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Ranking farms with a composite indicator of sustainability

Author

Listed:
  • Ernest Reig-Martínez

    () (Universidad de Valencia. Dpto. Economía Aplicada II)

  • José A. Gómez-Limón

    (Instituto Andaluz de Investigación y Formación Agraria y Pesquera. Dpto. Economía Agraria. Córdoba.)

  • Andrés J. Picazo-Tadeo

    (Universidad de Valencia. Dpto. Economía Aplicada II and Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas (IVIE).)

Abstract

The assessment of sustainability at farm level has been growing in popularity over the last years. This paper contributes to this line of research by building up composite indicators for different facets –social, economic, environmental and global– of farm sustainability using a methodological approach that combines Data Envelopment Analysis and Multi Criteria Decision Methods. This approach is applied to a database of 163 farms located in the Spanish Northern Plateau. Our findings show that both economic and environmental sustainability indicators are positively correlated, but that this is not the case for the social indicator. We also check the influence of a set of variables on farm sustainability using bootstrapping techniques, and showing that increasing farm size, membership on agricultural cooperatives and farmers’ medium and upper agricultural-specific technical education all exert a significant positive influence on sustainability. These results provide clues for policy-makers that intend to design sustainability-increasing structural agricultural policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Ernest Reig-Martínez & José A. Gómez-Limón & Andrés J. Picazo-Tadeo, 2010. "Ranking farms with a composite indicator of sustainability," Working Papers 1005, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.
    • Handle: RePEc:eec:wpaper:1005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bohringer, Christoph & Jochem, Patrick E.P., 2007. "Measuring the immeasurable -- A survey of sustainability indices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 1-8, June.
    2. Diaz-Balteiro, Luis & Romero, Carlos, 2004. "In search of a natural systems sustainability index," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 401-405, July.
    3. Andrés J Picazo-Tadeo & Andrés García-Reche, 2007. "What makes environmental performance differ between firms? Empirical evidence from the Spanish tile industry," Environment and Planning A, Pion Ltd, London, vol. 39(9), pages 2232-2247, September.
    4. Latacz-Lohmann, Uwe & Hodge, Ian D., 2003. "European agri-environmental policy for the 21st century," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 47(1), March.
    5. André, Francisco J. & Herrero, Inés & Riesgo, Laura, 2010. "A modified DEA model to estimate the importance of objectives with an application to agricultural economics," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 371-382, October.
    6. Gómez-Limón, José A. & Sanchez-Fernandez, Gabriela, 2010. "Empirical evaluation of agricultural sustainability using composite indicators," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 1062-1075, March.
    7. 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.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Picazo-Tadeo, Andrés J. & Beltrán-Esteve, Mercedes & Gómez-Limón, José A., 2012. "Assessing eco-efficiency with directional distance functions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 220(3), pages 798-809.
    2. Francesco Vidoli & Giancarlo Ferrara, 2015. "Analyzing Italian citrus sector by semi-nonparametric frontier efficiency models," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 641-658, September.
    3. Cristina Bernini & Andrea Guizzardi & Giovanni Angelini, 2013. "DEA-Like Model and Common Weights Approach for the Construction of a Subjective Community Well-Being Indicator," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 405-424, November.
    4. repec:eee:ecolec:v:140:y:2017:i:c:p:89-98 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Dong, Fengxia & Mitchell, Paul D. & Hurley, Terrance M. & Frisvold, George B., 2016. "Quantifying Adoption Intensity for Weed-Resistance Management Practices and Its Determinants among U.S. Soybean, Corn, and Cotton Farmers," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 41(1), January.
    6. Ernest Reig-Martínez, 2013. "Social and Economic Wellbeing in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: Building an Enlarged Human Development Indicator," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 111(2), pages 527-547, April.
    7. Jorge Guardiola & Andrés J. Picazo-Tadeo, 2013. "Weighting life domains with Data Envelopment Analysis," Working Papers 1311, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.
    8. Wang, Endong, 2015. "Benchmarking whole-building energy performance with multi-criteria technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution using a selective objective-weighting approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 92-103.
    9. Dong, Fengxia & Jensen, Helen H., 2011. "Measuring Food Safety Control in U.S. Hog Farms Using a Composite Indicator," 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 103863, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Paolo Cupo & Rinalda Alberta Di Cerbo, 2016. "The determinants of ranking in sustainable efficiency of Italian farms," RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA', FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(2), pages 141-159.
    11. Ryan, Mary & Buckley, Cathal & Dillon, Emma Jane & Donnellan, Trevor & Hanrahan, Kevin & Hennessy, Thia & Moran, Brian, 2014. "The development of farm-level sustainability indicators for Ireland using the Teagasc National Farm Survey," 88th Annual Conference, April 9-11, 2014, AgroParisTech, Paris, France 170501, Agricultural Economics Society.
    12. Gerdessen, Johanna C. & Pascucci, Stefano, 2013. "Data Envelopment Analysis of sustainability indicators of European agricultural systems at regional level," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 78-90.
    13. Ferrara, Giancarlo & Vidoli, Francesco, 2017. "Semiparametric stochastic frontier models: A generalized additive model approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 258(2), pages 761-777.
    14. Micha, Evgenia & Heanue, Kevin, 2015. "Profiling farm systems according to their sustainable performance: the Irish livestock sector," 89th Annual Conference, April 13-15, 2015, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 204216, Agricultural Economics Society.
    15. Irina Santiago-Brown & Andrew Metcalfe & Cate Jerram & Cassandra Collins, 2014. "Transnational Comparison of Sustainability Assessment Programs for Viticulture and a Case-Study on Programs’ Engagement Processes," Sustainability, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 6(4), pages 1-36, April.
    16. Anna Gaviglio & Mattia Bertocchi & Maria Elena Marescotti & Eugenio Demartini & Alberto Pirani, 2016. "The social pillar of sustainability: a quantitative approach at the farm level," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-19, December.
    17. Cem Iskender Aydin & Gokhan Ozertan & Begum Ozkaynak, 2011. "Should Turkey Adopt GM Crops? A Social Multi-Criteria Evaluation for the Case of Cotton Farming in Turkey," Working Papers 2011/07, Bogazici University, Department of Economics.
    18. Jorge Guardiola & Andrés Picazo-Tadeo, 2014. "Building Weighted-Domain Composite Indices of Life Satisfaction with Data Envelopment Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(1), pages 257-274, May.
    19. Vidoli, Francesco & Cardillo, Concetta & Fusco, Elisa & Canello, Jacopo, 2016. "Spatial nonstationarity in the stochastic frontier model: An application to the Italian wine industry," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 153-164.
    20. Ernest Reig, 2012. "Building an Enlarged Human Development Indicator: Europe and the Southern Mediterranean Basin," Working Papers 1203, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sustainability index; Agriculture; Data Envelopment Analysis; Multi-Criteria Decision Making; Spain;

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • Q10 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - General

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