Sustainable rapeseed production between science and politics

Abstract

The concept of sustainability, first developed in forestry, includes ecologic, economic and social aspects. In a number of international agreements almost all countries of the world have committed themselves to a sustainable development. The assessment of sustainability is normally done by using indicators. In the case of rapeseed special attention has to be placed on nitrogen balances and green house gas emission compared with other crops, however, a number of very positive effects of rapeseed occur if the scale of the crop rotation is considered. In recent years politics and administration have also used the term sustainability in the context of agricultural production, but only focussed on very few aspects and thus did not consider the complex system. This led to misconceptions and might cause disadvantages for rapeseed in the future. Based on the example of forestry, such a strong political influence might be avoided if the agricultural sector itself is able to establish assessment and certification systems.