Developing a composite indicator to assess agricultural sustainability: Influence of some critical choices

Assessing the sustainability of agriculture is a relevant methodological issue with practical implications. In this study, a systematic approach is followed to develop a composite indicator that ranks the sustainability performance of Spanish reference farms at the NUTS 2 level. The classical three-dimension approach is considered under a deductive point of view to represent sustainability. Multicriteria techniques suitable to model the trade-offs between individual attributes are used to weigh and aggregate the three dimensions’ attributes, allowing for different normative standpoints to be expressed. The sensitivity and uncertainty arising from the methodological choices are assessed using a variance-based technique. The ordinary least squares technique is applied to evaluate the sensitivity of the composite indicator to shifts in the consumption of relevant inputs. The results show that the trade-off level does not leverage most analysed units. In addition, the ranking obtained made it possible to discriminate the herbaceous farms as those with the worst sustainability performance. Methodologically, the most influential parameters in the indicator are related to the ethical complexity of evaluating overall sustainability. In addition, the indicator shows a high sensitivity to shifts in the consumption of machinery fuel and irrigation resources. In short, the indicator developed represents a relevant input to improve the interpretation of the sustainability performance of agriculture as a multidimensional issue, emphasising its normative character.