| Summary: | Quantifying the sustainability of the agriculture, livestock, and agri-food industry under a homogeneous criterion
is essential to strategize the implementation of sustainable development in the agri-food sector and increase the
commitment of stakeholders using aids to reduce the socio-economic impact of the expansion of sustainability. In
order to homogenize the quantification methodology in the European context, a composite indicator was
developed from a system of indices of the European agri-food system. Results unveiled a moderate level of
sustainability in the food production and processing in the European Union. The French agri-food system (0.46)
had the highest overall sustainability according to the composite indicator of this study, followed by Austria
(0.44), Italy (0.43), Estonia (0.43), Germany (0.42), Belgium (0.40), Finland (0.40), Denmark (0.40), Spain
(0.40), Latvia (0.39), Czech Republic (0.39), Sweden (0.38), Greece (0.38), Netherlands (0.38) and Slovakia
(0.38), all of them above the EU-27 average (0.37). The more significant economic and social progress of
agricultural activity was associated with a lower quality of environmental indicators. Overall agri-food system
sustainability can be predicted from ten indicators. The results suggest the necessity of implementing a policy
that prioritizes the development of Local Productive Systems based on the framework of the circular economy to
favor territorial balance.
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