Sustainability Analysis of 17 familiar farms in Uruguay

Abstract

In a context of agrarian intensification and unsustainability issues of family farming, understanding
the critical elements of productive systems can help to identify strategies for improvement.
The Evaluation Framework for Natural Resource Management Systems by incorporating
Sustainability Indicators was adapted for this work incorporating environmental, social and
productive aspects. This study is based on annual socioeconomic and environmental information
gathered with technicians and farmers at the framework of the Uruguayan Family Farm Improvement
project (INIA, MGAP and Instituto Plan Agropecuario). The paper aims to integrate
information, identify and evaluate key aspects to propose alternatives for sustainable farming
practices. The results highlight the social aspects as the most conflictive dimension, regardless
of the farm size, stocking rate, among others productive indicators. Nevertheless, results are
affected by the region of the country that farms belong, giving clues and guiding the search for
sustainability at farming level.