Environmental Indicators for Agriculture-Methods and Results

The impacts of agriculture on the environment and the achievement of sustainable agriculture are of major public concern in the context of agricultural policy reform, trade liberalisation, and multilateral environmental agreements. This study is Volume 3 of the OECD project Environmental Indicators for Agriculture. It is a stocktaking of the environmental performance of agriculture considering a range of policy relevant agri-environmental issues in OECD countries. This Volume aims to review and take stock of progress in developing agri-environmental indicators in OECD countries; build on earlier OECD work in establishing standard definitions and methods of calculation for indicators; provide preliminary results of the state and recent trends of environmental conditions in agriculture across OECD countries; interpret indicator trends and highlight linkages between indicators; and outline the current limitations and key challenges for their future development. Part I of the study, Agriculture in the broader economic, social and environmental context, outlines a set of contextual indicators which reveal the influence on agri-environmental relationships of macroeconomic forces, the viability of rural areas, biophysical processes, land use changes, and farm financial resources, including farm income and public and private expenditure on agri-environmental schemes. Part II, Farm management and the environment, examines different farming practices and systems and their impact on the environment, covering whole farm management, organic farming, as well as nutrient, pest, soil and irrigation management practices. Part III, Use of farm inputs and natural resources, tracks trends in farm input use, including nutrients, pesticides (including risks), and water use. Part IV, Environmental impacts of agriculture, monitors the extent of agriculture’s impact on the environment including: soil quality, water quality, land conservation, greenhouse gases, biodiversity, wildlife habitats and landscape. A Glossary, list of Websites, and Index are also provided at the end of the study.