Various frameworks for assessing sustainability in agriculture have emerged in recent years. Based on the Bacchi (2009; 2012) problem‐focused approach to studying policy we analysed how sustainability is framed as a governing concept for agriculture within three such frameworks. The results suggest that all three frameworks perceive sustainability as a fixed, definable end goal, rather than a process, and assume that if all stakeholders understand each other and are informed about the negative impacts of agriculture, sustainability will be achieved. The characteristics of the assessment frameworks, which are primarily developed by and based on expert knowledge, provide limited possibilities for farmers to influence how sustainable agriculture is viewed and acted upon, limiting the utility of the frameworks. A number of challenges that need to be solved for successful implementation were uncovered, including determination of how assessment frameworks are enacted and identification of conflicts between different goals in relation to assessment results. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.