Embedding Water-Energy-Food nexus and circularity assessment for organization benchmarking: A case study for dairy farms

Abstract

The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus approach is increasingly being used for supporting a transition to sustainable development, with initiatives involving the concept of circular economy (CE). In the agricultural sector in particular, assessing this nexus is crucial to ensure food security, control the consumption of key resources such as water and energy, as well as measure atmospheric emissions linked to climate change. This manuscript aims to propose a novel approach by coupling the WEF nexus with a circularity indicator, seeking to capture in a single index (the WEF+CEi) both performances in a sample of companies. The novel approach is applied to 30 dairy farms located in Galicia (NW Spain) to benchmark them in a holistic manner. To do this, the WEF nexus of each farm was represented through the following indicators: carbon footprint, water footprint, energy footprint, and food productivity. In addition, the percentage of circularity for each farm, and for the agro-industrial cooperative was measured thanks to the application of a circularity tool in percentage terms. Finally, the WEF+CEi indicator was obtained using the multicriteria mathematical tool of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The results show that without considering the agro-industrial cooperative, the system is 51 % circular. On the other hand, considering the farms and the cooperative, the system goes up to 80 % of circularity. Finally, the proposed approach can support decision-making and provide insights for producers and stakeholders in the area.