The
country’s first national standards for sustainable agriculture may not
be the “pass or fail” test that characterizes many environmental
certifications.


Amanda Raster, program director for the Leonardo Academy, said that
some involved in developing a new draft standard want to establish
guidelines along a continuum of sustainable practices.


The Leonardo Academy, a non-profit think tank focused on sustainability, is overseeing the standards development.


The Needs Assessment and Missions&Principles task forces
“want something that encourages producers to move from point A to point
B," Raster said. “They want (the standards) to be more encouraging
(than an all-or-nothing program) so that people actually want to
participate and improve their production practices.”

The Standards Committee created six task forces after a meeting last
fall, at which it agreed to set aside the original draft standard in
the interest of “coming together and working toward a common goal for
agricultural sustainability,” Raster said. (See E-Brief’s coverage.)

The six groups are: Needs Assessment, Mission & Principles,
Reference Documents (gathering, cataloging and comparing all relevant
standards and documents); Metrics & Methodology (collecting and
reporting on current state of measurement tools and indicators for
improving environmental, social and economic sustainability); Funding
(identifying and seeking funds to support full stakeholder
participation) and Outreach (identifying more stakeholders and groups
to engage and inform).


The task forces are essentially trying to decide if a standard is
necessary, Raster says, and, if so, what other sustainable initiatives
should be emulated.


Raster says it’s not too late to join a task force. All task forces
will provide a final report with their recommendations in May.


SAF CEO Peter Moran urges industry members to get involved. “So
many industry members have been using sustainable practices,” Moran
says. “Let’s make sure we share what we know about sustainable growing
practices in this process."

To see the current task force members and learn more about the
proposed National Standard for Sustainable Agriculture and other news
regarding sustainable agriculture, visit SAF's Sustainability Resources Page.