders can be used. Significant gaps between indicator data and stakeholders' perceptions can point to a failure in fulfilling that role. The credibility of sustainability self-assessment and the related procedures and outcomes analy-

sis is a relatively underexplored issue, but it could be of particular importance [57].

agriculture to let farmers assess and evaluate farming systems [59].

conditions [38].

guidelines to improve farm systems.

Sustainability indicators are a tool that can be used by farmers at the farm or field level to assess the effects of managerial changes [58]. Many indicators are purely theoretical, in which modeling, equations, and simulations are used to provide an evaluation and cannot be used directly as a decision tool by farmers. At the farm level, complex tools that require a lot of information and expert knowledge to provide environmental estimates are generally not suitable. Many indicators for other kinds of assessment or monitoring are transferred to

As Van de Fliert and Braun [60] attest, farmers have a critical role to play in assessing sustainable agriculture because their responsibilities for managing natural resources are increasing. Zhen and Routray [61] proposed that assessments should be closely linked to the context of specific farming systems. Several frameworks that assess sustainability include the development of indicators [38, 62, 63]. According to the context, the framework can change with different endusers and it should incorporate characteristics that can be generally applied under different

Girardin et al. [64] reported that the environmental impacts of an agricultural practice can be compared with reference values. These reference values can be a target value, defined as an optimal level, or as the minimal level required for sustainability [63]. Reference values provide

To deal a challenge with measurement for sustainability and its dimensions, a variety of methods or agri-environmental indicators have been developed [43, 44, 51, 65–69]. For instance, some researchers focused on investigated environmental phenomena related to farming systems and/

scientists, policy makers, and general public [54].
