Farm level sustainability of ecological farming
Creators: name: Niedermayr, Andreas
name: Kantelhardt, Jochen
name: Kohrs, Marie
name: Schaller, Lena
name: Bailey, Alastair
name: Bakucs, Zoltan
name: Baráth, Lajos
name: Barnes, Andrew
name: Britz, Wolfgang
name: Chițea, Mihai
name: D'Alberto, Riccardo
name: Desjeux, Yann
name: Fertő, Imre
name: Gouta, Penelope
name: Heinrichs, Julia
name: Henderson, Stuart
name: Hostiou, Nathalie
name: Jeanneaux, Philippe
name: Jin, Yan
name: Kilcline, Kevin
name: Konstantidelli, Villy
name: Krupin, Vitaliy
name: Lascano Galarza, Monserrath Ximena
name: Latruffe, Laure
name: O'Donoghue, Cathal
name: Raggi, Meri
name: Rusu, Marioara
name: Ryan, Mary
name: Sintori, Alexandra
name: Thompson, Bethan
name: Toma, Luiza
name: Tzouramani, Irene
name: Van Ruymbeke, Kato
name: Veslot, Jacques
name: Viaggi, Davide
name: Vranken, Liesbet
name: Zavalloni, Matteo
name: Zawalińska, Katarzyna
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022

description: In light of the ambitions of the European Union (EU) to achieve an ecological transition of its agricultural sector it is crucial to assess and continuously monitor (i) the uptake of main ecological approaches by farms and (ii) associated effects on farm performance, considering all sustainability dimensions (economic, environmental, social) jointly. Given these needs, in the present deliverable D5.1 of the LIFT project, we develop a novel indicator system, which combines the LIFT farm typology and farm performance data, covering all sustainability dimensions. The approach compares performance of farms in five ecological groups (referred to as ecological farming approaches or ecological farming systems) from the LIFT farm typology (Conservation Agriculture, Low-Input farming, Integrated/Circular farming, Organic farming, Agroecology) as well as possible combinations of these groups with a less ecological group, referred to as Standard farming. This allows us to depict whether ecological farms perform differently or have different trade-offs and synergies than standard farms. Based on this system, we carry out a farm sustainability performance assessment with the two main data sources in the LIFT project, namely Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data and data from the LIFT large-scale farmer survey, covering main farm types present in the European Union (EU) in several case study regions/countries. Additionally, we present in-depth analyses of further specific aspects, namely (i) the extension of the developed indicator framework to bio-economic models, (ii) the integration of the consumption and provision of ecosystem services into the developed indicator system through composite agri-environmental performance (AEP) indicators, derived from the body of secondary literature and region-specific stakeholder input, and (iii) working conditions and employment on farms in the context of an ecological transition. Overall, our results show the importance of considering trade-offs and synergies both within and between farm sustainability dimensions, in the assessment of farm level sustainability performance of ecological farming approaches. Our results also highlight that in many cases the effects of an increasing uptake of ecological approaches are heterogenous and need to be investigated further. We clearly point out the assumptions associated with our approach as well as its limitations. Given these limitations, the LIFT farm sustainability performance assessment developed here is nevertheless well suited for large-scale and long-term monitoring. This is based on readily available FADN data and, in the near future, could be based on Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) data, providing an in-depth exploratory view for policy makers and researchers regarding farm level sustainability performance of ecological approaches in the EU farming sector. We outline several possible avenues for further research, namely (i) the inclusion of other data sources, (ii) the usage of econometric methods to facilitate causal inference, (iii) the broader usage of the developed composite AEP indicators, and (iv) further in-depth studies regarding the social sustainability dimension. Finally, in terms of policy recommendations we point out the importance of (i) flexible policy measures, able to properly address region-specific needs of farms, (ii) sound data as a basis for evidence-based policy, and (iii) investigating the ecological transition of the EU farming sector in more detail also at regional level, e.g. via living labs.