Categorizing the sustainability of vegetable production in Chile: a farming typology approach

ABSTRACT

Sustainable practices are seen as one of the solutions to redress the negative impact of agriculture's growing intensification. Despite efforts by many governments, the adoption rate of sustainable practices amongst farmers is still low. One of the causes is policymakers’ insufficient knowledge of farming-system diversity. In order to account for such diversity, this paper proposes classifying farming systems, including new elements such as the sustainability level of agricultural practices and market channel traits, in combination with socio-economic and farm characteristics. We apply a farming typology approach, using vegetable production in Chile as our case study. We developed the typology using multivariate analysis techniques including principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering (CA). We collected data using surveys (n = 352) in the central region of Chile. The results reveal five farming-system types: (1) Large dual farming, (2) ecological farming, (3) traditional farming, (4) conventional small-scale farming, and (5) conventional medium-scale farming. The five farming system types provide insights on the different agricultural practices used and their different starting points in terms of their transition towards more sustainable agriculture practices. We also propose possible policies based on these farming-system types that can be useful for policymakers to promote sustainable practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable agriculture
• farm typology
• transition pathways
• market channel
• emerging economies

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to all the farmers interviewed for this study, to the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, our project partner, and to the HortEco team.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In winsorization, ‘extreme values are replaced by a less extreme value instead of being discarded as with trimming. Typical usage is that 90% Winsorization sets values to be no more extreme than the 5th and 95th percentiles’ (Sullivan et al., 2021, p. 536).

2 The PGS is a certification issued by farmers who organise themselves into organic farmers’ associations. These associations have internal control systems to comply with organic regulations and grant the organic certification to their members. The Agricultural-Ranching Service (Servicio Agricola Ganadero, SAG), a body within the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture of Chile, audits and registers these associations (SAG, 2020).

3 This implies complying with the organic regulations but not with organic farming principles (Darnhofer et al., 2010).

4 Individuals migrating from urban to rural areas seeking an alternative lifestyle to the capitalist system (Trimano, 2019).

Additional information

Funding

This research forms part of the HortEco project (horticultural food systems based on ecologically intensive production and socioeconomically sustainable value chains in the transition economies of Chile and Uruguay), funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research [NWO-WOTRO] via grant [number W 08.250.304].

Notes on contributors

Francisco Benitez-Altuna

Francisco Benitez-Altuna is a project scientist at Berkeley Food Institute. He obtained his PhD at the Business Management and Organisation Group of Wageningen University & Research. He is focused on addressing policy and economic barriers, motivations, and opportunities towards sustainable food systems in California. His research interests include food value chains, on topics related to coordination, sustainable transitions, innovation and governance.

Jacques Trienekens

Jacques Trienekens is professor at the Business Management and Organisation group of Wageningen University. His research interests include (international) food chain and network management and food chain innovation. He has wide project experience in national and international research projects, both as researcher and as manager. He is member of the board of directors of International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA).

Daniel Gaitán-Cremaschi

Daniel Gaitán-Cremaschi is a researcher at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He obtained his PhD at Business Economics Group in Wageningen University (2016). He was awarded the 2021 Daniel Carrasco Fellowship edition in Spain. His research is focused on the analysis of the inter-connected drivers of rural vulnerability in Spain, to develop new countrywide and regional indexes for rural development diagnosis. He is also involved in exploring policy scenarios, together with multiple stakeholders, aimed at reducing rural vulnerability.