Agricultural sales strategies can strongly affect on farm operations. Conventional vegetable supply chains prioritize high-volume, aesthetically appealing produce but often lead to environmental harm and significant food waste. Direct sales bypass some of these challenges, offering farms opportunities to adopt more sustainable practices, reduce food waste, and improve soil health. Direct marketing has been linked to lower mechanization, reduced synthetic chemical use, and enhanced crop and structural diversity. These practices can also improve social sustainability by fostering stronger connections between farmers and consumers, promoting public trust and better understanding of farming realities.
VEGAS assesses the agroecological performance of vegetable production systems in Switzerland, focusing on how different sales strategies influence production efficiency, food waste, social connectivity, and environmental sustainability. It aims to highlight trade-offs and synergies between economic, social, and ecological factors and to propose strategies that make Swiss vegetable farming more resource efficient and to improve its performance on all sustainability dimensions.