Integrated economic and environmental assessment of agro-ecological systems

Abstract

This study aims at combining biophysical and monetary sustainability assessment tools to support agriculture policy decision-making. Three methodological steps are considered: i) the environmental impacts of farms are assessed using Life Cycle Assessment; ii) the most relevant indicators of agriculture damages on ecosystems quality are aggregated into an index; iii) the farms index scores are integrated with farm assets, land and labor, into the Sustainable Value Approach (SVA) as indicator of natural resources used by farms. Crops farms show higher sustainable value using their economic and environmental resources, while mixed farms need to improve their resources use efficiency.