Defining and Assessment of Sustainability of Farms

The issue of assessment of farms sustainability is among the most discussed among researchers, farmers, investors, politicians, interests groups and public at large. Despite the significant development of the theory and practice in that new area still there is no common understanding on „what is farm sustainability?“, „what is the relation between farm and agrarian sustainability?“, “which are critical factors of farms sustainability?”, and „how to assess farms sustainability level?“. This article tries to give answer to all these questions, as the evolution of the “concept” of farm sustainability is initially analyzed and discussed. On that base is suggested adequate definition of farm sustainability as ability of a particular farm to maintain its governance, economic, social and ecological functions in a long term. After that applicable for the contemporary conditions of the development of Bulgarian farms framework for assessing the farm sustainability level is suggested. The later includes a system of appropriate principles, criteria, indicators, and reference values, which characterize the governance, economic, ecological and social aspects of farms sustainability as well as approach for their integration and interpretation. The goal is to test the efficiency of this framework, and after that to apply it for the assessment of sustainability level of farms during the new program period of EU CAP implementation in Bulgaria.