Agricultural systems and rural development are key to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Policymakers seeking to eradicate hunger today face a difficult dilemma: preventing billions from going hungry while saving the planet. To solve this dilemma, it is essential to focus investments on improving the economic performance of farms while promoting socioeconomic and environmental sustainability. Although considerable progress has been made in assessing the sustainability of the agriculture sector, the number of quantitative assessments at farm level is still limited. Current methods cover only the classic dimensions of sustainability (economic, social and environmental), ignoring other important dimensions that are gaining importance and political relevance (such as nutrition and governance).

This study proposes a novel indicator-based framework for farm sustainability assessment (FARMTOOLS) that includes all dimensions of sustainability (economic, social, environmental, nutrition and health, and governance). The framework can be easily applied and replicated. It is flexible enough to adapt to different agricultural contexts and simple enough for general use. FARMTOOLS can improve agricultural decision-making and ultimately promote change towards more sustainable and productive agriculture. It can be used as a self-assessment tool by farmers to monitor and improve their sustainability; and it can be used by policymakers, investors and donors to support responsible and sustainable investments and to design actions to improve sustainability.