title: Measuring agricultural sustainability in terms of efficiency: the case of Dutch sugar beet growers.
abstract: Sustainability embraces socio-economic and bio-ecological dimensions or attributes. This paper presents a conceptual framework for quantifying sustainability on the basis of efficiency theory commonly used in economics. The conceptual model is implemented using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Sustainability is measured for a sample of Dutch sugar beet growers. The average technical efficiency was only 50%. A positive correlation was found between technical efficiency and sustainable efficiency. Differences in efficiency among farmers were persistent within and between years. We conclude that there is considerable scope for improving the sustainability of arable farming by better management.
authors.affiliation: Wageningen University, Department of Plant Sciences, Haarweg 333, 6709 RZ Wageningen, The Netherlands. t.j.dekoeijer@lei.dlo.nl
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: De Koeijer
authors.forename: G A A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Wossink
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Struik
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Renkema
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000191:economics*; D027461:Beta vulgaris; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D018803:Models, Economic; D009426:Netherlands