https://doi.org/10.4081/ija.2021.1785

A multi-criteria qualitative tool for the sustainability assessment of organic durum wheat-based farming systems designed through a participative process

Vol. 16 No. 1 (2021)
Submitted: 2 December 2020
Accepted: 23 December 2020
Published: 12 February 2021
DEXi, ex-ante analysis, ex-post analysis, multi-attribute, stakeholder involvement, Triticum durum.
Abstract Views: 2123
PDF: 985
Appendix: 141
HTML: 95
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

Highlights
- BioDurum_MCA is an effective tool for sustainability assessment of durum wheat organic Italian production systems.
- Hierarchic structure of the tool reflects the sustainability issues and priorities expressed by involved stakeholders.
- MCA tools can support a holistic evaluation of farm sustainability performances in the frame of post-2020 CAP.

 

The agriculture sustainability assessment is a difficult issue for the coexistence of conflicting objectives and the multidimensionality of the performances. The environmental, economic and social pillars need to be simultaneously considered in an assessment to evaluate potential synergies and trade-offs of the agricultural processes within and among the attributes of the dimensions in both implemented systems (ex-post analysis) and potential options (ex-ante analysis). Among several sustainability assessment methods, tools based on multi-criteria analysis (MCA) are increasingly adopted in evaluating sustainability in agriculture. The aim of this work was to present the MCA tool developed in the framework of the BioDurum project for the sustainability assessment of organic farms located in southern Italy and characterised by durum wheat-based crop rotations. The tool was entirely designed through a participatory process and it was realised using the open-source DEXi software that have demonstrated to be particularly suitable for creating qualitative multi-criterial hierarchic models with the engage of stakeholders. The hierarchic structure of BioDurum_MCA tool was resulted composed by 64 indicators and 45 aggregated attributes articulated in three branches representing the agro-environment, economic, and social sustainability pillars. The articulated structure of the tool reflected the complexity and the sustainability issues and priorities expressed by the involved stakeholders. The tool was tested in four Italian organic farms presenting different agro-environmental and socio-economic patterns for their ex-post evaluations and in three different ex-ante production systems identified in compliance with the Italian regulation concerning the requirements of the rotations to be implemented in organic farming. The results highlighted the well discriminatory power of the tool. The best overall sustainability scores were reached in both ex-post and ex-ante analysis by the well diversified cereal farming systems with processed products sold through short supply chain mechanisms. BioDurum_MCA has proved to be a feasible tool to identify strengths and weaknesses of organic durum wheat-based production systems. Its adoption can support the definition of specific interventions for the sector in the Italian Strategic National Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy. Further improvements in the threshold classes of some indicators by using the tool in a wider number of Italian durum wheat based organic farms will increase model sensitivity and reliability of the results. The final version of the tool was released in November 2020 and it is freely available to users (http://bit.ly/biodurum).

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC
Bacon CM, Getz C, Kraus S, Montenegro M, Holland K, 2012. The social dimensions of sustainability and change in diversified farming systems. Ecol. Soc. 17:41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05226-170441
Balanay R, Halog A, 2019. Tools for circular economy: review and some potential applications for the Philippine textile industry. In Circular Economy in Textiles and Apparel. Woodhead Publishing, pp. 49-75. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102630-4.00003-0
Bergez JE, 2013. Using a genetic algorithm to define worst-best and best-worst options of a DEXi-type model: application to the MASC model of cropping-system sustainability. Comput. Electron. Agric. 90:93-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2012.08.010
Bocci R, Bussi B, Petitti M, Franciolini R, Altavilla V, Galluzzi G, Di Luzio P, Migliorini P, Spagnolo S, Floriddia R, Li Rosi G, Petacciato M, Battezzato V, Albino A, Faggio G, Arcostanzo C, Ceccarelli S, 2020. Yield, yield stability and farmers’ preferences of evolutionary populations of bread wheat: A dynamic solution to climate change. Eur. J. Agron. 121:126156. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2020.126156
Bohanec M, 2013. DEXi: Program for multi-criteria decision making, user’s manual, Version 4.0. IJS Report DP-113401134011340, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana. Available from: http://kt.ijs.si/MarkoBohanec/pub/DEXiManual400DEXiManual400DEXiManual400.pdf
Bohanec M, Messéan M, Scatasta S, Angevin F, Griffiths B, Krogh PH, Znidarsic M, Dzeroski S, 2008. A qualitative multi-attribute model for economic and ecological assessment of genetically modified crops. Ecol. Model 215:247-61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2008.02.016
Bohanec M, RajkoviÄ V, Bratko I, Zupan B, ŽnidarÅ¡iÄ M, 2013. DEX methodology: three decades of qualitative multi-attribute modelling. Informatica 37:49-54.
Bond A, Morrison-Saunders A, 2013. Better learning. In: Bond A, Morrison-Saunders A, Howitt R (Eds.), Sustainability assessment. Pluralism, practise and progress. Routledge. Taylor & Francis Group, New York, pp 216-230. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203112625
Brandão M, Canals LM, 2013. Global characterisation factors to assess land use impacts on biotic production. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 18:1243-52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0381-3
Canali S, Diacono M, Campanelli G, Montemurro F, 2015. Organic no-till with roller crimpers: Agro-ecosystem services and applications in organic Mediterranean vegetable productions. Sustain. Agric. Res. 4:70. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/sar.v4n3p70
Carof M, Colomb B, Aveline A, 2013. A guide for choosing the most appropriate method for multi-criteria assessment of agricultural systems according to decision-makers’ expectations. Agric. Syst. 115:51-62. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2012.09.011
Carpani M, Bergez JE, Monod H, 2012. Sensitivity analysis of a hierarchical qualitative model for sustainability assessment of cropping systems. Environ. Model Softw. 27:15-22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2011.10.002
Colomb B, Carof M, Aveline A, Bergez JE, 2013. Stockless organic farming: strengths and weaknesses evidenced by a multicriteria sustainability assessment model. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 33:593-608. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-012-0126-5
Cosyns H, Damme PV, Wulf RD, 2013. Who views what? Impact assessment through the eyes of farmers, development organisation staff and researchers. Int. J. Sustain. Dev. World Ecol. 20:287-301. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2013.806372
Craheix D, Angevin F, Bergez JE, Bockstaller C, Colomb B, Guichard L, Reau R, Doré T, 2011. MASC 2.0, un outil d’évaluation multicritère pour estimer la contribution des systèmes de culture au développement durable. Innov. Agron. 20:35-48.
Craheix D, Angevin, F, Doré T, de Tourdonnet S, 2016. Using a multicriteria assessment model to evaluate the sustainability of conservation agriculture at the cropping system level in France. Eur. J. Agron. 76:75-86. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2016.02.002
Craheix D, Bergez JE, Angevin F, Bockstaller C, Bohanec M, Colomb B, Doré T, Fortino G, Guichard L, Pelzer E, Méssean A, Reau R, Sadok W, 2015. Guidelines to design models assessing agricultural sustainability, based upon feedbacks from the DEXi decision support system. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 35:1431-47. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-015-0315-0
Creamer NG, Bennett MA, Stinner BR, Cardina J, Regnier EE, 1996. Mechanisms of weed suppression in cover crop-based production systems. HortSci. 31:410-3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI.31.3.410
De Vita P, Nicosia OLD, Nigro F, Platani C, Riefolo C, Di Fonzo N, Cattivelli L, 2007. Breeding progress in morpho-physiological, agronomical and qualitative traits of durum wheat cultivars released in Italy during the 20th century. Eur. J. Agron. 26:39-53. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2006.08.009
DM 3757, 2020. Disposizioni per l’attuazione dei regolamenti (CE) n. 834/2007 e n. 889/2008 e loro successive modifiche e integrazioni, relativi alla produzione biologica e all’etichettatura dei prodotti biologici. Ministerial Decree 3757/2020 of the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies (Mipaff), 9th April 2020, Official Journal of Italian Republic [in Italian].
EC, 2020. A Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system (Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions). European Commission, Brussels. COM (2020) 381 final.
EC, 2019. The European Green Deal (Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions). European Commission, Brussels. COM(2019) 640 final.
Finkbeiner M, Schau EM, Lehmann A, Traverso M, 2010. Towards life cycle sustainability assessment. Sustainability 2:3309-22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su2103309
Gaviglio A, Bertocchi M, Marescotti ME, Demartini E, Pirani A, 2016. The social pillar of sustainability: A quantitative approach at the farm level. Agric. Food Econ. 4:15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40100-016-0059-4
Giunta F, Bassu S, Mefleh M, Motzo R, 2020. Is the technological quality of old durum wheat cultivars superior to that of modern ones when exposed to moderately high temperatures during grain filling? Foods 9:778. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9060778
Goma HC, Rahim K, Nangendo G, Riley J, Stein A, 2001. Participatory studies for agro-ecosystem evaluation. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 87:179-90. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8809(01)00277-8
Kirchmann H, Bergström L, Katterer T, Andrén O, Andersson R, 2008. Can organic crop production feed the world? In: Kirchmann H, Bergström L (Eds.), Organic crop production-ambitions and limitations. Springer, Berlin, pp 39-72. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9316-6_3
Kneafsey M, Venn L, Schmutz U, Balázs B, Trenchard L, Eyden-Wood T, Bos E, Sutton G, Blackett M, 2013. Short food supply chains and local food systems in the EU. A state of play of their socio-economic characteristics. JRC Sci. Policy Rep. 123-9.
Kremen C, Iles A, Bacon C, 2012. Diversified farming systems: An agroecological, systems-based alternative to modern industrial agriculture. Ecol. Soc. 17:44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05103-170444
Iocola I, Angevin F, Bockstaller C, Catarino R, Curran M, Messéan A., Schader C, Stilmant D, Van Stappen F, Vanhove P5, Ahnemann H, Berthomier J, Colombo L, Dara Guccione G, Mérot E, Palumbo M, Virzì N, Canali S, 2020. An actor-oriented multi-criteria assessment framework to support a transition towards sustainable agricultural systems based on crop diversification. Sustainability 12:5434. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12135434
Lammerts van Bueren ET, Jones SS, Tamm L, Murphy KM, Myers JR, Leifert C, Messmer MM, 2011. The need to breed crop varieties suitable for organic farming using wheat, tomato and broccoli as examples. NJAS Wageningen J. Life Sci. 58:193-205. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.njas.2010.04.001
Langdale GW, Blevins RL, Karlen DL, McCool KK, Nearing MA, Skidmore EL, Thomas AW, Tyler DD, Williams JR, 1991. Cover crop effects on soil erosion by wind and water. In: W.L. Hargrove (Ed.), Cover crops for clean water. Soil and Water Conservation Society. Ankeny, IA, pp 15-22.
Mäder P, Fliessbach A, Dubois D, Gunst L, Fried P, Niggli U, 2002. Soil fertility and biodiversity in organic farming. Science 296:1694-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1071148
Migliorini P, Scaltriti B, 2012. Evaluation of sustainability of the farms in the Agricultural Park of South Milan and their production chain. New Medit. 11:53-6.
Migliorini P, Wezel A, 2017. Converging and diverging principles and practices of organic agriculture regulations and agroecology. A review. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 37:63. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-017-0472-4
Muller A, Schader C, El-Hage Scialabba N, Brüggemann J, Isensee A, Erb KH, Smith P, Klocke P, Leiber F, Stolze M, Niggli U, 2017. Strategies for feeding the world more sustainably with organic agriculture. Nat Commun 8:1290. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01410-w
Munda G, 2005. Multiple criteria decision analysis and sustainable development. In: S. Greco (Ed.), Multiple criteria decision analysis: state of the art surveys. Springer, New York, NY, USA, pp. 953-986. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-23081-5_23
Ness B, Urbel-Piirsalu E, Anderberg S, Olsson L, 2007. Categorising tools for sustainability assessment. Ecol. Econ. 60:498-508. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2006.07.023
Noss RF, 1990. Indicators for monitoring biodiversity: a hierarchical approach. Conserv. Biol. 4:355-64. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.1990.tb00309.x
Palumbo M, Blangiforti S, Cambrea M, Gallo G, Licciardello S, Spina A, 2008. Sicilian durum wheat landraces for production of traditional breads. pp 132-132 in Proc. Int. Durum Wheat Symposium “From Seed to Pasta: The Durum Wheat Chainâ€, Bologna, Italy.
Palumbo M, Sciacca F, Virzì N, Boggini G, 2003. Breadmaking quality of Sicilian durum wheat landraces. pp 77-81 in Proc. 2° International workshop: “Durum wheat and pasta quality: recent achievements and new trendsâ€, Roma, Italy.
Pacini C, Wossink A, Giesen G, Vazzana C, Huirne R, 2003. Evaluation of sustainability of organic, integrated and conventional farming systems: a farm and field-scale analysis. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 95:273-88. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8809(02)00091-9
Reganold JP, Wachter JM, 2016. Organic agriculture in the twenty-first century. Nat. Plants 2:1-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2015.221
Sadok W, Angevin F, Bergez JE, Bockstaller C, Colomb B, Guichard L, Reau R, Doré T, 2008. Ex ante assessment of the sustainability of alternative cropping systems: implications for using multi-criteria decision-aid methods. A review. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 28:163-74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/agro:2007043
Sadok W, Angevin F, Bergez JE, Bockstaller C, Colomb B, Guichard L, Reau R, Messéan A, Doré T, 2009. MASC, a qualitative multi-attribute decision model for ex ante assessment of the sustainability of cropping systems. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 29:447-61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/agro/2009006
Salmoral G, Garrido A, 2015. The Common Agricultural Policy as a driver of water quality changes: the case of the Guadalquivir River Basin (southern Spain). Bio-based Appl. Econ. J. 4:103-23.
Schindler J, Graef F, König HJ, 2015. Methods to assess farming sustainability in developing countries. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, Springer Verlag/EDP Sciences/INRA, 35 (3), pp.1043-1057. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-015-0305-2
Sciacca F, Allegra M, Licciardello S, Roccuzzo G, Torrisi B, Virzì N, Brambilla M, Romano E, Palumbo M, 2018. Potential use of Sicilian landraces in biofortification of modern durum wheat varieties: evaluation of caryopsis micronutrient concentrations. Cereal Res. Commun. 46:124-34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1556/0806.45.2017.056
Sciacca F, Cambrea M, Licciardello S, Pesce A, Romano E, Spina A, Virzì N, Palumbo M, 2014. Evolution of durum wheat: from Sicilian landraces to improved varieties. Opt. Médit. Ser. A 110:139-45.
Tamburini G, Bommarco R, Wanger TC, Kremen C, van der Heijden, MG, Liebman M, Hallin S, 2020. Agricultural diversification promotes multiple ecosystem services without compromising yield. Sci. Adv. 6:eaba1715. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aba1715
Vilain L, Boisset K, Girardin P, Guillaumin A, Mouchet C, Viaux P, Zahm F, 2008. La méthode IDEA: Indicateurs de durabilité des exploitations agricoles - Guide d'utilisation, 3eme édition, Editions Educagri, Dijon, 159 p.
von Wirén-Lehr S, 2001. Sustainability in agriculture- an evaluation of principal goal-oriented concepts to close the gap between theory and practice. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 84:115-29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8809(00)00197-3
Yachi S, Loreau M, 1999. Biodiversity and ecosystem productivity in a fluctuating environment: The insurance hypothesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 96:1463-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.96.4.1463
Watson CA, Atkinson D, Gosling P, Jackson LR, Rayns FW, 2002. Managing soil fertility in organic farming systems. Soil Use Manag. 18:239-47. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1079/SUM2002131
Weedon OD, Finckh MR, 2019. Heterogeneous winter wheat populations differ in yield stability depending on their genetic background and management system. Sustainability 11:6172. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su11216172
Weinstoerffer J, Girardin P, 2000. Assessment of the contribution of land use pattern and intensity to landscape quality: use of a landscape indicator. Ecol. Model. 130:95-109. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3800(00)00209-X

How to Cite

Iocola, I., Colombo, L., Dara Guccione, G. ., De Vita, P., Palumbo, M. ., Ritunnano, V., Sciacca, F., Virzì, N., & Canali, S. (2021). A multi-criteria qualitative tool for the sustainability assessment of organic durum wheat-based farming systems designed through a participative process. Italian Journal of Agronomy, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/ija.2021.1785

PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.