The design and application of an agricultural sustainability index using item response theory

Abstract

Agricultural sustainability (AS) is a key component in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Despite wide use of the concept in both research and policy, there is still not a universally accepted method for its measurement. This research proposes using item response theory (IRT) to generate a farm-level AS index. The thesis is comprised of three scientific articles: The first article develops and tests the IRT model design, second applies the model to the sustainability of non-food crop production in the context of the bioeconomy, and the third looks into the sustainability of organic versus conventional farms. The key findings of the research are that (1) constructing an AS index with IRT may be a suitable alternative to existing methods, (2) farms producing a combination of non-food crops with food crops are more sustainable on average than those not producing non-food crops, and (3) organic farms are more sustainable on average than conventional farms.