13 Management for Sustainable Agriculture. A New Paradigm in the Balance Sheet: A Case Study

The paper focuses on the introduction of environmental accounting at micro-economic level by using a modified traditional balance statement. A panel test provides a first attempt to give a monetary value to positive and negative environmental impact of vineyard cropping. The results are meant to be included in a modified balance sheet. An innovative "genuine income" for farms has been developed and used to analyse the panel test results. Problem and objectives The need and the great scope of introducing environmental accounting at both macro and micro levels has finally acquired a widely agreed meaning in terms of necessary and indispensable instrument to effectively take account of the valuable role of the natural capital and its flow of economic functions -resource supply, waste assimilation and aesthetic commodity- in the economic process. The micro-economic contribution is particularly felt as the starting point since it is at the farm level that the interaction with the environment occurs. The farm level is the dimension where the production process takes place according to economic appraisal, generating positive and negative impacts on the environment. Along with positive and negative externalities, environmental impacts can also directly affect the rentability of the farm causing them, thus showing how environmentally targeted investments and agricultural activities may represent a suitable way of action. By the same token if monetary values of environmental impacts were to be calculated and inserted in the farm balance a clearer view of a more complete assessment would allow a wider spectrum of innovative economic considerations.