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Assessing the Sustainability Performance of Organic and Low-Input Conventional Farms from Eastern Poland with the RISE Indicator System
Abstract and Figures
The aim of this study was to examine the sustainability performance of organic and low-input conventional farms with the sustainability assessment tool—RISE 3.0. It is an indicator-based method for holistic assessment of sustainability of agricultural production at farm level. Ten organic and 10 conventional farms from eastern Poland, Lublin province were assessed. According to the thresholds levels of the RISE method, organic farms performed positively for 7 out of 10 themes, while the values of the other 3 topics, biodiversity, working conditions, and economic viability, were at medium level. Conventional farms reached positive scores for 9 out of 10 themes. The only middle-performing theme was biodiversity. None of the two farm types had the lowest, problematic scores for examined themes. For the theme biodiversity and two indicators (greenhouse gas balance and intensity of agricultural production), significant differences between farming systems were found. Biodiversity performance, an important indicator of sustainability, estimated with the RISE system, was highly correlated with measured on-field weed flora and Orthoptera biodiversity of farms. High soil acidity and low crop productivity, improper weed regulation, and energy management were the most common problems in both types of farms. Working hours and wage and income levels were also assessed as being low. Recommendations to improve the sustainability of both organic and conventional farms are presented.
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... This allows governments and other users to appropriately identify, prioritize, and quantify agricultural environmental impacts, advance the targets of agricultural and environmental programs, and evaluate policies [22]. Several studies have evaluated the environmental performance and sustainability of farms or derived indicators for evaluation [23][24][25][26][27]. Agricultural environmental indicators have been created primarily in developed countries such as OECD member countries (Table 1). ...
... To overcome these limitations, Zhen and Routray [23] have derived indicators suited for this purpose. Studies that evaluated the sustainability of farms using the response-inducing sustainability evaluation (RISE) sustainability assessment tool [24][25][26] are meaningful in that they evaluated the sustainability of farms at various levels, encompassing social, economic, physical, and ecological themes. Furthermore, Andrade et al. [27] utilized expert evaluations to test the validity of the derived indicators. ...
Sustainable agriculture, including organic farming, offers a potential remedy for addressing environmental pollution. Accordingly, the importance of evaluating the environmental benefits of organic agriculture has become evident. Numerous studies have compared organic and conventional farming or focused on specific crops in environmental studies; however, there is a lack of research on indicators that evaluate the positive impact of organic agriculture on the overall agricultural environment. Therefore, this study aimed to develop comprehensive agri-environmental evaluation indicators by utilizing an analytic hierarchy process (AHP). These methods were employed to determine the importance of factors that evaluate the environmental performance of organic agriculture. This study utilized literature reviews, derived and organized indicators, and prioritized evaluation factors using expert surveys and AHP methods. Based on the analysis of experts, physical and ecological agricultural environments were the most crucial evaluation factors, including biological properties. In addition to the physical ecological agricultural environments, the AHP results demonstrated the need for evaluation indicators that evaluate the overall agricultural environment, including the residential ecological environment and village living and cultural environment. Further empirical studies are required for the derivation of additional valid indicators and policy implementation.
... However, one of the basic weaknesses of this production system, as compared to conventional agriculture, is about the often lower production effects, which is related to the production only using natural means of production, which limits the possibilities of increasing productivity [31,32]. It is also the main criticism, because in common opinion, global food production should constantly increase to feed the constantly growing population of people who, at the same time, report an increasing demand for a high-calorie diet [33,34]. ...
Organic farms should, by definition, place particular emphasis on the protection of agricultural soils, landscape care and activities aimed at producing high-quality agricultural products. However, when joining this production system, the farms face many challenges in order to make these contributions to society at the expected level. The main aim of the study is to determine the scale of disproportions in production effects achieved by farms between organic and conventional production systems, taking into account the quality of natural management conditions. An equally important goal is to determine the factors in Polish agriculture that determine whether to conduct this production system. The paper aims to indicate the direction of development of organic farming in the EU, including Poland, based on the Eurostat data for 2012–2020. It was noted that the current development of the organic farming sector in EU member states has been at different rates. In Poland, its development strength largely depends on the presence of ANCs. Nearly ¾ of organic utilized agriculture area (UAA) is located in communes with a large share of them. Organic farms achieve lower production effects in comparison to conventional farms, and their disproportions also depend on the quality of natural farming conditions. In Poland, the personal competences of farmers are also an important determinant in joining organic farming.
... The most frequently available studies, comparing organic farming (OF) vs. conventional farming (CF), are based on LCA methodology. Boschiero et al. (2023) compared 77 pairwise LCA studies using 15 environmental impacts indicators (including climate change, ozone depletion, ecotoxicity, human toxicity, acidification, eutrophication, use of resources, water, and energy); Borsato et al. (2020) evaluated water and carbon footprint, an integrated indicator of vineyard management practices and an economic indicator (net income) to drive conclusions on vineyard OF and CF managements; Michos et al. (2018) used energy flow, carbon and water footprint to compare OF and CF in vineyards, kiwi and apple orchards; a complex multiple indicator model, RISE (Grenz et al. 2009), based on 57 sustainability parameters condensed into twelve indicators, was used in 10 paired studies in Poland by Berbeć et al. (2018). A vast literature exists on the effect of organic farming vs conventional farming on specific soil chemical, physical and biological parameters, but a synthesis is not generally associated to climate, water, nitrogen, energy and land footprint indicators. ...
... Biodiversity loss is progressing worldwide (Maier et al., 2019), with intensive agricultural land use considered the most important factor in biodiversity decline (Gabel et al., 2018). Although biodiversity assessment methods have already been developed, these approaches often focus on the whole farm rather than the individual field (Berbeć et al., 2018;Birrer et al., 2014;Gottwald & Stein-Bachinger, 2018;Świtek et al., 2019). In addition, monitoring of different species or expert knowledge is often required, as in the approach of Tasser et al. (2019), the approach of Chaplin et al. (2021) or even that of Elmiger et al. (2023). ...
Biodiversity loss is a global problem, with agriculture being a major driver. Every agricultural operation, including management, has an impact on biodiversity because it interferes with nature. It is challenging to assess these impacts. Correspondingly, it can be difficult to support farmers to work in a more biodiversity-friendly way. This paper presents a conceptual framework for farmers to predictively assess their biodiversity potential and compare it over several years. On the one hand, parameters at field level (“on-crop”) are taken into account and, on the other hand, the landscape level (“off-crop”) with corresponding parameters is also included. The simple application and the easy integration in field record systems through data already collected by the farmer allows widespread use.In conclusion, the framework is a recommendation for biodiversity assessment. It should be further developed and validated so that new scientific findings can be incorporated into the assessment of biodiversity in order to be able to calculate and predict it even more accurately.
... The principles of sustainable development in agriculture cover the following elements to be addressed: social, economic, and welfare [4]. These factors share a common goal-to minimise negative environmental impacts [5,6]. The plant production sector can alleviate climate change when sustainable land-use methods are applied [7]. ...
The increasing popularity of automated systems and the increased market share of producers of robotic feeding equipment for cows causes the need for a deeper study of energy demand in such technologies. This article provides an analysis of the inputs of energy accumulated in conventional (CFS) and automated feeding systems (AFS) for cattle. The aim of this is to determine the impact of robotic technologies for the preparation and feeding of fodder on the cumulative energy inputs. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of machinery and the equipment applied to the cumulative energy intensity in cattle farming facilities. The cumulative energy consumption for four technologies of automated cattle feeding (AFS) was tested and compared to the energy consumption for six technologies with a conventional feeding system (CFS). The research involved nine cow barn facilities for dairy cows and one for beef cattle. An evaluation has been made for cattle farming structures (milk and meat production) with various mixing and feeding systems for feeds of various concentrations, and keeping system (tied system and free-stall). The cow barns differed in feed mixing, feeding machinery, and equipment. Measurements of live labor inputs and the consumption of electric and mechanical energy carriers were carried out, and the mass of various types of machines and devices with software was taken into account, which became the basis for calculating cumulative energy consumption for individual technologies. The obtained average of electric and mechanical energy inputs for robotic technologies of feeding fodder (AFS) was 0.60025 kWh∙day−1∙LU−1(where LU means Large Animal Unit 500 kg), and it was 39.3% lower than for conventional technologies (CFS) where it was 0.989052 kWh∙day−1∙LU−1. However, taking into account all components of cumulative energy consumption, the average for the group of robotic technologies (AFS) was higher by 35.18% than for conventional technologies (CFS).
... Differences influence economic viability in prices at the farm level, the nearest primary market, the agricultural labor availability, land size, and the agricultural products sold percentage in the market [13] [14]. Recent studies have shown that the application of sustainability agriculture could be developed by an estimated $43.4 billion by 2025, and farmers can increase production efficiency. ...
The sustainability level needs to be measured and analyzed comprehensively using a representative measurement model. The main objective of this study was to develop a sustainable environmental management system for food crop agriculture. The proposed hybrid measurement model integrates the inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) effects and geographic information systems (GIS) with the Internet of Things (IoT). The proposed model was implemented in a potato farming system in six sub-districts in Wonosobo, Indonesia. From an environmental perspective, that is, methane (CH 4 ), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), and nitrous oxide (N 2 O), emissions were measured using the Raspberry Pi. Then, we added GHG spatial mapping by considering the environmental quality index. Sustainability levels were classified into three classes. We then measured the economic viability, social acceptance, and spatial perspective index (Si). The results showed that the value of sustainability was >0.1 without considering Si, meaning that all samples showed conditions above the threshold for sustainability. However, after adding Si, namely altitude, slope, soil texture, temperature, and rainfall, the N 1 and N 2 samples had values >0.1. In contrast, N 4 and N 6 showed values <0.1. The proposed model can measure and analyze the sustainability of a sustainable food crop system. This model has also successfully proposed a strategy by increasing environmental sustainability in the Garung sub-district using the ANP Super Decision. We propose an alternative strategy: government regulation, strengthening agricultural institutions, disseminating emissions and environmental aspects, and academic assistance. In future research, this model can be used to control CH 4 , CO 2 , and N 2 O emissions.
... Table 2 describes the OF practices adoption level, which showed moderate mean score (M= 2.597). Fruit farmers in this study area were not too interested in practicing OF due to lack of knowledge of on the correct or proper OF management, especially on issues involving pest and disease control during OF peactices.Similar to Berbeć et al. [35] study, OF adoption was also in the medium level. The main reason why the respondents tend to avoid adopting OF practices is due to the risk that needs to be taken. ...
A Malaysia Organic (myOrganic) Program is being promoted in Malaysia as a strategy to raise small-scale producers’ income, protect the environment, and reduce food imports. However, from almost 144, 843 fruit farmers in Malaysia, only 63 farms received myOrganic certification. Unfortunately, Johor is the second-lowest state of myOrganic recipients even though they have the highest number of fruit farmers. Thus, this study aims to determine the factors impinging the organic farming practices adoption by fruits farmers in Johor, Malaysia. The quantitative research design was employed, and the questionnaire is structured based on a combination of Theory Planned Behavior (TPB) and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The probability sampling was employed by using simple random sampling technique that involved fruits farmers in Johor. SPSS version 25.0 had been used to analyse the data using descriptive analysis. Findings from this study showed moderate mean score for organic farming practices adoption (M= 2.597), perceived behavioural control (M=3.212) and perceived usefulness (M=3.499), while high mean score showed by attitude (M=3.711) and perceived ease of use (are M=3.860). This study is significant to the government, researchers and farmers to understand the factors and importance of organic farming practices adoption.
Achieving agricultural sustainability requires a comprehensive assessment of economic, social, and environmental dynamics. This assessment must be supported by scientifically validated indicators that measure all aspects of the system. This study aims to assess and compare the indicator-based farm sustainability of wheat farming in Punjab, India, under two farming systems: conventional farming (CF) and organic farming (OF). This study is based on cross-sectional data collected through a primary survey of 348 wheat growers (143 organics and 205 conventional). A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to collect the data. Based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 2008 index construction methodology, a composite sustainability index (CSI), economic sustainability index (ESI), social sustainability index (SSI), and environmental sustainability index (EnSI) have been constructed. The study is motivated by the significant focus on wheat-rice monoculture in Punjab, which has led to declining agricultural growth, over-exploitation of groundwater, and excessive use of agro-chemicals, among other sustainability issues. The empirical results of CSI show that OF is more sustainable than CF in terms of environmental and social sustainability, whereas CF is economically more viable than OF. The study suggest that the government should adopt a balanced approach that encourages and promotes both farming systems simultaneously. To enhance the sustainability of CF, the focus should be on resource conservation technologies, farm practices and ensuring farmers’ well-being, while financial incentives, educational opportunities, and market expansion are crucial for making OF more sustainable.
To achieve national and global air quality and climate change objectives, the agricultural sector increasingly requires dependable decision support tools for gaseous emissions at the farm level. We evaluated thirteen greenhouse gas (GHG)-based decision support systems (DSS), considering criteria such as not only the accessibility, user-friendliness, stakeholder involvement, sustainability methodology, and modeling aspects, but also the input parameters and outputs provided, all crucial for decision making. While most DSSs provide information for facilitating their use, only four are suitable for inexperienced users, and stakeholder participation in DSS development is infrequent. The dominant methodology for farm-level GHG estimation is IPCC 2006, with quantitative models primarily used for indicators’ assessment. Scenario and contribution analyses are the prevailing decision support approaches. Soil, crop, and fertilizer types are the most implemented non-livestock-related inputs, while climate- and feed-related costs are the least required. All DSSs assess farm-level mitigation measures, but less than half offer sustainability consultation. These tools promote environmental sustainability by evaluating mitigation strategies, disseminating farm sustainability information, and guiding sustainable farm management. Yet, challenges such as disparate estimation methods, result variations, comparison difficulties, usability concerns, steep learning curves, the lack of automation, the necessity for multiple tools, the limited integration of the results, and changing regulations hinder their wider adoption.
Indicators are being used in many agricultural sustainability assessment methods, but disputes about a common indicator for the definition of sustainability have resulted in so many various indicators and methods of measurement. The objective of this review is to provide a bibliometric analysis of sustainability pillars and indicators that has been widely applied. In addition, this paper evaluates the impact of pillars and indicators on scientific research through the analysis of their citation and trend. Using Scopus database, a total of 30 articles have been selected. The search revealed more than 500 indicators, and the top 3 indicators of each pillar which were considered in 7 articles or more are (soil erosion, crop diversity and pesticides) for environmental pillar, (education and training) for social pillar are and (Profitability, productivity and farm income) for economic pillar. Results showed that the environmental pillar is the most tackled in terms of the number of articles (n=22) and the most cited with a mean citation of about 60. The pesticide is the oldest indicator in terms of its average year of publication in 2011, the most cited indicator of more than 250 in 2005 and has the highest mean citation of about 42. The least cited indicators are farm income and training with less than 10 mean citation. Nowadays, the economic pillar is considered one of the most discussed and widely implemented with a total of 7 published articles in 2020.
Organic farming may present opportunities for job creation over and above those provided by conventional agriculture; this study is one of a small number to have empirically examined this proposition. We compared countywide averages of hired farm labor from the USDA’s 2007 Agricultural Census with data collected through a mirrored survey of organic farmers in the same counties in Washington and California. Based on mixed-effects linear models to estimate differences (if any) in employment between organic farms and countywide farm averages, our analysis indicated that organic farms employed more workers per acre (95% CI: 2–12% more). Further, a greater proportion (95% CI: 13–43% more) of hired labor on organic farms worked 150 days or more compared to the average farm, suggesting increased labor requirements—and potentially more secure employment—on organic farms. We conclude the present study by considering possible policy implications of our findings with regards to organic agriculture as part of regional economic development strategies.
The growth of organic agriculture in Denmark raises the interest of both producers and consumers in the sustainability performance of organic production. The aim of this study was to examine the sustainability performance of farms in four agricultural sectors (vegetable, dairy, pig and poultry) using the sustainability assessment tool RISE 2.0. Thirty seven organic farms were assessed on 10 themes, including 51 subthemes. For one theme (water use) and 17 subthemes, a difference between sectors was found. Using the thresholds of RISE, the vegetable, dairy and pig sector performed positively for seven themes and the poultry sector for eight themes. The performance on the nutrient flows and energy and climate themes, however, was critical for all sectors. Moreover, the performance on the economic viability theme was critical for vegetable, dairy and pig farms. The development of a tool, including decisions, such as the selection of themes and indicators, reference values, weights and aggregation methods, influences the assessment results. This emphasizes the need for transparency and reflection on decisions made in sustainability assessment tools. The results of RISE present a starting point to discuss sustainability at the farm-level and contribute to an increase in awareness and learning about sustainability.
The author provides an analysis of family farming in Poland during the period 1990-2012, with special attention towards the close links of ownership and the operation of the farm by family members. The weight of various factors is given close attention, including the historical context of the farm, current conditions, and future intentions for the farm.
The historical context acknowledges and stresses the importance of the late abolition of serfdom made by the partitioning powers, various agricultural reforms during the period 1919-1944, and the period 1948-1989 (when family farming was incorporated into a deficient centrally planned economy). This latter period saw family farms developing specific mechanisms of functioning, which can be seen two decades later. Analysis of the period 1990-2012 is based on data of the Central Statistical Office, the present study, and other published materials. The data series includes individual farms of more than 1 ha, based on family labour.
Separated are two sub-periods: the post-communist transformation period from the early 1990s, and the period 2002-2012. The latter almost coincides with the accession to the EU. In the first period, the article outlines the process of creating duality in Polish agriculture. This describes a group of family farms where the household strongly reacted to the market and became larger and modernised (professional – 1/3 of the total) and small, extensive and producing mainly for own consumption (semi-subsistence – 2/3). In the second period, the functioning and transformation of households taking place under the CAP are examined. Modernisation is primarily seen on the professional farm. Specific mechanisms can be seen that provide fairly stable functioning of semisubsistence farms, independent of the market, with non-farm incomes and agricultural social security. These farms resisted collectivisation and stopped and hindered modernisation during the communist period, and this post-communist transformation now requires a doubly controlled modernisation process.
Organic farming (OF) has been believed to be capable of curtailing some hazardous effects associated with chemical farming (CF). However, debates also exist on whether OF can feed a world with increasing human population. We hypothesized that some improvements on OF may produce adequate crops and reduce environmental pollutions from CF. This paper makes comparative analysis of crop yield, soil organic matter and economic benefits within the practice on Biodiversity Management of Organic Farming (BMOF) at Hongyi Organic Farm (HOF) over eight years and between BMOF and CF. Linking crop production with livestock to maximal uses of by-products from each production and avoid xenobiotic chemicals, we have achieved beneficial improvement in soil properties, effective pest and weed control, and increased crop yields. After eight years experiment, we have obtained a gradual but stable increase in crop yields with a 9.6-fold increase of net income. The net income of HOF was 258,827 dollars and 24,423 dollars in 2014 and 2007 respectively. Thus, BMOF can not only feed more population, but also increase adaptive capacity of agriculture ecosystems and gain much higher economic benefits.
Organic agriculture has a history of being contentious and is considered by some as an inefficient approach to food production. Yet organic foods and beverages are a rapidly growing market segment in the global food industry. Here, we examine the performance of organic farming in light of four key sustainability metrics: productivity, environmental impact, economic viability and social wellbeing. Organic farming systems produce lower yields compared with conventional agriculture. However, they are more profitable and environmentally friendly, and deliver equally or more nutritious foods that contain less (or no) pesticide residues, compared with conventional farming. Moreover, initial evidence indicates that organic agricultural systems deliver greater ecosystem services and social benefits. Although organic agriculture has an untapped role to play when it comes to the establishment of sustainable farming systems, no single approach will safely feed the planet. Rather, a blend of organic and other innovative farming systems is needed. Significant barriers exist to adopting these systems, however, and a diversity of policy instruments will be required to facilitate their development and implementation.
In the past decades a wide variety of tools have been developed to assess the sustainability performance of farms. Although multiple studies have compared tools on a theoretical basis, little attention has been paid to the comparing tools in practice. This research compared indicator-based sustainability assessment tools to gain insight in practical requirements, procedures and complexity involved in applying sustainability assessment tools. In addition, the relevance of the tools, as perceived by farmers, was evaluated. An overview of 48 indicator-based sustainability assessment tools was developed to, subsequently, select tools that address the environmental, social and economic dimension of sustainability, are issued in a scientific publication and suitable for assessing the sustainability performance of livestock and arable farms in Denmark. Only four tools (RISE, SAFA, PG and IDEA) complied with the selection criteria and were used to assess the sustainability performance of five Danish farms. The tools vary widely in their scoring and aggregation method, time requirement and data input. The farmers perceived RISE as the most relevant tool to gain insight in the sustainability performance of their farm. The findings emphasize the importance of context specificity, user-friendliness, complexity of the tool, language use, and a match between value judgements of tool developers and farmers. Even though RISE was considered as the most relevant tool, the farmers expressed a hesitation to apply the outcomes of the four tools in their decision making and management. Furthermore, they identified limitations in their options to improve their sustainability performance. Additional efforts are needed to support farmers in using the outcomes in their decision making. The outcomes of sustainability assessment tools should therefore be considered as a starting point for discussion, reflection and learning.
