Measuring progress towards sustainable intensification: How far can secondary data go?

Abstract A number of influential policy documents have championed sustainable intensification as an approach to meet the challenge of a growing population under increasing land constraints. Whilst there has been some discussion on how to define sustainable intensification, few studies have provided frameworks for measuring progress. This paper develops an approach using data from the Farm Account Data Network for a balanced panel of 42 beef farms within Scotland. Indicators reflecting economic, environmental and social parameters are derived from this database and measured over the period 2000–2010. These variables are objectively weighted to construct an overall index using positive matrix factorisation (PMF), a form of factor analysis, which is appropriate when handling environmental quantities. We find little change in Scottish beef farming with respect to sustainable intensification, which reflects both a policy which has not supported intensification or output expansion over this period, nor has it increased economic, social or ecosystem sustainability over this period. We argue that secondary data is a valuable resource for creating indicators for all these areas of policy interest and data from the farm account networks emphasises the production elements of farming, which is central to definitions of sustainable intensification. However, within the score itself there is a great deal of variance which highlights caution in how to use a single indicator to fully reflect progress towards this goal.

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