Adding Value to Farm Food Production

by John Berry, Extension Educator, Lehigh County

Most farmers are on the lookout for ways to generate more net revenue. The question is something close to “What can we do to utilize our resources to their best advantage?” Many opportunities exist, but in order to be feasible they must match the values of the farm family. One common method is the move to identify farm crops as being sustainable. The challenge is how to verify claims and meet the documentation requirements to satisfy buyers. There are several competing verification systems in place that are trying to address this very concern. Some are driven by a singular philosophical mission and others are more inclusive of all those businesses along the chain from farm to fork.

As an example, individual farm operations within the specialty crop supply chain are experiencing increasing demands to demonstrate "sustainability" to their customers. These demands have resulted in a growing number of certification and/or supplier education programs and thus the potential for redundant or even conflicting requirements. Most of these programs focus on a niche market, a limited set of crops, and/or a specific link in the supply chain, and thus are not designed to provide the specialty crops industry as a whole with a comprehensive system for measuring sustainable performance. However, The Stewardship Index aims to provide such a system.

The StewardshipIndex for Specialty Crops project is a multi-stakeholder initiative developing a system for measuring sustainable performance throughout the specialty crop supply chain. The project offers a suite of outcomes-based metrics to enable operators at any point along the supply chain to benchmark, compare, and communicate their own performance. The Stewardship Index does not seek to provide standards, but instead provides a yardstick for measuring sustainable outcomes. In the future, the project may also provide tools and resources to help specialty crop companies advance sustainability goals.

For this project "specialty crops" is defined broadly to include fruits, vegetables, nuts, and horticulture. The founding members of the project regard sustainability as an ongoing process to advance environmental, socially responsible, and economic values. The project does not aim to identify a level of performance that is "sustainable," but instead to provide measures to help all participants implement sustainable values.

Quantitative sustainability metrics, developed collaboratively, can offer significant benefits to specialty crop industry participants, and the eventual consumer. As envisioned, this project will:

·         Help operations across the supply chain (farms, distributors, processors, retailers, etc) identify opportunities for increasing efficiency and reducing costs;

·         Provide a standardized system for measuring performance, thus reducing the potential for duplicate monitoring and reporting systems;

·         Allow individual operators to engage in the sustainability journey starting at (and regardless of) their current level of performance;

·         Address the unique needs of the specialty crop industry while demonstrably improving environmental and social impacts;

·         Enable verifiable marketing claims backed by measurable performance data;

·         Help reduce the likelihood of future industry regulation by solving problems and demonstrating improved performance to regulators.

What is Sustainable Agriculture?

by John Berry, Extension Educator, Lehigh County

We hear quite a bit about the concepts of sustainability lately. Everything from fuel to employment to housing is referred to as needing to be sustainable.  As producers, have we reconsider our food and fiber production in terms of sustainability? What are the ecological, economic, social and philosophical issues that sustainable agriculture addresses?

The long-term viability of our current food production system is being questioned for many reasons. The news media regularly presents us with the paradox of starvation a midst plenty. One time we see starving children the next we see food being thrown away. Possible adverse environmental impacts of agriculture and increased awareness of foodborne illness also demand our attention. "Farm crisis's" seem to recur with regularity.

The prevailing agricultural system, variously called "conventional farming," "modern agriculture," or "industrial farming" has delivered tremendous gains in productivity and efficiency. Food production worldwide has risen in the past 50 years; the World Bank estimates that between 70% and 90% of the recent increases in food production is the result of conventional agriculture rather than greater acreage under cultivation. Not only have consumers come to expect abundant and inexpensive food they are getting this food with ever fewer acres being farmed.

Some terms defy definition. “Sustainable agriculture” has become one of them. In such a quickly changing world, can anything be sustainable? What do we want to sustain? With the contradictions and questions has come a hard look at our present food production system and thoughtful evaluations of its future. If nothing else, the term “sustainable agriculture” has provided talking points, a sense of direction, which has sparked much excitement and innovative thinking in the agricultural world.

Actually, sustainable agriculture was addressed by Congress in the 1990 Farm Bill. Under that law, “the term sustainable agriculture means an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term:

• satisfy human food and fiber needs 
• enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends 
• make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls 
• sustain the economic viability of farm operations 
• enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.” 

Given this official definition, the idea of agricultural sustainability is not a new phenomenon. Historically, farming played an important role in our development and identity as a nation. From strongly agrarian roots, we have evolved into a culture with few farmers. Less than two percent of Americans now produce food for all U.S. citizens and many overseas.

World population continues to grow. According to recent United Nations population projections, the world population will grow to 9.4 billion in 2050. The rate of population increase is especially high in many developing countries. In these countries, the population factor, combined with rapid industrialization, poverty, political instability, large food imports and debt burden, make long-term food security especially urgent.

Finally, the challenge of defining and dealing with concerns associated with today's food production system is inherently laden with controversy and emotion. It is unfortunate, but true, that some in the commercial agriculture community view sustainable agriculture as a personal criticism on conventional agriculture of which they are justifiably proud, and we have all benefited.

Material from the National Ag Library was used for this article.