Social actors and unsustainability of agriculture

Social actors can strongly affect the sustainability of
agricultural operations by influencing farmers’ decisions and
choices. Such actors include: (1) loss-making investors who
abandon farms due to low returns, (2) angry neighbours
negatively affected by farming operations and engaging in
silent or active conflict, (3) dissatisfied customers at the end of
the value chain who reject the products and shift to alternative
providers, and (4) overacting regulators who over-regulate
farm activities. A higher order sustainability concept considers
the ability of farms to adapt and learn from early signs of
threats. A number of response paths based on policies,
incentives and information supply have been developed to
support learning and adjustments. Emphasis on the nested-
scales relations of incremental sustainability and
sustainagility, in addition to the more commonly articulated
ecological threshold perspective, helps identify key indicators
that characterize unsustainability processes across countries
and contexts. A dynamic systems understanding also assists
selection of process indicators focused on response paths
that complement result-oriented approaches in current
sustainability assessment frameworks.