Sustainable development for a model of agriculture in the metropolitan systems

Constant innovation in the production techniques of the primary sector has contributed to the exploitation of natural and agricultural systems, particularly significant in high populated areas. The work is based on the study of the interactions between the metropolitan area of Milan and the agricultural activities around it. Our project aims to develop a support for the Parco Agricolo Sud Milano (47,000 ha). We decided to assess the 3 scales of sustainability (environmental, social, economic) of farms. The idea was to create a means to guide farmers, institutions and researchers towards innovative and sustainable solutions: a seemingly difficult territory for agriculture, localized close to a large city, instead can be used positively. The survey were carried out through IDEA, a calculation tool that compares farms through 42 indicators that characterize the 3 scales using calculations, measurements, evaluations. It assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the production system and the ways to improve the level of sustainability. We sampled 50 farms and collected them data (from database, interviews, estimates, observations, tabulated data). The approaches are many, thus we can focus our work on the indicators that affect the goals of the farms. We evaluated and edited the method by following what European policies have addressed, integrating agricultural production to environmental protection. The results highlight the need to link these assessments with the income prospects of the farms provided by the institutions: a high-quality production, the maintenance of biodiversity and rural traditions, promotion of the competitive farms. Farms will have a method to assess their performance and the cost of production of products, to compare them with other farms and obtain explanations of a higher or lower profitability. It will be evaluated the impact of the product differentiation, the use of different agricultural practices, the energy efficiency, the marketing decisions.