Sustainability Assessment Tools for Dairy Supply Chains: A Typology

• Published in: Sustainability 2024-06, Vol.16 (12), p.4999
• Main Authors: Paçarada, Rita, Hörtenhuber, Stefan, Hemme, Torsten, Wurzinger, Maria, Zollitsch, Werner
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural production; Dairy farms; Dairy industry; Farmers; Food; Integrated approach; Methods; Supply chains; Sustainability
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su16124999

The dairy sector faces increasing pressure to adopt sustainable practices. Various tools have been developed to evaluate sustainability of the dairy supply chain. This paper provides an overview of these tools, highlighting their strengths and limitations regarding sustainability dimensions, indicators, and system boundaries. A systematic literature search identified 27 tools that were then categorized into a typology based on dimensions of sustainability, geographical applicability, and accessibility. In-depth analysis was conducted on six tools: Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture (SAFA), Sustainability Monitoring and Assessment RouTine (SMART), Response-Inducing Sustainability Evaluation (RISE) 3.0 version, Swiss Agricultural Life Cycle Assessment (SALCAsustain), MOnitoring Tool for Integrated Farm Sustainability (MOTIFS), and Technology Impact and Policy Impact CALculations (TIPICAL). Assessment focused on the relevance of covered sustainability dimensions to the dairy sector, level of supply chain coverage, type of indicators, accessibility, and practicability. The review identified tools which integrate multiple sustainability aspects in a comprehensive way (SAFA and SMART) and tools offering accurate quantification of the impact on sustainability dimensions of the production system (SALCAsustain, RISE, MOTIFS, TIPICAL). Only two tools extend assessment past the farm gate (SAFA, SMART). Future users should select tools based on the specific objectives of measuring sustainability in dairy systems. This review contributes to the literature by addressing various aspects of sustainability assessment tools, by addressing the need for an integrated and comprehensive view, and by considering the entire dairy supply chain.