A considerable number of indicators are already in use for the assessment of the agricultural sector’s environmental performance as well as for the evaluation of agri-environmental policies. Given the existing difficulties in testing such indicators, we have used for this purpose – with fairly good results – the documentation (at the farm level) of two environmentally friendly policy schemes, on organic agriculture and on integrated management, for assessment of the set of agri-environmental indicators, described in two relevant communications from the Commission. Indicators describing pressures and state of the environment susceptible to estimation differ significantly from one scheme to another. However, available documentation, if complemented, makes plausible an environmental diagnosis of farms as well as monitoring and evaluation of environmental performance of these schemes. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. INTRODUCTION S ustainable development, often presented as an effort to integrate three dimensions, economic, social and environmental, cannot be described as a clearly defined static equilibrium but rather as a dynamic proce- dure. Priorities and actions within this proce- dure are constantly redefined, in accordance – firstly – with the needs and desires expressed by society and – secondly – with a variety of other conditions (technological change, scien- tific knowledge and natural disasters). This redefinition presupposes the availability of an information tool to assist in the assessment of societal demands and needs as well as in eval- uation of the state of the system. It is within Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment European Environment Eur. Env. 13, 258–268 (2003) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/eet.327 ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY POLICY SCHEMES AS MODELS FOR THE INTRODUCTION AND USE OF AGRI- ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS IN GREECE George Vlahos* and Nikos Beopoulos 1 Agricultural University of Athens, Greece * Correspondence to: George Vlahos, Research Assistant, Laboratory of Agricultural Extension, Rural Systems and Rural Sociology, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, GR-11855, Athens, Greece. E-mail: gvlahos@aua.gr 1 Associate Professor, Laboratory of Agricultural Extension, Rural Systems and Rural Sociology, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Agricultural University of Athens.