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Assessing the sustainability of agri-food chains is challenging for several reasons. It should account for the impacts on environmental, social, and economic wellbeing simultaneously, considering both the individual links in the chain and the chain as a whole. The primary aim of this study is to assess the conditions for meeting the sustainability criteria of a legume-based agri-food chain in Slovenia. Therefore, a quantitative sustainability assessment methodology was developed, using a multi-stakeholder approach, which upgraded the traditional SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. Our approach, called ‘Multi-SWOT’, aggregates the SWOT table inputs identified by stakeholders into factors, themes and focus areas, according to their importance for the agri-food chain, for each sustainability pillar, and links in the chain. By accounting for the relative number of incentives (beneficial factors) and barriers (constraint factors) we identified those factors that enhance the sustainability of the Slovenian legume-based agri-food chain and the factors jeopardising it. The incorporation of multi-stakeholder perspectives presents an innovative approach that adds value to a standard SWOT analysis. The study serves as a guide to help decision-makers better understand the multidimensionality of sustainability and identify effective activities to support and strengthen the current legume agri-food chain in Slovenia.

In this perspective analysis, we strive to answer the following question: how can we advance integrative biology research in the 21st century with lessons from animal science? At the University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Animal Science, we share here our three lessons learned in the two decades from 2002 to 2022 that we believe could inform integrative biology, systems science, and animal science scholarship in other countries and geographies. Cultivating multiomics knowledge through a conceptual lens of integrative biology is crucial for life sciences research that can stand the test of diverse biological, clinical, and ecological contexts. Moreover, in an era of the current COVID-19 pandemic, animal nutrition and animal science, and the study of their interactions with human health (and vice versa) through integrative biology approaches hold enormous prospects and significance for systems medicine and ecosystem health.

Background: Agriculture is a production system in which the economic principles of organisation act in mutual dependence with its ecological boundaries. Objectives: Building on this premise, the paper evaluates performance of a chosen agricultural production system (dairy production in Slovenia) from two complementary perspectives, the socio-economic and the biophysical. Methods/Approach: The latter is presented by means of emergy analysis, which is a system-based approach that measures the aggregate work of biosphere needed for the provision of goods or services in the units of solar energy joules. The novelty aspect of this paper is the introduction of emergy indicators into the standard socioeconomic optimisation model of the chosen agricultural production system. The optimisation model based on linear mathematical programming is designed to empirically investigate different alternatives to the sector's reorganisation. Results: The results of the optimisation models suggest considerable restructuring of the sector and, consequently, large discrepancies in the sector's performance. Conclusions: The results suggest that further expansion of organic production systems as a result of a stronger environmental focus in farm management would improve the sector from both, the socio-economic and the emergy perspective. Moreover, even pursuing certain socio-economic targets may improve the sector's biophysical performance and lower pressure on the local environment.