Indicators used by farmers to design agricultural systems: A survey
Open accessAbstract
Agriculture is undergoing profound transformation in response to the global challenges of food security, pollution and climate change. In particular, some farmers are exploring and tentatively applying new practices based on agroecological principles. However, depending on biological regulation, these practices have uncertain results. In order to choose and monitor their changes, farmers use various indicators. In our study, we examined these indicators as they were applied in the implementation of technical changes, with a view to determining their exact nature, partly unexplored by agronomists. We held six interviews, performed a retrospective analysis of a redesign project involving five farmers and four advisors, observed collective visits at long-term field experiments, and organized a design workshop with eight farmers. We then coded the verbatim transcript in order to characterize the functions and attributes of the indicators, using the principles of grounded theory. Our results show that indicators have 22 different functions regarding the farmers’ technical action, grouped into five categories. The most common functions are more learning-oriented than assessment-oriented, e.g., “adaptation-monitoring” with 92 out of the 260 statements on indicators identified, and “understanding-reinterpretation” with 107 out of 260 statements. The attributes of the indicators are predominantly visual (62 %), relative (63 %), and passive (75 %). In addition, we found that indicators used at a strategic decision level are specific, as they are mostly quantified, concern large time and spatial scales, and are essentially dynamic, that is, interpreted in as trends.
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Sustainability performance indicators are often used for assessment purposes, rather than supporting stakeholder learning and actions.
“Moreover, sustainability performance indicators are often used for assessment purposes, rather than supporting stakeholder learning and actions.”
From An Actor-Oriented Multi-Criteria Assessment Framework to Support a Transition towards Sustainable Agricultural Systems Based on Crop Diversification (2020) · cites this paper as [18]
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“, Agri-Environmental Indicators [17]), rather than to support stakeholder learning and drive their actions during the sustainability transition [18].”
Background
- Authors
- Toffolini, Q., Jeuffroy, M.-H., & Prost, L.
- Affiliations
- AgroParisTech (FR)
- Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Sciences, Innovations, Sociétés (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Toffolini, Quentin
- Venue
- Agronomy for Sustainable Development
- Published
- 2015-12-22
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- np
- ISSN
- 1773-0155 (ISSN-L)
- 1774-0746
- OpenAlex
- W2230914004
- Cited by
- 59
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 3
- FWCI
- 3.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- other-oa
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Agronomy for Sustainable Development (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Conseil Régional, Île-de-France
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Sustainable Agricultural Systems Analysis
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Agriculture and Rural Development Research
- Keywords
- agroecology, farmer decision-making, adaptation monitoring, visual indicators, relative indicators, agricultural advisors, long-term field experiment
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