Nineteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Social sustainability is the least understood dimension of sustainability, especially in the agriculture sector. Despite efforts to capture social sustainability empirically, it remains unclear how to define it, how it is relevant to individual farms and how it depends on their contexts. This mixed method study examines the meaning of social sustainability at the farm-level as an example of the context-dependence of social sustainability. Qualitative interviews and an online survey of 354 farmers from the three main production types in Switzerland (dairy, crop, other livestock production) are undertaken. Associations of farmers’ perceptions on importance and lived experience of social sustainability with several socio-economic values (social life, labour rights, stakeholder relationships, public relations) are assessed. Farmers’ identities are also measured (i.e., productivist, conservative, passionate caretakers, forward looking). Meanings and aspects of importance of social sustainability differs across production type of farms, with public relations being highly relevant to farmers, especially to crop farmers. The lived experience of farm social sustainability appears dependent on the farmers’ identity, with forward looking farmers who are open to digitalization and sustainable ways of farming having the better experience of social sustainability on their farms then other farmers. The findings can inform the development and implementation of social sustainability indicators and interventions in the farming sector. They also warn that their context-dependence and dynamic nature could lead to misleading insights and undesired intervention outcomes