This links to the (never-ending) organic and sustainability debate. Organic
production methods and production standards exist for a reason, not just for
the sake of it. These reasons (or goals such as environmental and resource
use sustainability, financial viability of family farms, socio-cultural
concerns, food security, animal welfare) are identical to those commonly
associated with sustainable agriculture. Organic production standards
represent a means to achieve organic/sustainability goals, and are not an
end in themselves. Developing a distinct market provides a means by which
farmers who voluntarily internalise external costs can be compensated. The
real question is which approaches (organic, LISA, integrated) are more
successful in moving towards sustainability goals, as I remain unconvinced
that anyone can demonstrate a perfectly sustainable agriculture. This
assessment would involve reconciling conflicting goals, such as food
production levels and environmental impact/resource consumption, which makes
consideration of whether organic farming can feed the world irrelevant in
isolation from the other issues.
>From: Loku Dam Gunaratna <gunaratn@hawaii.edu>
>Subject: Software for evaluation sustainable systems
>
>I am in search of software programs to evaluate the suatianbility of
>agricultural systems. I understand sustainabilty is a broad term and
>there are different ways to measure sustainbility. My major concern is
>measurement of sustaianbilty in economic terms.If you folks are aware of
>any such software to evaluate sustainability, please let me know the
>details. Thanks!
>
>Guna
>
Nic Lampkin
Welsh Institute of Rural Studies
Stapledon Building, Penglais Campus
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
GB-Dyfed SY23 3DD.
Tel: +44 (0)1970 622248
Fax: +44 (0)1970 622238