‘Sterk met Melk’: a pilot project for sustainable dairy farming in Flanders

Abstract

Putting the theoretical concept of sustainability into practice often proves to be very difficult. To effectively adress this "sustainability paradox" between intention and action in Flemish agriculture, the indicator-based Monitoring Tool for Integrated Farm sustainability(MOTIFS)is developed. MOTIFS is a graphical tool, allowing a comprehensive overview and mutual comparison of indicators for different economic,ecological and social sustainability themes. A selection of sustainability themes extracted from MOTIFS is studied on 20 dairy farms in Flanders, to monitor sustainability and stimulate comminucation and exchange of knowledge between farmers. These 20 farms participate in a Leader+ project called 'Sterk met Melk(Strong with milk),2006-2008'. For each sustainability theme, on-farm data is collected, indicators are calculated and the results are discussed with each farmer individually. Also, communication sessions are organised in whch the participating farmers discuss their 'MOTIFS-results'. In this way, sustainability becomes tangible and farmers are motivated to adjust their farm management.