Methods and Procedures for Building Sustainable Farming Systems: Application in the European Context

ISBN-13: 9789400750029 / Angielski / Twarda / 2012 / 280 str.

Ana Alexandra Marta-Costa;Emiliana L. D. G. Soares da Silva

Opis

This book shows how the method of sustainability assessment plays a key role in choosing the best agricultural productive mode, and guides the reader through the process of selection. Includes case studies from Portugal, Canada, Argentina and Lebanon.

Spis treści

Acknowledgments         

Preface               

1              The Needs for Building Sustainable Farming Systems:

Issues and Scope

Part I     European Context for Sustainability Assessment

Of Farming Systems

2              Agricultural and Environmental Policies in the European Union  

3              Approaches for Sustainable Farming Systems Assessment          

Part II    Multiple Aspects to Develop Methodologies for

Sustainability Assessment of Farming Systems

4              Normative, Systemic and Procedural Aspects: A Review of

Indicator-Based Sustainability Assessments in Agriculture            

5              Assessing the Sustainability of Activity Systems to Support

Households’ Farming Projects   

6              Multilevel and Multi-User Sustainability Assessment of Farming

Systems              

Part III   Application of Methodologies for Sustainability

Assessment of Farming Systems in Real Contexts

7              Learning and Experimentation Strategy (LES). Outline of a

Method to Develop Sustainable Livestock Production Systems  

8              Factors Affecting the Implementation of Measures for

Improving Sustainability on Farms Following the Rise

Sustainability Evaluation              

9              A Multi-Attribute Decision Method for Assessing the Overall

Sustainability of Crop Protection Strategies: A Case Study

Based on Apple Production in Europe    

Part IV  Sustainability Assessment in Organic and Multifunctional

Systems

10           Are Organic Suckler Cattle Farming Systems More Sustainable

Than Conventional Systems? Productive, Environmental and

Economic Performances Assessments: A Model-Based Study    

11           Assessing Multifunctionality in Relation to Resource Use – A

Holistic Approach to Measure Efficiency, Developed by

Participatory Research  

12           Indicator-Based Method for Assessing Organic Farming

Sustainability    

Part V    Decision Support Methods for Sustainable Farming Systems

13           X-Farm: Modelling Sustainable Farming Systems              

14           Ecological-Economic Modelling for Farming Systems Of

Montemuro Mountain (Portugal)            

15           Evaluating Socio-Economic and Environmental Sustainability

of the Sheep Farming Activity in Greece: A Whole Farm

Mathematical Programming Approach  

Part VI Sustainability Assessment in Non-European Farming Systems

16           Method for the Evaluation of Farm Sustainability in Quebec,

Canada: The Social Aspect           

17           Adapting a European Sustainability Model to a Local Context in

Semi-Arid Areas of Lebanon      

18           Tendency of Production Decisions of the Farmers of the Southeast Pampa Region in Argentina Under Uncertainty Conditions         

Part VII                 Final Considerations

19           Methodologies for Building Sustainable Farming Systems: The

Main Critical Points and Questions

16           Method for the Evaluation of Farm Sustainability in Quebec,

Canada: The Social Aspect           

17           Adapting a European Sustainability Model to a Local Context in

Semi-Arid Areas of Lebanon      

18           Tendency of Production Decisions of the Farmers of the Southeast Pampa Region in Argentina Under Uncertainty Conditions         

Part VII                 Final Considerations

19           Methodologies for Building Sustainable Farming Systems: The

Main Critical Points and Questions

16           Method for the Evaluation of Farm Sustainability in Quebec,

Canada: The Social Aspect           

17           Adapting a European Sustainability Model to a Local Context in

Semi-Arid Areas of Lebanon      

18           Tendency of Production Decisions of the Farmers of the Southeast Pampa Region in Argentina Under Uncertainty Conditions         

Part VII                 Final Considerations

19           Methodologies for Building Sustainable Farming Systems: The

Main Critical Points and Questions

Blurb

This urgent publication surveys the latest research and methodologies combining efficiency in agricultural food production with sustainability in the same systems. Growing pressures on food production seem contrapuntal to the ever-stronger imperatives of sustainability. How can agriculture balance successes in both productivity and ecology? Sustainability is a dynamic concept, seeking to achieve a balance—in space and time—of environmental, economic and social factors. Thus, farming systems are faced with contradictory demands for success: economic performance and social equity have to be maximized, while the environment and its natural resources need to be protected.

 

Showing how the method of sustainability assessment plays a key role in choosing the best agricultural productive mode, this book guides the reader through the process of selecting, from among the various approaches for building farming systems, the method of decision-making that will result in the most appropriate outcome, given the context. Case studies hail from polities as diverse as Portugal and Canada, Argentina and Lebanon. The work thus offers a valuable critical survey of the assessment methods that account for sustainability and economics, and which have developed considerably in the last two decades. The heterogeneous approaches covered here make this volume appropriate for consultation in a wide variety of social, political and geographical contexts.