Evaluating the Environmental Factors of Organic Farming Areas Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture, including organic farming, offers a potential remedy for addressing environmental pollution. Accordingly, the importance of evaluating the environmental benefits of organic agriculture has become evident. Numerous studies have compared organic and conventional farming or focused on specific crops in environmental studies; however, there is a lack of research on indicators that evaluate the positive impact of organic agriculture on the overall agricultural environment. Therefore, this study aimed to develop comprehensive agri-environmental evaluation indicators by utilizing an analytic hierarchy process (AHP). These methods were employed to determine the importance of factors that evaluate the environmental performance of organic agriculture. This study utilized literature reviews, derived and organized indicators, and prioritized evaluation factors using expert surveys and AHP methods. Based on the analysis of experts, physical and ecological agricultural environments were the most crucial evaluation factors, including biological properties. In addition to the physical ecological agricultural environments, the AHP results demonstrated the need for evaluation indicators that evaluate the overall agricultural environment, including the residential ecological environment and village living and cultural environment. Further empirical studies are required for the derivation of additional valid indicators and policy implementation.