Conflicting priorities in sustainable agriculture

March 2019: Scientific evidence shows that there is very little alignment between objectives for policy makers, farmers, and researchers in sustainable agriculture. Key to aligning diverging interests is exploring the social dimension of sustainable agriculture and increasing collaboration between the groups.

Information

In order to reach the UN’s SDGs, transforming the agricultural sector is key. However, recent evidence shows that researchers, policy makers and farmers in Europe often have diverging and, sometimes, conflicting ideas for sustainable agriculture. The study shows that out of 239 observable and measurable social and environmental variables relevant for sustainable agriculture, only 32 (13 per cent) key variables were shared by all three groups. These variables can be clustered into drivers affecting land use, farm management, and social or environmental outcomes. More specifically the groups shared views on policies on climate change, environment and agriculture, subsidies and landownership, tillage and use of fertilisers, irrigation and pesticides, soil and biodiversity. More than half of the overall variables were only prioritised by one group. As a consequence, policy makers focused uniquely on outcomes such as pollution, whereas farmers focused on income diversification and researchers did not consider social outcomes of sustainable agriculture as a primary concern.

Implications & Opportunities

The study outlines that there is a lack of research within the social dimension of the agricultural sectors and a lack of alignment between policy, research, and farming. However, focusing on the 32 shared key variables, improving communication and collaboration between the sectors and aligning priorities will be critical in transforming the agricultural sectors and balancing trade-offs between conflicting concerns.

Limitations

The study has a limited geographical scope and focuses on the agricultural sector in Europe. At the same time, quantitatively evaluating trade-offs between diverging priorities remains methodologically challenging.

Sources

Scown, M. W., Winkler, K. J., & Nicholas, K. A. (2019). Aligning research with policy and practice for sustainable agricultural land systems in Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201812100. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1812100116 

International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications. (2019). Research suggests identifying a common ground for sustainable agriculture in Europe. Retrieved from http://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=17280