Sustainability indicators generate improvement plans for rural properties

The sustainability diagnosis of a property must follow a set of well-defined and standardized methods to ensure a complete and valid assessment. The objective of this work was to conduct a diagnosis using the Weighted Environmental Impact Assessment of Activities of the New Rural [APOIA-NovoRural] program, a tool developed by Embrapa. In addition to a detailed diagnosis of the sustainability dimensions, improvements were proposed for the weaknesses identified by the method. The identification of weaknesses is directly associated with low scores in the APOIA-NovoRural method. A detailed analysis of the causes of low scores was carried out, and possible improvements were subsequently identified. Integrated production systems such as crop-livestock integration, crop-livestock-forestry integration, and silvopastoral systems were analyzed and served as a basis for proposing improvements in sustainability in the environmental and economic dimensions. In the social dimension, a study on improving the health conditions of employees was presented. A Plan, Do, Check, Act [PDCA] improvement plan was developed for the implementation of a silvopastoral system, and another for the occupational health area. In the sustainability analysis carried out by the APOIA-NovoRural program, it was possible to identify weaknesses and, with the implementation of PDCA cycles, create a system for continuous improvement.