Applying a Holistic Approach to Agricultural Sustainability Research: A Methodological Synthesis of Ecological Economics and System Dynamics

This paper advocates a holistic approach to the study of agricultural sustainability. Alternative approaches to sustainability must address both methods of analysis and policy-making. However, current agricultural research and practice suffer from the lack of appropriate analytical framework and policy-making tool to substantiate the notion of sustainable agricultural development. To narrow the gap between the rhetoric and the practice of agricultural sustainability, it is urgent to seek alternative approaches that can provide effective information and at the same time, facilitate improved policy-making processes. An ecological economics framework, which recognises the fundamental interdependence of human-natural interactions, is proposed for the transdisciplinary analysis of agricultural policy. A system dynamics modelling approach, which attempts to help decision-makers identify the knowledge gap and select a preferred course of action among several feasible alternatives, is regarded as a workable template from which the necessary transdisciplinary analysis is articulated and the gained insight is integrated into the policy-making process. It is highlighted in this paper that the methodological synthesis of the transdisciplinary analytical framework of ecological economics and the computer precision of system dynamics modelling may offer a holistic approach for effective policy analysis and improved policy-making towards the realisation of agricultural sustainability.