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Global
Agriculture
The Indicators In Detail
Assessing sustainability is critical if we are to successfully implement measures and monitor their subsequent progress.
Over 200 evaluation criteria are required in order to build the 69 sustainability indicators on which AgBalance™ is based. With it AgBalance™ is able to holistically analyze sustainability from all of the three pillars namely, environment, society and economy. Have a look, what indicators AgBalance™ assesses in detail:
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Macroeconomy
Subsidies, Gross Value of Production and Farm profits are taken into account in the category macroeconomy.
Variable costs
Variable costs can make up a large proportion of the overall production costs. These can be influenced by farmers and are related to a range of important strategic decisions, such as the variety selected or crop protection regime used. The category of variable costs covers costs of seed, fertilization, crop protection products, soil preparation, and machinery.
Fixed costs
Fixed costs can make up a large proportion of farm overheads and are usually associated with critical elements of agricultural production. This category within AgBalance™ considers costs of labor, depreciation, maintenance/general repair of machinery, buildings, credits, insurance costs, and investment.
Soil
Soil indicators are quantified as follows: Soil Erosion, Soil Compaction, Nutrients balance and Organic matter balance. The goal of the indicators in the category Soil is to assess the potential risks to long-term soil health by considering aspects of the management practice, the crop-specific factors and location-specific factors of the growing region.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is a category within AgBalance™ and considers the biodiversity of species inhabiting farmland. This category takes into account the following indicators: State indicator, Agri-environmental schemes, Protected Areas, Crop rotation, Eco-Toxicity, Farming Intensity, Intermixing potential, N-surplus.
Water use
This indicator category determines the water footprint. This is calculated from the consumption of water in the life cycle of products and processes within the food and feed value chain.
Land use
Agricultural production specifically relies on land as a crucial resource. The land indicator category in AgBalance™ takes into account the amount of land needed for a production system and the suitability of that land for eco-systems.
Energy consumption
The use of primary energy in a product system should be as efficient as possible, mitigating against carbon emissions and preserving resources. This category takes into account the consumption of renewable and non-renewable energy in the life cycle of products and processes within the food and feed value chain.
Emissions
Calculates Air emissions, Greenhouse Gases, Acidification Potential, Ozone depletion potential, Photochemical Oxidation Creation potential, Water emissions, Solid Waste.
Resource consumption
The depletion of non-renewable resources is a risk to our society. This not only relates to fossil resources but also to all kinds of other resources, e.g., rare metals/elements used in machinery or electronics.
Eco-Toxicity potential
This category includes the assessed eco-toxicity potential of the production system. Examples are risk of spills, explosions, hazardous irradiation etc.
Farmer and entrepreneurs
Analyzes and assesses the situation of a farmer and participating entrepreneurs by considering Wages and salaries, Professional training, Association membership, Toxicity Potential, Risk Potential, Strikes and Lockouts.
Consumer
Producing food and feed with practical use for society and without endangering human and environmental health is the prerequisite for industry`s license to operate and its strongest commitment. From the perspective of a consumer, this category considers Residues in feed and food, presence of unauthorized or unlabeled GMO, toxicity potential and Functional Product Characteristics.
Local and national community
This category considers land tenure, the number and qualification of employees, gender equality, integration of disabled people, as well as the family support within a specific region and/or scope of an AgBalance™ study.
International community
This category considers Developing countries import, Amount of fair trade volume, Investments from foreign countries in the country under study as well as the sensitive topic of child labor.
Future generations
Number and working hours of Trainees, level of living conditions and of social services, the internal and external expenditures of companies in research and development activities and the amount of capital investments are taken into account in this category.