Developing a Composite Indicator Based on Decision-Makers’ Preferences to Assess Agricultural Sustainability

Assessing agricultural sustainability is a relevant methodological issue with practical implications. In this study, a systematic process is developed to calculate a relative composite indicator of sustainability based on decision-maker preferences and applied to Spanish agriculture. The triple bottom line framework is considered from a deductive approach to represent sustainability. For weighting and aggregating, multicriteria techniques suitable to model the trade-offs between individual attributes are used, allowing also to express different ethical standpoints. The sensitivity and uncertainty arising from the methodological choices are assessed using a variance-based technique. In addition, 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 of the analysed units. In addition, the ranking obtained for the composite indicator made it possible to discriminate the herbaceous holdings 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 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