Incorporating ecosystem services in evaluating the sustainability of innovative organic farming systems using the Public Goods tool

Summary

In earlier studies, a tool was developed to assess the sustainability of farming systems – the Public Goods Tool (PG-tool). This tool was developed predominantly for use in food farming and in the current study it will be adapted for innovative examples in organic farming. To achieve this, new
indicators were identified in addition to those already in the PG-Tool. Special attention was given to incorporating indicators which could capture provisioning of ecosystem services by farming systems, in particular those with a focus on biodiversity, human nutrition and social well-being - areas that are also currently underrepresented in the PG Tool.