This paper aims to present the results of an expert and stakeholder based Delphi approach for analysing the performance of Swiss organic agriculture in terms of sustainability. We analysed four different production systems: Bio Suisse standards, public organic standards, integrated farming and farming according to Swiss cross compliance standards. The study illustrated that none of the farming systems performs 100% sustainable against any of the indicators. However, organic production showed an about 1-20% better performance than conventional and integrated systems. Particularly high scores were achieved for product quality, animal welfare, and biodiversity, while performing below average regarding resource use, food security and climate change. We conclude that organic production can be described to be ‘more sustainable’ than conventional production. However, substantial improvements in performance are possible. The means for making organic systems more sustainable include gains in productivity, additional incentives for on-farm nature protection elements and strict enforcement of animal husbandry standards
