| Title: | Quantifying circularity and sustainability in EU agricultural systems : development and application of a composite index |
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| Authors: | ID Drofenik, Jan (Author)
ID Novak-Pintarič, Zorka (Author) |
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| Files: |  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665972726003235?via%3Dihub
 1-s2.0-S2665972726003235-main.pdf (17,98 MB)
MD5: A52FCB5D9F19EDFE060968FA57C4D2ED
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| Language: | English |
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| Work type: | Article |
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| Typology: | 1.01 - Original Scientific Article |
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| Organization: | FKKT - Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
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| Abstract: | This study develops the Agriculture Circularity and Sustainability (ACS) Index, a composite framework for assessing and monitoring circularity and sustainability in national agricultural systems. The framework integrates environmental, societal, economic, and food waste categories and enables systematic comparison across EU Member States using publicly available Eurostat and FAOSTAT data. Indicators were selected based on relevance to the Farm to Fork Strategy, data availability, and cross-country comparability. The analysis covers the period 2020−2023, with overall data completeness exceeding 97 %. The results reveal substantial variation across EU agricultural systems. Higher ACS Index values are associated with balanced performance across multiple sustainability categories rather than dominance in any single dimension. Spain, Austria, and Slovenia achieve the highest overall scores, while several intensive and export-oriented systems combine strong economic performance with weaker environmental or food waste outcomes. Within the Society category, higher scores are associated with more balanced self-sufficiency across food groups, whereas smaller, import-dependent systems tend to perform less favorably because of limited domestic production capacity. Temporal analysis shows that the highest- and lowest-performing country groups remain relatively stable over the study period. Sensitivity analysis shows that alternative weighting and indicator-selection assumptions mainly affect mid-ranked countries without changing the overall interpretation of performance. Spearman's rank-correlation analysis indicates limited redundancy among the 28 indicators, with no pair reaching the predefined potential redundancy threshold. The ACS Index provides a transparent, reproducible, and sensitivity-tested framework for comparative assessment and monitoring of circularity and sustainability transitions in EU agri-food systems. |
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| Keywords: | circular agriculture, agricultural sustainability, ACS index, composite index, farm to fork strategy |
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| Publication version: | Version of Record |
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| Submitted for review: | 02.06.2026 |
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| Article acceptance date: | 23.07.2026 |
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| Publication date: | 27.07.2026 |
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| Publisher: | Elsevier Inc. |
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| Year of publishing: | 2026 |
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| Number of pages: | 18 str. |
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| Numbering: | Vol. 31, [article no.] 101434 |
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| PID: | 20.500.12556/DKUM-99208  |
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| UDC: | 631:66 |
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| ISSN on article: | 2665-9727 |
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| COBISS.SI-ID: | 287206403 |
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| DOI: | 10.1016/j.indic.2026.101434 |
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| Copyright: | © 2026 The Authors
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| Publication date in DKUM: | 07.08.2026 |
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| Views: | 215 |
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| Downloads: | 6 |
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| Metadata: |    |
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| Categories: | Misc.
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