Using the SMART-Farm Tool to identify linchpin farming practices for the improvement of the atmosphere-related sustainability performance of the Luxembourgish agriculture sector
Evelyne Stoll; Sabine Keßler; Laura Leimbrock-Roschet al.
[en] Agriculture is a major source of environmental emissions, including greenhouse gases (GHG), ammonia and other
air pollutant emissions, particularly in livestock-intensive countries such as Luxembourg. Organic agriculture has
attracted attention as a more environmentally friendly agricultural management system. This study assessed the
atmosphere-related sustainability performance of 87 farms (4.5 % of all farms in Luxembourg) using the Sustainability
Monitoring and Assessment RouTine (SMART)-Farm Tool, which operationalizes the Food and
Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)’s Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture
Systems (SAFA) Guidelines. The sample included 58 conventional and 29 organic farms. Results showed that
organically managed farms (orgF) achieved significantly higher sustainability scores than conventional farms
(conF) in the Atmosphere theme (orgF mean: 63.8 %, conF mean: 56.6 %, p < 0.001), as well as in the subthemes
Air Quality (orgF mean: 69.3 %, conF mean: 59.1 %, p < 0.001) and Greenhouse Gases (orgF mean:
57.7 %, conF mean: 53.5 %, p = 0.002). Indicator-level analysis identified two key improvement strategies: (1)
increasing concentrated feed autarky, with organic farms relying less on external protein and energy feeds; and
(2) closing nutrient cycles, evidenced by higher use of legumes, green cover, and lower nitrogen inputs. These
practices were strongly associated with improved atmospheric sustainability performance.
Additionally, practices such as reduced tillage and cover cropping were underutilized across all systems,
indicating broader areas for optimisation. While organic management outperformed conventional, the findings
emphasize that many beneficial practices can be adopted system-independently. Policy efforts should focus on
supporting these two linchpin strategies to trigger the development of a more sustainable farming system in
Luxembourg and increase the sector’s atmosphere-related sustainability performance.
Disciplines :
Sociology & social sciences Arts & humanities: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Author, co-author :
Evelyne Stoll; Institute for Organic Agriculture and Agroecology Luxembourg (IBLA)
Sabine Keßler; Institute for Organic Agriculture and Agroecology Luxembourg (IBLA)
Laura Leimbrock-Rosch; Institute for Organic Agriculture and Agroecology Luxembourg (IBLA)
Torsten Bohn; Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH)
RECKINGER, Rachel ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE) > Department of Humanities (DHUM) > History
Christian Schader; Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)
Christian Herzig; JLU - Justus Liebig University Giessen > Institute of Business Administration for the Agricultural and Food Sector
Stéphanie Zimmer; Institute for Organic Agriculture and Agroecology Luxembourg (IBLA)
External co-authors :
yes
Language :
English
Title :
Using the SMART-Farm Tool to identify linchpin farming practices for the improvement of the atmosphere-related sustainability performance of the Luxembourgish agriculture sector
