Identifying and ranking attributes that determine sustainability in Dutch dairy farming

Recent developments in agriculture have stirred up interest in the concept of "sustainable" farming systems. Still it is difficult to determine the extent to which certain agricultural practices can be considered sustainable or not. Aiming at identifying the necessary attributes with respe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Agriculture and human values 2005-04, Vol.22 (1), p.53-63
Main Authors: Calker, Klaas J. Van, Berentsen, Paul B. M., Giesen, Gerard W. J., Huirne, Ruud B. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acidification
Agricultural practices
Animal welfare
Dairy farms
Dehydration
Economics
Eutrophication
Farming
Farming systems
Food safety
Groundwater pollution
Ranking systems
Social sustainability
Studies
Sustainability
Sustainable development
Working conditions
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Summary:Recent developments in agriculture have stirred up interest in the concept of "sustainable" farming systems. Still it is difficult to determine the extent to which certain agricultural practices can be considered sustainable or not. Aiming at identifying the necessary attributes with respect to sustainability in Dutch dairy farming in the beginning of the third millennium, we first compiled a list of attributes referring to all farming activities with their related side effects with respect to economic, internal social, external social, and ecological sustainability. A wide range of people (i.e., experts and stakeholders) were consulted to contribute to our list of attributes. Our consultation showed that only one attribute was selected for economic and internal social sustainability: profitability and working conditions, respectively. The list for external social sustainability contained 19 attributes and the list for ecological sustainability contained 15 attributes. To assess their relative importance, the same experts and stakeholders ranked the attributes for external social and ecological sustainability by using a questionnaire. The most important attributes for external social sustainability were food safety, animal health, animal welfare, landscape quality, and cattle grazing. For ecological sustainability they were eutrophication, groundwater pollution, dehydration of the soil, acidification, and biodiversity.
ISSN:0889-048X
1572-8366
DOI:10.1007/s10460-004-7230-3