San Antonio, Texas
January 12, 2009
A first-of-its-kind report
released today creates a framework for measuring agriculture
sustainability. Developed to inform long-term continuous
improvements in agriculture production, the initial findings
indicate crop production is already making progress toward
reducing its environmental footprint. The Environmental Resource
Indicators report was released at the American Farm Bureau
Federation annual meeting by
Field to Market, the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable
Agriculture.
Field to Market is a diverse alliance representing the
many links in the food chain, including grower organizations,
agribusinesses, food companies and conservation organizations.
As demand continues to rise and pressures on natural resources
increase, the Alliance views the report as the first step in a
long-term effort to quantify and improve the environmental,
socio-economic and health impacts of agriculture production. The
report evaluated national-scale metrics over the past two
decades for land use, water use, energy use, soil loss, and
climate impact in corn, soy, cotton and wheat production. In
2007, these crops comprised nearly 70 percent of the 305 million
acres of U.S. cropland.
“Several trends are emerging. Importantly, production
agriculture has become increasingly efficient, relying on fewer
inputs to produce more. However, we recognize there are
significant challenges ahead in meeting increased global demand
in a sustainable manner,” says Michael Reuter, director of
conservation programs for the Central US Region of The Nature
Conservancy. “These metrics will be expanded to define other
attributes of sustainable agricultural production and lay the
foundation for studies that will analyze additional
environmental, socio-economic, and health factors.”
Progress has been made. The initial index shows that soil-loss
efficiency trends have improved substantially by 30 to nearly 70
percent for the four crops evaluated. Energy use per unit of
output is down in corn, soybean, and cotton production by nearly
40 to more than 60 percent. Irrigated water use per unit of
output has also decreased 20 percent to nearly 50 percent while
carbon emissions per unit of output have dropped by about a
third for these three crops. The results are intended to provide
meaningful and credible information to shape knowledge-based
decisions and allow tracking of trends over time. A
next-generation report will assess water quality and
biodiversity indicators.
These improvements are especially important when put into the
context of global needs for food and fiber. Experts predict
demand for agricultural goods will double by 2050 as global
population increases by an additional 3 billion people.
Agriculture is already the predominant user of all habitable
land and 70 percent of fresh water. By 2030 grain-producing land
per capita will drop to just a third of what it was in 1950,
while the World Water Council predicts in just a decade we will
need 17 percent more water than is available to feed the world.
The industry is working diligently on collaborative solutions to
meet these challenges.
“Increased productivity and improved natural resource management
will be vitally important as we seek to feed, fuel and clothe
our growing world population on the same amount or even less
land in the decades ahead,” says Kevin Rogers, cotton grower
from Arizona. “The best opportunity to achieve this goal is for
all groups in the chain to work collaboratively. Participation
from farmers and the conservation organizations is vitally
important to success.”
In addition to the findings, the report is significant for its
direction toward creating a comprehensive methodology that can
become the standard for measuring agriculture sustainability.
Field to Market conducted a broad-based peer-review process that
included 17 experts from universities, government and other
institutions to help enhance the methodology.
“The peer-review process allowed us to add many different and
fresh perspectives to the body of work, allowing for a very
objective product,” says Marty Matlock, area director of the
Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability at the
University of Arkansas, who incorporated peer-review comments.
“The most valuable aspect of the group’s work has been bringing
together very diverse interests and creating mutual
understanding and acceptance of one another’s concerns.”
Most notably, Field to Market seeks to work with farmers to
identify and create best practices that can drive future
improvements. The Alliance is beginning an industry-wide
dialogue that will lead to programs for continued improvement of
economically and environmentally friendly food and fiber
production. The group is also creating an online calculator to
help individual growers assess the efficiency of their
operations, along with cataloging advice from experts and other
growers that will help advance future sustainability efforts.
“Increasingly we’re hearing from our consumers who want to make
sustainable food and fiber choices,” says John Wolf, vice
president of ingredients, commodities and risk management at
Kellogg Company. “It’s important consumers understand the
progress already being made while recognizing that bringing the
entire supply chain together is critical to continue making
advances from the farm fields to the supermarket shelves.”
Field to Market is just beginning its efforts to develop and
improve sustainability metrics and create practices to promote
continuous improvement throughout the agriculture food chain.
The group is currently finalizing water quality and biodiversity
indicators and expects to issue a next-generation report that
assesses these in mid-2009. Future reports will consider
additional environmental impacts as well as socio-economic and
health factors.
An executive summary and full report can be accessed at
http://keystone.org/spp/envsustain_ag.html.
Field to Market, the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable
Agriculture, defines agricultural sustainability as meeting the
needs of the present while improving the ability to feed future
generations by focusing on increasing ag productivity while
decreasing environmental impact, improving human health through
access to safe, nutritious food and improving social and
economic well-being of rural communities. The Alliance is
facilitated by the Keystone Center, a neutral, non-profit
organization specializing in collaborative decision-making
processes for environment, energy, and health policy issues.
Field to Market members include: American Farm Bureau
Federation; American Soybean Association; Bayer CropScience;
Bunge; Cargill, Incorporated; ConAgra Foods; Conservation
International; Cotton Incorporated; DuPont; Fleishman-Hillard;
General Mills; Grocery Manufacturers Association; John Deere;
Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences; Mars, Incorporated;
Monsanto Company; National Association of Conservation
Districts; National Association of Wheat Growers; National Corn
Growers Association; National Cotton Council of America;
National Potato Council; Syngenta; The Coca-Cola Company; The
Fertilizer Institute; Kellogg Company; The Nature Conservancy;
United Soybean Board; and World Wildlife Fund. |
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