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Sustainability Assessment in Wine-Grape Growing in the New World: Economic, Environmental, and Social Indicators for Agricultural Businesses

Author

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  • Irina Santiago-Brown

    (Inkwell Wines and Consulting, P.O. Box 404, McLaren Vale SA 5171, Australia
    School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Private Mail Bag 1, Glen Osmond SA 5064, Australia)

  • Andrew Metcalfe

    (School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, 6.43 Ingkarni Wardli, Adelaide SA 5005, Australia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Cate Jerram

    (Adelaide Business School, University of Adelaide, 09.03 Nexus 10, Adelaide SA 5064, Australia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Cassandra Collins

    (Inkwell Wines and Consulting, P.O. Box 404, McLaren Vale SA 5171, Australia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

Indicators have been used in many sustainability assessment methods, however, disagreements over a common definition and scope for the sustainability concept have led to many distinct assessment methods, which are not often directly comparable. Before developing a sustainability assessment, it is essential to: define sustainability and specify the viewpoint of the assessor, the purpose of the assessment, and the context and time frame of the assessment. This article presents a short list of indicators and a method that can be readily adopted by any agricultural business or region to assess sustainability, making any organization, region or crop qualitatively comparable. These indicators were proposed by 83 top-level executives in 14 group interviews conducted using our adapted nominal group technique (ANGT). Executives were sourced from wine-grape growing organisations from New World wine-producing countries that also owned vineyards, and they considered everyday management practices of farms. These indicators, grouped within three categories (economic, environmental, and social) were ranked by their importance. The method defines qualitative indicators that, in the context of distinct wine regions or crops should be quantified to maintain their relevance and usefulness.

Suggested Citation

  • Irina Santiago-Brown & Andrew Metcalfe & Cate Jerram & Cassandra Collins, 2015. "Sustainability Assessment in Wine-Grape Growing in the New World: Economic, Environmental, and Social Indicators for Agricultural Businesses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-27, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:7:p:8178-8204:d:51669
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    1. Ilaria Zambon & Andrea Colantoni & Massimo Cecchini & Enrico Maria Mosconi, 2018. "Rethinking Sustainability within the Viticulture Realities Integrating Economy, Landscape and Energy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-13, January.
    2. Nicola Casolani & Emilio Chiodo & Lolita Liberatore, 2023. "Continuous Improvement of VIVA-Certified Wines: Analysis and Perspective of Greenhouse Gas Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-15, January.
    3. Paula Triviño-Tarradas & Pilar Carranza-Cañadas & Francisco-Javier Mesas-Carrascosa & Emilio J. Gonzalez-Sanchez, 2020. "Evaluation of Agricultural Sustainability on a Mixed Vineyard and Olive-Grove Farm in Southern Spain through the INSPIA Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-22, February.
    4. Trigo, Ana & Marta-Costa, Ana & Fragoso, Rui, 2023. "Improving sustainability assessment: A context-oriented classification analysis for the wine industry," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    5. Gloria Luzzani & Erica Grandis & Marco Frey & Ettore Capri, 2021. "Blockchain Technology in Wine Chain for Collecting and Addressing Sustainable Performance: An Exploratory Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-17, November.
    6. Inmaculada Carrasco & Juan Sebastián Castillo-Valero & Carmen Córcoles & Marcos Carchano, 2021. "Greening Wine Exports? Changes in the Carbon Footprint of Spanish Wine Exports," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-13, August.
    7. Norman Siebrecht, 2020. "Sustainable Agriculture and Its Implementation Gap—Overcoming Obstacles to Implementation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-27, May.
    8. Gohar Nuhoff-Isakhanyan & Emiel F.M. Wubben & S.W.F. Omta, 2016. "Sustainability Benefits and Challenges of Inter-Organizational Collaboration in Bio-Based Business: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-17, March.
    9. Bohua Yu & Wei Song & Yanqing Lang, 2017. "Spatial Patterns and Driving Forces of Greenhouse Land Change in Shouguang City, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-15, March.
    10. Shu Yu & Yongtong Mu, 2022. "Sustainable Agricultural Development Assessment: A Comprehensive Review and Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.
    11. Samir Mili & Javier Martínez-Vega, 2019. "Accounting for Regional Heterogeneity of Agricultural Sustainability in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-20, January.
    12. Silvana Dalmutt Kruger & Antonio Zanin & Orlando Durán & Paulo Afonso, 2022. "Performance Measurement Model for Sustainability Assessment of the Swine Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-19, August.
    13. Maria G. Lampridi & Claus G. Sørensen & Dionysis Bochtis, 2019. "Agricultural Sustainability: A Review of Concepts and Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-27, September.
    14. Svjetlana Janković Šoja & Ana Anokić & Dana Bucalo Jelić & Radojka Maletić, 2016. "Ranking EU Countries According to Their Level of Success in Achieving the Objectives of the Sustainable Development Strategy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-10, March.
    15. Despoina Dede & Eleni Didaskalou & Sotirios Bersimis & Dimitrios Georgakellos, 2020. "A Statistical Framework for Assessing Environmental Performance of Quality Wine Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-16, December.
    16. Giacomo Falcone & Anna Irene De Luca & Teodora Stillitano & Alfio Strano & Giuseppa Romeo & Giovanni Gulisano, 2016. "Assessment of Environmental and Economic Impacts of Vine-Growing Combining Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing and Multicriterial Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-34, August.

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