A technique for assessing environmentalimpact risks of agricultural systems

Conventional agriculture often aims to achieve high returns without allowing for sustainable natural resource management.To prevent environmental degradation, agricultural systems must be assessed and environmental standards need to bedeveloped. This study used a multi-factor approach to assess the potential environmental impact risk of six diverse systems:five production systems and a successional system or abandoned agronomic field. Assessment factors were soil qualitystatus, amount of pesticide and fertilizer applied and tillage intensity. The assessment identified the best managementpractices (BMP)–conventional tillage system as a high-risk system mostly because of extensive tillage. The certified organicsystem was also extensively tilled and was characterized by P build-up in the soil, but performed well based on otherassessment factors. Conversely, the BMP–no tillage and the crop–animal integrated system were characterized as low riskmainly because of reduced tillage. The paper discusses assessment strengths and weaknesses, ways to improve indicatorsused, and the need for additional indicators. We concluded that with further development the technique will become aresourceful tool to promote agricultural sustainability and environmental stewardship and assist policy-making processes