2012/07/11 by Emilio Galdeano Gómez, José Ángel Aznar Sánchez, Juan Carlos Pérez Mesa · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Rural development and sustainability #Sustainable Agricultural Systems Analysis #Agricultural Economics and Policy #Agriculture #Sustainability #Context (archaeology) #Agricultural productivity #Business #Productivity #Scale (ratio) #Agricultural policy #Distribution (mathematics) #Regional science #Environmental resource management #Natural resource economics #Environmental planning #Economic growth #Geography #Economics #Ecology
paper · doi:10.1080/14735903.2012.704306
openalex publication_date 2012/07/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
In the context of the current agri-food market, several factors have made it increasingly difficult to balance the components of sustainability in agricultural-based development. These factors include increasing internationalization, tighter control of distribution and frequent changes in agricultural policies. Indeed, in the framework of European rural policy there has been considerable debate in recent years concerning the role of the agricultural sector and how it should face the following challenges: productivity-competitiveness, environmental protection and socio-economic development. There is, therefore, a growing need for practical analyses that adopt a holistic approach. This paper analyses how this sector in the province of Almería (Spain), based on horticultural family farms, has risen to the above issues over recent decades. This case study provides some insights into the different trade-offs and synergies between sustainability dimensions. In particular, the integration of ecological, social and economic components may prove useful in helping other regions to adapt their agricultural systems, especially where these are characterized by small-scale farming.