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Are Family Farms’ Social Sustainability Concerns Addressed By Assessment Tools? A Literature Review And Coverage Check

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  • RÖDIGER Manika

    (Agroscope, Sustainability Assessment and Agricultural Management Department, Tänikon 1, CH-8356 Ettenhausen)

  • MANN Stefan

    (Agroscope, Sustainability Assessment and Agricultural Management Department, Tänikon 1, CH-8356 Ettenhausen)

Abstract

The study focuses on the social dimension of farm sustainability in Switzerland. The degree to which existing farm sustainability assessment tools captured what farmers perceived as important regarding farm social sustainability was investigated. First, a systematic literature review was conducted to identify themes that farmers are concerned with. Then, “sub-themes†of relevant social sustainability themes were further deduced. Six farm sustainability assessment tools (SALCAsustain, SMART, RISE, IDEA4, MOTIFS, and PGTool) were screened and categorised according to whether they (a) fully or partly included each identified sub-theme or (b) included a sub-theme explicitly or by a related aspect. It was found that among the selected tools, SMART covered the most sub-themes fully and explicitly (11 out of 19). SALCAsustain, RISE, and IDEA4 ranked similar with 8, 7, and 7 sub-themes addressed fully and explicitly. MOTIFS and PGTool captured fully and explicitly only 1 sub-theme each. Hence, it was concluded that the farm sustainability assessment tools available to Swiss farmers reflect the concerns of farmers to different degrees.

Suggested Citation

  • RÖDIGER Manika & MANN Stefan, 2025. "Are Family Farms’ Social Sustainability Concerns Addressed By Assessment Tools? A Literature Review And Coverage Check," Management of Sustainable Development, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 17(1), pages 33-51, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:blg:msudev:v:17:y:2025:i:1:p:33-51:n:3
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.54989/msd-2025-0003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Evelien M. de Olde & Henrik Moller & Fleur Marchand & Richard W. McDowell & Catriona J. MacLeod & Marion Sautier & Stephan Halloy & Andrew Barber & Jayson Benge & Christian Bockstaller & Eddie A. M. B, 2017. "When experts disagree: the need to rethink indicator selection for assessing sustainability of agriculture," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1327-1342, August.
    2. Nicola Dempsey & Glen Bramley & Sinéad Power & Caroline Brown, 2011. "The social dimension of sustainable development: Defining urban social sustainability," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(5), pages 289-300, September.
    3. Mariem Baccar & Ahmed Bouaziz & Patrick Dugué & Mohamed Gafsi & Pierre-Yves Le Gal, 2020. "Sustainability Viewed from Farmers’ Perspectives in a Resource-Constrained Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Judith Janker & Stefan Mann, 2020. "Understanding the social dimension of sustainability in agriculture: a critical review of sustainability assessment tools," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1671-1691, March.
    5. repec:hal:journl:hal-03652195 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Adrienne Csizmady & Bernadett Csurgó & Szabina Kerényi & András Balázs & Veronika Kocsis & Botond Palaczki, 2021. "Young Farmers’ Perceptions of Sustainability in a Wine Region in Hungary," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-16, August.
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