IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v66y2008i2-3p243-257.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Family farm sustainability in southern Brazil: An application of agri-environmental indicators

Author

Listed:
  • Fernandes, Lúcio André de O.
  • Woodhouse, Philip J.

Abstract

This paper investigates the sustainability of agroecological and conventional agriculture on small farms in southern Brazil. A methodology was developed to identify agri-environmental indicators of the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the farming systems. The criteria used for selecting sustainability indicators were policy relevance, measurability, validity/analytical soundness, level of aggregation/communication to the user. Based on these criteria indicators were selected for natural, financial, physical, human, and social capital assets. The research identified 'external' indicators, those relevant to researcher/policy makers, and 'internal' indicators, those relevant to the resource users. The two sets were combined and data relevant to the selected indicators were collected from secondary sources and also direct from farmers through a small-scale sample survey. After analysing the data, indicators were selected for each capital asset to generate a multi-criteria assessment of sustainability at three scales: farm, local and regional. The analysis provided evidence of ecological and social advantages of ecological farms, but financial disadvantages associated with the cost of alternative marketing arrangements for agroecological produce. The paper draws conclusions about the usefulness of indicators in the assessment of farming sustainability and possibilities for wider application.

Suggested Citation

  • Fernandes, Lúcio André de O. & Woodhouse, Philip J., 2008. "Family farm sustainability in southern Brazil: An application of agri-environmental indicators," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 243-257, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:66:y:2008:i:2-3:p:243-257
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921-8009(08)00065-7
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hezri, Adnan A. & Dovers, Stephen R., 2006. "Sustainability indicators, policy and governance: Issues for ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 86-99, November.
    2. Rasul, Golam & Thapa, Gopal B., 2003. "Sustainability Analysis of Ecological and Conventional Agricultural Systems in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(10), pages 1721-1741, October.
    3. Adato, Michelle & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela, 2002. "Assessing the impact of agricultural research on poverty using the sustainable livelihoods framework," EPTD discussion papers 89, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Stoorvogel, J. J. & Antle, J. M. & Crissman, C. C. & Bowen, W., 2004. "The tradeoff analysis model: integrated bio-physical and economic modeling of agricultural production systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 43-66, April.
    5. Belcher, K. W. & Boehm, M. M. & Fulton, M. E., 2004. "Agroecosystem sustainability: a system simulation model approach," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 225-241, February.
    6. Pieri, C. & Dumanski, J. & Hamblin, A. & Young, A., 1995. "Land Quality Indicators," World Bank - Discussion Papers 315, World Bank.
    7. Herendeen, Robert A. & Wildermuth, Todd, 2002. "Resource-based sustainability indicators: Chase County, Kansas, as example," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 243-257, August.
    8. Rudd, Murray A., 2004. "An institutional framework for designing and monitoring ecosystem-based fisheries management policy experiments," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 109-124, January.
    9. Pervanchon, F. & Bockstaller, C. & Girardin, P., 2002. "Assessment of energy use in arable farming systems by means of an agro-ecological indicator: the energy indicator," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 149-172, May.
    10. Reed, Mark S. & Fraser, Evan D.G. & Dougill, Andrew J., 2006. "An adaptive learning process for developing and applying sustainability indicators with local communities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 406-418, October.
    11. Ellis, Frank, 2000. "Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198296966.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ionuț-Alexandru Spânu & Alexandru Ozunu & Dacinia Crina Petrescu & Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag, 2022. "A Comparative View of Agri-Environmental Indicators and Stakeholders’ Assessment of Their Quality," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-23, March.
    2. Luong Van Pham & Carl Smith, 2014. "Drivers of agricultural sustainability in developing countries: a review," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 326-341, June.
    3. Gao, Yang & Zhang, Xiao & Wu, Lei & Yin, Shijiu & Lu, Jiao, 2017. "Resource basis, ecosystem and growth of grain family farm in China: Based on rough set theory and hierarchical linear model," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 157-167.
    4. Aleksander Grzelak & Jakub Staniszewski & Michał Borychowski, 2020. "Income or Assets—What Determines the Approach to the Environment among Farmers in A Region in Poland?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-20, June.
    5. Maria Tsiouni & Stamatis Aggelopoulos & Alexandra Pavloudi & Dario Siggia, 2021. "Economic and Financial Sustainability Dependency on Subsidies: The Case of Goat Farms in Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-15, July.
    6. Aleksander Grzelak, 2020. "The Objectives of Farm Operations—Evidence from a Region in Poland," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-20, October.
    7. Herrera, Gabriel Paes & Lourival, Reinaldo & da Costa, Reginaldo Brito & Mendes, Dany Rafael Fonseca & Moreira, Tito Belchior Silva & de Abreu, Urbano Gomes Pinto & Constantino, Michel, 2018. "Econometric analysis of income, productivity and diversification among smallholders in Brazil," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 455-459.
    8. Fabián Cruz & Dolly Pardo & Alberto Horcada & Yolanda Mena, 2024. "An Assessment of Sustainability of Dual-Purpose, Dairy and Beef Cattle Production Systems in the Cundinamarca Department (Colombia) Using the MESMIS Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-18, August.
    9. Hubeau, Marianne & Marchand, Fleur & Coteur, Ine & Mondelaers, Koen & Debruyne, Lies & Van Huylenbroeck, Guido, 2017. "A new agri-food systems sustainability approach to identify shared transformation pathways towards sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 52-63.
    10. Sophia Dobkowitz & Ariane Walz & Gabriele Baroni & Aldrin M. Pérez-Marin, 2020. "Cross-Scale Vulnerability Assessment for Smallholder Farming: A Case Study from the Northeast of Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-24, May.
    11. Jung, Suhyun & Rasmussen, Laura Vang & Watkins, Cristy & Newton, Peter & Agrawal, Arun, 2017. "Brazil's National Environmental Registry of Rural Properties: Implications for Livelihoods," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 53-61.
    12. Andrea Pronti & Flavio Bertinaria, 2017. "Un’analisi multidimensionale della sostenibilità per l’agricoltura familiare. Il caso dell’area amazzonica peruviana/A multidimensional assessment of sustainability for small farming production. The c," IRCrES Working Paper 201711, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY.
    13. Chiarella, Cristina & Meyfroidt, Patrick & Abeygunawardane, Dilini & Conforti, Piero, 2023. "Balancing the trade-offs between land productivity, labor productivity and labor intensity," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 52(10), pages 1618-1634.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Castellani, V. & Sala, S., 2010. "Sustainable performance index for tourism policy development," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 871-880.
    2. Savath, Vivien & Fletschner, Diana & Peterman, Amber & Santos, Florence, 2014. "Land, assets, and livelihoods: Gendered analysis of evidence from Odisha State in India:," IFPRI discussion papers 1323, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Muhammad Zada & Syed Jamal Shah & Cao Yukun & Tariq Rauf & Naveed Khan & Syed Asad Ali Shah, 2019. "Impact of Small-to-Medium Size Forest Enterprises on Rural Livelihood: Evidence from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-17, May.
    4. Hamil Pearsall, 2010. "From Brown to Green? Assessing Social Vulnerability to Environmental Gentrification in New York City," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 28(5), pages 872-886, October.
    5. Hidayat, Kurniawati Nia & Glasbergen, Pieter & Offermans, Astrid, 2015. "Sustainability Certification and Palm Oil Smallholders’ Livelihood: A Comparison between Scheme Smallholders and Independent Smallholders in Indonesia," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 18(3), pages 1-24, September.
    6. Galdeano-Gómez, E. & Aznar-Sánchez, J.A. & Pérez-Mesa, J.C. & Piedra-Muñoz, L., 2017. "Exploring Synergies Among Agricultural Sustainability Dimensions: An Empirical Study on Farming System in Almería (Southeast Spain)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 99-109.
    7. Tanui, Joseph & Groeneveld, Rolf & Klomp, Jeroen & Mowo, Jeremiahs & Ierland, Ekko C. van, 2013. "Explaining investments in sustainable land management: The role of various income sources in the smallholder farming systems of western Kenya," 2013 Fourth International Conference, September 22-25, 2013, Hammamet, Tunisia 161275, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    8. Ionuț-Alexandru Spânu & Alexandru Ozunu & Dacinia Crina Petrescu & Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag, 2022. "A Comparative View of Agri-Environmental Indicators and Stakeholders’ Assessment of Their Quality," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-23, March.
    9. Francisco X. Aguilar & Dienda Hendrawan & Zhen Cai & James M. Roshetko & Judith Stallmann, 2022. "Smallholder farmer resilience to water scarcity," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 2543-2576, February.
    10. Tiziana Pagnani & Elisabetta Gotor & Francesco Caracciolo, 2021. "Adaptive strategies enhance smallholders’ livelihood resilience in Bihar, India," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(2), pages 419-437, April.
    11. Martín Alejandro Iribarnegaray & María Laura Gatto D’Andrea & María Soledad Rodriguez-Alvarez & María Eugenia Hernández & Christian Brannstrom & Lucas Seghezzo, 2015. "From Indicators to Policies: Open Sustainability Assessment in the Water and Sanitation Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-21, October.
    12. Brennan Lowery & John Dagevos & Ratana Chuenpagdee & Kelly Vodden, 2020. "Storytelling for sustainable development in rural communities: An alternative approach," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1813-1826, November.
    13. Julia Szulecka, 2019. "Towards Sustainable Wood-Based Energy: Evaluation and Strategies for Mainstreaming Sustainability in the Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, January.
    14. Babigumira, Ronnie & Angelsen, Arild & Buis, Maarten & Bauch, Simone & Sunderland, Terry & Wunder, Sven, 2014. "Forest Clearing in Rural Livelihoods: Household-Level Global-Comparative Evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 67-79.
    15. Tiziana Pagnani & Elisabetta Gotor & Enoch Kikulwe & Francesco Caracciolo, 2021. "Livelihood assets’ influence on Ugandan farmers’ control practices for Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW)," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-19, December.
    16. Bolson, Natanael & Yutkin, Maxim & Rees, William & Patzek, Tadeusz, 2022. "Resilience rankings and trajectories of world's countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    17. Meg Holden, 2009. "Community Interests and Indicator System Success," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 92(3), pages 429-448, July.
    18. Brennan Lowery & John Dagevos & Kelly Vodden, 2020. "Goal-Driven or Data-Driven? Inventory of Sustainability Indicator Initiatives in Rural Canada," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-35, October.
    19. Allain, S. & Plumecocq, G. & Leenhardt, D., 2018. "Spatial aggregation of indicators in sustainability assessments: Descriptive and normative claims," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 577-588.
    20. Moretti, Michele & De Boni, Annalisa & Roma, Rocco & Fracchiolla, Mariano & Van Passel, Steven, 2016. "Integrated assessment of agro-ecological systems: The case study of the “Alta Murgia” National park in Italy," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 144-155.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:66:y:2008:i:2-3:p:243-257. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.