IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agisys/v133y2015icp35-53.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A diagnostic system to assess sustainability at a farm level: The SOSTARE model

Author

Listed:
  • Paracchini, Maria Luisa
  • Bulgheroni, Claudia
  • Borreani, Giorgio
  • Tabacco, Ernesto
  • Banterle, Alessandro
  • Bertoni, Danilo
  • Rossi, Graziano
  • Parolo, Gilberto
  • Origgi, Roberto
  • De Paola, Claudio

Abstract

The paper presents a model for integrated sustainability assessment at a farm scale. The SOSTARE model (analysis of farm technical efficiency and impacts on environmental and economic sustainability), in fact, aims at providing a diagnostic tool to farmers and advisory services to assess the general performance of the farm, explore in detail any perceived weaknesses in farm management and to investigate the impact of changes that might improve efficiency. The model is derived from a survey of 68 farms. The sampled farms have been selected in order to represent the panorama of farm typologies that are characteristic of the agriculture in one of the most intensively cultivated areas of Europe, the Po plain in Northern Italy, and include multi-functional and non-multi-functional farms, low-input and conventional management typologies, subdivided into production of rice, cereals, and livestock (meat and milk). The SOSTARE model is based on a set of indicators, which are aggregated in a stepwise fashion to provide the user with an immediate valuation of a farm's performance. The aggregation framework was structured on the following steps: statistical analysis of all the collected input data and indicators to identify relevant variables and reduce redundancy; identification of the range of variation of the selected basic indicators and normalisation; definition of weights through statistical analysis and expert judgement, aggregation. The result is a synthetic indicator for each of the three analysed aspects of sustainability (economic, agronomic and ecological), which are decomposed into a total of twelve sub-dimensions. These include: fertilisers, water and agrochemical management; cropping system; energy input; value of production; value added; farm household income; CAP independence; farm business diversification; natural value of the farm and functional landscape pattern. In practical terms the output of the model is provided to the user as original indicator values in the form of tables, bar diagrams corresponding to each aggregation step and a radar diagram representing the overall farm performance in the twelve sub-dimensions. Furthermore, results can be related either to the optimal performance or to a reference situation (i.e. the average of the farm typology, the average of all farms). Results show that the model is able to react to different types of farm management that were studied in the reference sample of farms and that weaknesses of farm performances can be clearly identified. Moreover, its application over time would provide information that could be used to assess and monitor policy performances at a regional level.

Suggested Citation

  • Paracchini, Maria Luisa & Bulgheroni, Claudia & Borreani, Giorgio & Tabacco, Ernesto & Banterle, Alessandro & Bertoni, Danilo & Rossi, Graziano & Parolo, Gilberto & Origgi, Roberto & De Paola, Claudio, 2015. "A diagnostic system to assess sustainability at a farm level: The SOSTARE model," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 35-53.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:133:y:2015:i:c:p:35-53
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2014.10.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X1400136X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agsy.2014.10.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    2. Gollop, Frank M & Monahan, James L, 1991. "A Generalized Index of Diversification: Trends in U.S. Manufacturing," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(2), pages 318-330, May.
    3. Floridi, Matteo & Pagni, Simone & Falorni, Simone & Luzzati, Tommaso, 2011. "An exercise in composite indicators construction: Assessing the sustainability of Italian regions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(8), pages 1440-1447, June.
    4. Parra-Lopez, Carlos & Calatrava-Requena, Javier & de-Haro-Gimenez, Tomas, 2008. "A systemic comparative assessment of the multifunctional performance of alternative olive systems in Spain within an AHP-extended framework," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 820-834, February.
    5. Oecd, 2005. "Summary Report of the OECD Project Terrestrial Risk Indicators TERI," OECD Papers, OECD Publishing, vol. 5(9), pages 1-28.
    6. Yoram Wind & Thomas L. Saaty, 1980. "Marketing Applications of the Analytic Hierarchy Process," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(7), pages 641-658, July.
    7. Carmona-Torres, Carmen & Parra-López, Carlos & Hinojosa-Rodríguez, Ascensión & Sayadi, Samir, 2014. "Farm-level multifunctionality associated with farming techniques in olive growing: An integrated modeling approach," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 97-114.
    8. Van Passel, Steven & Nevens, Frank & Mathijs, Erik & Van Huylenbroeck, Guido, 2007. "Measuring farm sustainability and explaining differences in sustainable efficiency," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 149-161, April.
    9. Pacini, Cesare & Giesen, Gerard & Wossink, Ada & Omodei-Zorini, Luigi & Huirne, Ruud, 2004. "The EU's Agenda 2000 reform and the sustainability of organic farming in Tuscany: ecological-economic modelling at field and farm level," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 171-197, May.
    10. Thomassen, M.A. & Dolman, M.A. & van Calker, K.J. & de Boer, I.J.M., 2009. "Relating life cycle assessment indicators to gross value added for Dutch dairy farms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2278-2284, June.
    11. Binder, C.R. & Schmid, A. & Steinberger, J.K., 2012. "Sustainability solution space of the Swiss milk value added chain," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 210-220.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Danilo Bertoni & Daniele Cavicchioli & Franco Donzelli & Giovanni Ferrazzi & Dario G. Frisio & Roberto Pretolani & Elena Claire Ricci & Vera Ventura, 2018. "Recent Contributions of Agricultural Economics Research in the Field of Sustainable Development," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Parra-López, Carlos & Reina-Usuga, Liliana & Carmona-Torres, Carmen & Sayadi, Samir & Klerkx, Laurens, 2021. "Digital transformation of the agrifood system: Quantifying the conditioning factors to inform policy planning in the olive sector," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    3. Lin, Sheng-Hau & Zhao, Xiaofeng & Wu, Jiuxing & Liang, Fachao & Li, Jia-Hsuan & Lai, Ren-Ji & Hsieh, Jing-Chzi & Tzeng, Gwo-Hshiung, 2021. "An evaluation framework for developing green infrastructure by using a new hybrid multiple attribute decision-making model for promoting environmental sustainability," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    4. Pishchulov, Grigory & Trautrims, Alexander & Chesney, Thomas & Gold, Stefan & Schwab, Leila, 2019. "The Voting Analytic Hierarchy Process revisited: A revised method with application to sustainable supplier selection," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 166-179.
    5. Veronika Fenyves & Tibor Tarnóczi & Zoltán Bács & Dóra Kerezsi & Péter Bajnai & Mihály Szoboszlai, 2022. "Financial efficiency analysis of Hungarian agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 68(11), pages 413-426.
    6. Ernest Reig‐Martínez & José A. Gómez‐Limón & Andrés J. Picazo‐Tadeo, 2011. "Ranking farms with a composite indicator of sustainability," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 42(5), pages 561-575, September.
    7. Ester Guijarro & Cristina Santadreu-Mascarell & Beatriz Blasco-Gallego & Lourdes Canós-Darós & Eugenia Babiloni, 2021. "On the Identification of the Key Factors for a Successful Use of Twitter as a Medium from a Social Marketing Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-15, June.
    8. Lin, Sheng-Hau & Huang, Xianjin & Fu, Guole & Chen, Jia-Tsong & Zhao, Xiaofeng & Li, Jia-Hsuan & Tzeng, Gwo-Hshiung, 2021. "Evaluating the sustainability of urban renewal projects based on a model of hybrid multiple-attribute decision-making," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    9. Victoria Vicario-Modroño & Rosa Gallardo-Cobos & Pedro Sánchez-Zamora, 2023. "Sustainability evaluation of olive oil mills in Andalusia (Spain): a study based on composite indicators," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 6363-6392, July.
    10. Irene Monsonís-Payá & Mónica García-Melón & José-Félix Lozano, 2017. "Indicators for Responsible Research and Innovation: A Methodological Proposal for Context-Based Weighting," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-29, November.
    11. Cracolici, Maria Francesca & Cuffaro, Miranda & Lacagnina, Valerio, 2018. "Assessment of Sustainable Well-being in the Italian Regions: An Activity Analysis Model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 105-110.
    12. Thomassen, M.A. & Dolman, M.A. & van Calker, K.J. & de Boer, I.J.M., 2009. "Relating life cycle assessment indicators to gross value added for Dutch dairy farms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2278-2284, June.
    13. Shen, Yung-Chi & Chou, Chiyang James & Lin, Grace T.R., 2011. "The portfolio of renewable energy sources for achieving the three E policy goals," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 2589-2598.
    14. Tahseen, Samiha & Karney, Bryan, 2017. "Opportunities for increased hydropower diversion at Niagara: An sSWOT analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 757-770.
    15. Lanndon A. Ocampo, 2019. "Decision Modeling for Manufacturing Sustainability with Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 20(1), pages 25-41, February.
    16. Fang‐Li Ruan & Liang Yan, 2022. "Challenges facing indicators to become a universal language for sustainable urban development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 41-57, February.
    17. Yahui Lv & Chao Zhang & Jiani Ma & Wenju Yun & Lulu Gao & Pengshan Li, 2019. "Sustainability Assessment of Smallholder Farmland Systems: Healthy Farmland System Assessment Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-19, August.
    18. Baskaran, Venkatesan & Nachiappan, Subramanian & Rahman, Shams, 2012. "Indian textile suppliers' sustainability evaluation using the grey approach," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 647-658.
    19. Sabrina Neugebauer & Silvia Forin & Matthias Finkbeiner, 2016. "From Life Cycle Costing to Economic Life Cycle Assessment—Introducing an Economic Impact Pathway," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-23, April.
    20. Parra-López, Carlos & Sayadi, Samir & Garcia-Garcia, Guillermo & Ben Abdallah, Saker & Carmona-Torres, Carmen, 2023. "Prioritising conservation actions towards the sustainability of the dehesa by integrating the demands of society," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:133:y:2015:i:c:p:35-53. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agsy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.