ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES ON CONSTRUCTING A COMPOSITE INDICATOR TO MEASURE AGRICULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to carry out a comparative analysis of alternative methods on constructing composite indicators to measure global sustainability of the agricultural sector. This comparison is implemented empirically on the irrigated agriculture of the Duero basin (Spain) as a case study. For this purpose, this research uses a dataset of indicators previously calculated for different farm-types and policy scenarios. The results allow to establish a hierarchy of the policy scenarios on the basis of the level of sustainability achieved. Furthermore, analyzing the heterogeneity of different farms-types in each scenario, is also possible to determine the main features of the most sustainable farms in each case. All this information is useful in order to support agricultural policy design and its implementation, trying to increase the sustainability of this sector.Sustainability, Composite Indicators, Irrigated agriculture, Scenarios, Agricultural policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,