Key characteristics for tool choice in indicator-based sustainability assessment at farm level
| Autor: | Laure Triste, Ludwig Lauwers, Catherine L Gerrard, Lies Debruyne, Fleur Marchand, Susanne Padel |
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| Rok vydání: | 2014 |
| Předmět: |
Agriculture and Food Sciences
QH301-705.5 Computer science full assessment farm level Sustainable agriculture Sustainability organizations Biology (General) Computer-aided software engineering Biology QH540-549.5 Ecology business.industry End user Environmental resource management Public good Environmental economics rapid assessment Chemistry sustainability assessment tool Agriculture INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT Sustainability Key (cryptography) business tool choice |
| Zdroj: | Ecology and Society Ecology and Society, Vol 19, Iss 3, p 46 (2014) ECOLOGY AND SOCIETY |
| ISSN: | 1708-3087 |
| DOI: | 10.5751/es-06876-190346 |
| Popis: | Although the literature on sustainability assessment tools to support decision making in agriculture is rapidly growing, little attention has been paid to the actual tool choice. We focused on the choice of more complex integrated indicator-based tools at the farm level. The objective was to determine key characteristics as criteria for tool choice. This was done with an in-depth comparison of 2 cases: the Monitoring Tool for Integrated Farm Sustainability and the Public Goods Tool. They differ in characteristics that may influence tool choice: data, time, and budgetary requirements. With an enhanced framework, we derived 11 key characteristics to describe differences between the case tools. Based on the key characteristics, we defined 2 types of indicator-based tools: full sustainability assessment (FSA) and rapid sustainability assessment (RSA). RSA tools are more oriented toward communicating and learning. They are therefore more suitable for use by a larger group of farmers, can help to raise awareness, trigger farmers to become interested in sustainable farming, and highlight areas of good or bad performance. If and when farmers increase their commitment to on-farm sustainability, they can gain additional insight by using an FSA tool. Based on complementary and modular use of the tools, practical recommendations for the different end users, i.e., researchers, farmers, advisers, and so forth, have been suggested. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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