Sustainability evaluation in blueberry packing houses in Tucumán, Argentina

Abstract

Sustainable development seeks a harmonious and balanced progress in which it is necessary to evaluate and quantify the sustainability of the systems. Indicators are among the most commonly used tools, and must go through a selection process. International organizations select the indicators that consider the four themes of sustainability. Agriculture is an important sector where the state and evolution of production systems are monitored with methodologies that apply the use of indicators. Within the agricultural sector, the agro-industry has begun to implement instruments of sustainable agriculture. Our team researches in the area of sustainability having developed agro-ecosystems and agro-industry valuation models. In the province of Tucuman, blueberry production gained relevance in recent years. This study was intended to assess the sustainability of blueberries packing houses in the province, for which three packing houses were chosen according their production volume. An ad hoc survey with a minimum set of indicators (MIC) of 13 indicators under the four pillars of sustainable development was applied. Sustainability indices were calculated by theme (SIBT) by charting polar coordinates. The results indicate greater sustainability in the economic and institutional aspect, then the social and ultimately the environmental aspect. The sum of the SIBT for each packing house, shows the packaging house III as the most sustainable of all three. From the results obtained in this study it can be concluded that it is feasible to conduct an assessment of sustainability in blueberry packaging companies using a methodology developed ad hoc.