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

Abstract

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.