Evaluating economic sustainability of farming systems; the farming system analysis and diagnosis (FASAD), a method for regional analyses

The Farming System Analysis and Diagnosis (FASAD) is a standard method which consolidates a variety of similar procedures for to evaluate economic sustainability of farming systems (FS) through a holistic approach. The FASAD scheme develops seven steps: (i) zoning, i.e. delimitation of region/regions to be examined; (ii) background analysis, considering the aspects of environment, technology, economy, and society influencing FS evolution; (iii) farm analysis, studying the agricultural holdings with regard to technical, economic and social aspects of production organisation and farm income generation; (iv) farm typology and (v) FS modelling, classifying the holdings into different Farm Types, each to be associated to a FS model; (vi) economic analysis, representing the FS income performance as functions of the farm activities. This allows to compare the income generation capacity of the different FS and evaluate their viability with respect to “income thresholds”, i.e. the minimum levels of income accepted by farmers; (vii) the final diagnosis draws conclusions on FS economic sustainability and formulate hypotheses on agriculture evolution in the studied regions by considering both the local trends (environmental and socio-economics) and the global dynamics. FASAD is a multidisciplinary method particularly appropriate for regional comparative studies, scenario analyses, ex-ante and ex-post assessments of agricultural policies and development projects