The Social Sustainability of Organic Cultivation with S-LCA Application in Research Project

In this paper, the authors aim to present the methodology used to measure social sustainability, which is being implemented in a research project called “Innovations in organic agriculture to improve the sustainability of Apulian farms for cereal and industrial crops.” The authors used the social life cycle assessment (S-LCA), based on the life cycle assessment, particularly the subcategory assessment method. The authors developed a questionnaire to collect information about workers and the time worked (weekly working hours, working weeks) in each plot of the experimentation plan. The authors administered the questionnaire to multiple recipients categorized as three identified types of stakeholders (workers, local community, consumers) to triangulate the answers. The use of the S-LCA in experiments in the agricultural sector, which presents critical issues in the social sustainability of production, could become a strategic tool for achieving sustainable development in agri-food sector.