Use of agro-ecological indicators for the evaluation of farming systems

For the development of integrated arable farming systems (IAFS), tools are needed to evaluate the achievement of agronomic and environmental objectives, in order to optimize the systems, A set of agro-ecological indicators (AEI) is proposed. These indicators estimate the impact of cultivation practices on the agrosystem and its environment. AEI are aimed, first of all, at being used as decision aid tools, to help farmers to adapt their cultivation practices to IAFS requirements, from one cropping year to the next. So far, seven indicators have been elaborated for the evaluation of farming systems: crop diversity, crop succession, pesticide, nitrogen, phosphorus, organic matter and irrigation. The calculation method for the organic matter and pesticide indicators is presented. Possibilities for use of the AEI at the farm and field level, for farmers and decision makers are given with data from a network of 17 commercial arable farms. The elaboration of a single aggregated indicator is discussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.