Environmental accounting in agriculture: a theoretical overview with special reference to Tuscany

Sustainable agriculture methods have a great potential in the field of nature conservation, both at farm agro-ecosystem level and at regional level. Policy decision makers need accounting and evaluation tools to be able to assess this potential in order to provide appropriate agro-environmental policy measures. This study proposes a new Environmental Accounting methodology at farm level to measure the environmental externalities (goods and services) generated by the farm productive cycles. The Environmental Accounting Information System is organized in modules corresponding to several environmental systems and subsystems distinguished in the farm agro-ecosystem. Subsystem analysed in the paper were chosen as a function of critical environmental points observed in Tuscany. The Information System has been tested on three farms located in three different physiographic areas of Tuscany. Data on agro-ecosystems biodiversity were collected together with data on environmental qualities more directly involved in farm management and in the conservation of water and soil resources. This paper reports the collecting and processing of these data in environmental indicators. Examples about how to collect data and indicator elaboration methodology application are presented with special concern to ecological-environmental models and yardsticks (GLEAMS, EPRIP), biodiversity indicators and landscape evaluation.