Assessing the Sustainability of Agricultural Systems

This work constructs and tests a comparative technique that can be used to determine the ability of agricultural systems to meet multiple objectives of sustainability. Assessments are based on the ability of a system to maintain five system stocks that represent environmental capital, social capital, human capital, physical capital, and financial capital. The capital stocks are measured as stock objectives, which are decomposed as indicators to calculate agricultural system scores. An examination of the complexity of agro-ecosystems and the multiple equilibria produced by balancing multiple objectives is used to explain the alternative criteria used in this comparative technique to evaluate agricultural systems.The indicators of each of the objectives of the five capitals in this comparative technique are assessed using multi-criteria decision-making. Based upon research and the advice of experts in the field, a survey instrument was developed that uses farming practices to evaluate indicators of the five system stocks. The results from the surveyed farmers demonstrate the intricacies inherent in making the tradeoffs necessary to balance multiple objectives.