Risk and economic sustainability of crop farming systems

Environmental, social, and economic attributes are important for the sustainability of a farming system. Resilience is also important, yet has seldom been directly considered in evaluations of economic sustainability. In economic terms, resilience has to do with the capacity of the farm business to survive in various risks and other shocks. A whole-farm stochastic simulation model over a six-year planning horizon was used to analyse organic and conventional cropping systems using a model of a representative farm in Eastern Norway. The relative sustainability of the systems was examined in terms of terminal financial position.

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