In Australia, a pilot program for a uniform agricultural sustainability standard will be implemented. It was created by Leading Harvest, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing inefficiencies in the sustainable production of food.
The Farmland Management Standard produced by the organization is a standardized framework that provides valuable sustainability results for farmers and producers, as well as assurance to consumers about the sustainability, practices utilized for their food. There are potentially hundreds of different sustainability standards in use, and Leading Harvest hopes that their offering would simplify the process of producing sustainable food.
The standard aspires to meet 13 criteria, including sustainable agriculture, biodiversity conservation, and unique site preservation.
The technique has already been tested in the United States when a 20-month proof of concept was operated across 526,000 hectares with 90 different crop kinds. Farms representing over 400,000 hectares of land in Australia have already signed up for the pilot.
“There is an urgent demand in Australia’s agriculture business for standardized, sector-wide certification for sustainability,” stated Kenny Fahey, President, and CEO of Leading Harvest.
“The introduction of our Australian pilot program is a significant step forward for Australia’s agricultural industry, demonstrating how a unified, third-party verified approach to sustainability can unlock additional value for the farming community.”
“We are excited to partner with Australian partners and related projects to make sustainability reporting more effective and scalable for farmers, landowners, and managers.”
After the pilot program concludes in around eight months, Leading Harvest plans to officially introduce the standard for wider acceptance by farmers and producers.
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