Assessing the sustainability of crop production systems: Toward a common framework?

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All three dimensions of sustainability —economic, social and environmental— must be integrated into a holistic assessment framework in the development of sustainable cropping systems (CS). Numerous sustainability assessment methods meet this requirement, but most of them handle only one type of production system (arable crops, fruit or vegetables). We propose here a common framework for sustainability assessment applicable to various types of crop production. The DEXiPM model, which was designed for the ex ante assessment of innovative arable CS was adapted to other production systems. Three groups of experts analyzed and modified this model, to develop suitable methods for assessing the sustainability of pomefruit orchards, field vegetable systems, and grapevine systems. We used the resulting models to formalize a sustainability assessment framework, in which a fixed core of hierarchically organized generic agricultural sustainability issues can be weighted according to stakeholder priorities, and a set of basic attributes can be estimated in a flexible manner, depending on the situation to be assessed and the data available. This common framework for sustainability assessment has several advantages. It can facilitate communication between stakeholders involved in the development of innovative production systems. It can also help researchers to identify gaps in knowledge and the means of bridging them. Its results can provide recommendations for policy makers, concerning actions likely to incite the adoption of innovative systems, for example. We also consider the general applicability and limitations of this framework.