Influence of methodological choices in farm sustainability assessments: A word of caution from a case study analysis of European dairy farms
2024
Balaine, Lorraine | Buckley, Cathal | Baillet, Vincent | Díaz de Otálora, Xabier | Dragoni, Federico | Wilfart, Aurélie | Amon, Barbara | del Prado, Agustín | Frątczak-Müller, Joanna | Krol, Dominika | Teagasc - The Agriculture and Food Development Authority (Teagasc) | Groupe de Recherche en Agroalimentaire sur les Produits et les Procédés (GRAPPE) ; Ecole Supérieure des Agricultures (ESA)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE) | Sol Agro et hydrosystème Spatialisation (SAS) ; Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut Agro Rennes Angers ; Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro) | Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) | Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy [Potsdam] (ATB) ; Leibniz Association | Basque Foundation for Science ; Ikerbasque - Basque Foundation for Science | University of Zielona [Góra] | 2018 Joint Call of the CofundERA-Nets FACCE ERA-GAS [grant number 696356], SusAn [grant number 696231],ICT-AGRI 2 [grant number 618123] on “Novel technologies, solutions and systems to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in animal production systems” | Elsevier | ANR-19-SUGA-0003,MilKey,Decision support system for sustainable and GHG optimised milk production in key European areas(2019) | European Project:
International audience
Show more [+] Less [-]English. In a context where sustainability assessments are increasingly popular, this perspective article discusses the influence of methodological choices on measurements of farm sustainability. We build the argumentation on the premises that sustainability is a multi-dimensional concept that can be measured through an indicator approach and use examples from a case study analysis of seven European dairy farms. Specifically, the article demonstrates how and why indicator selection, estimation methods, and reporting frameworks can influence measured performance and thereby affect wider sustainability conclusions about production systems and practice change. Overall, we highlight that while in practical terms, methodological choices are necessary to conduct a farm sustainability assessment, important limitations can arise from the process. Of particular concern are farm conclusions and recommendations that lead to perverse outcomes and generate further sustainability issues outside of study scope. Practical guidance is provided to aid methodological choices with a more comprehensive and critical view of farm sustainability assessments. Importantly, we call for a more upfront recognition of methodological shortcomings in farm analyses.
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