Construction of Social Sustainability in Milk Production Systems in Central Mexico

Abstract

Objective: to develop mathematical models to evaluate social sustainability in small-scale dairy systems. 30 small-scale farms were analyzed.

Design/methodology/approximation: In order to quantify factors that producers perceive as important in social sustainability, two models were constructed by multivariate regression, estimated by the ordinary least squares method.

Results: as a result, our first model (ER) includes variables that producers consider tangible assets in social sustainability, and the second (SR) include intangible assets. Both models explain more than 80% of the relationship of socio-productive variables associated with social sustainability.

Limitations/implications: Results represent an effort to link statistical analysis with qualitative data that is hard to count.

Conclusions: The ER and SR models represent a proposal to incorporated immaterial assets into sustainability analyzes. There is still a long way to go in this regard, but both models could be a methodological proposal to link statistical data with qualitative data such as perception.