MOTIFS: a monitoring tool for integrated farm sustainability

Meul, Marijke; Passel, Steven Van; Nevens, Frank; Dessein, Joost; Rogge, Elke; Mulier, Annelies; Hauwermeiren, Annelies Van

doi:10.1051/agro:2008001

Cited by 198 publications

(184 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…We used a selection of sustainability indicators from MOTIFS (Monitoring Tool for Integrated Farm Sustainability; Meul et al 2008), a tool for Flemish dairy farmers to monitor farm progress towards integrated sustainability, i.e., taking into account economic, ecological, and social aspects. A detailed description of the development, validation, and application of MOTIFS is provided by Meul et al (2008Meul et al ( , 2009De Mey et al (2011), andMeul (2012).…”

Section: Sustainability Themes and Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A detailed description of the development, validation, and application of MOTIFS is provided by Meul et al (2008Meul et al ( , 2009De Mey et al (2011), andMeul (2012). Ecological performance of the farms was evaluated by their energy and nutrient use, economic performance by their productivity and profitability, and social performance was measured through labor efficiency and animal welfare.…”

Section: Sustainability Themes and Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Productivity was calculated using farm accountancy data and comprises land, labor, and capital productivity (Meul et al 2008). Its calculation is based on the value added which are the total revenues from dairy minus the total variable costs related to dairy production.…”

Section: Sustainability Themes and Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Higher sustainability performance of intensive grazing versus zero-grazing dairy systems

Meul

Passel

Fremaut

et al. 2012

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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Although grazing of dairy cows is an integral part of dairy farming in many European countries, farmers today more often choose for zero-grazing systems, where cows are housed throughout the year. Some studies already compared grazing and zero-grazing systems for specific issues such as labor efficiency, environmental impact, or animal welfare. In our study, we perform a more integrated evaluation, considering relevant ecological, economic, and social aspects. This allows for a balanced and more complete comparison of the sustainability performance of the two production methods. We evaluated ten intensive grazing and ten zero-grazing specialized Flemish dairy farms on the use of nutrients and energy, productivity and profitability, labor input, and animal welfare. In addition, we put special effort in formulating useful management advice for farmers. Therefore, we combined a detailed analysis of the sustainability indicators with an intensive interaction and discussion with farmers and farm advisors. Results show that, on average, the zero-grazing farms performed significantly worse from an ecological and economic point of view. This fact is explained mainly due to a less efficient use of concentrates and byproducts. Social sustainability performance did not differ significantly between the two groups. As a result, the integrated sustainability performance was significantly lower for the zero-grazing group. This finding shows that a further shift from intensive grazing to zero-grazing can move dairy farming in Flanders further away from sustainability. An important advice to improve the ecological and economic performance of zero-grazing farms is to optimize cows' rations to include more forages and optimize forage production and use. More detailed site-and case-specific management advice for farmers of both groups was provided during a discussion meeting. We consider this an essential additional step to any sustainability evaluation, since progress can only be made when monitoring results are translated into practical measures.

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Section: Sustainability Themes and Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sustainability Themes and Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Higher sustainability performance of intensive grazing versus zero-grazing dairy systems

Meul

Passel

Fremaut

et al. 2012

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

Self Cite

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“…For performing the selection, summarisation, calculation and interpretation of indicators at farm level, a number of methods have been suggested: RISE [20]; SAFE [21]; MOTIFS [22]; SOSTARE [23], as well as a method suggested by M.N. Thieverges [24].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability assessment of agricultural production: case study of Latvian crop sector

Lenerts

Popluga

Schulte

et al. 2017

Engineering for Rural Development

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Abstract. The concept of sustainability in agricultural production is characterised by three interrelated dimensions: environmental sustainability; economic sustainability; and social sustainability. Research studies are needed to understand what the specific characteristics of each dimension are and how they interact in time and space. The aim of this research is to make a sustainability assessment of agricultural production in the crop sector in Latvia. In the paper, the authors have compiled existing studies that have tried to include all the three dimensions of sustainability analysis and to provide explanations of factors determining sustainable agricultural production. It was concluded that some agricultural development indicators pointed to the challenges of meeting sustainable economic development objectives in agricultural production. The results showed that this development of agricultural production in the crop sector took place at the expense of natural capital impairment, as the environmental sustainability index had fallen from a neutral value of 0 to a negative value of -0.25 during the last decade. Activity data characterising the production practices of crop farms pointed to a non-sustainable farming system, where the intensity of exploitation of production resources of fossil origin had essentially increased.

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“…By following the approach used for the formulation of SAEMETH [26], and already successfully applied by Van Calker et al [31] and by Meul et al [32], the research team tried to mediate the subjectivity of the school garden sustainability components in order to have a framework that allows data collection to be standardized and results to be comparable.…”

Section: Saemeth-g Method: Dimensions Components and Indicators Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

An Interpretive Framework for Assessing and Monitoring the Sustainability of School Gardens

et al. 2016

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School gardens are, increasingly, an integral part of projects aiming to promote nutritional education and environmental sustainability in many countries throughout the world. In the late 1950s, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) and UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) had already developed projects to improve the dietary intake and behavior through school and community gardens. However, notwithstanding decades of experience, real proof of how these programs contribute to improving sustainability has not been well-documented, and reported findings have mostly been anecdotal. Therefore, it is important to begin a process of collecting and monitoring data to quantify the results and possibly improve their efficiency. This study's primary goal is to propose an interpretive structure-the "Sustainable Agri-Food Evaluation Methodology-Garden" (SAEMETH-G), that is able to quantifiably guide the sustainability evaluation of various school garden organizational forms. As a case study, the methodology was applied to 15 school gardens located in three regions of Kenya, Africa. This application of SAEMETH-G as an assessment tool based on user-friendly indicators demonstrates that it is possible to carry out sustainability evaluations of school gardens through a participatory and interdisciplinary approach. Thus, the hypothesis that the original SAEMETH operative framework could be tested in gardens has also been confirmed. SAEMETH-G is a promising tool that has the potential to help us understand school gardens' sustainability better and to use that knowledge in their further development all over the world.

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MOTIFS: a monitoring tool for integrated farm sustainability

Cited by 198 publications

References 25 publications

Higher sustainability performance of intensive grazing versus zero-grazing dairy systems

Higher sustainability performance of intensive grazing versus zero-grazing dairy systems

Sustainability assessment of agricultural production: case study of Latvian crop sector

An Interpretive Framework for Assessing and Monitoring the Sustainability of School Gardens

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