b'SUSTAINABILITYAssessingSustainabilityONFarm Farm Sustainability Readiness Tool helps THE farmers navigate compliance process.ALBERTA FARMERS HAVE long been considered to followa questionnaire thats broken up into three areas: economic some of the most sustainable practices among agriculturalviability, environmental sustainability and social responsibility. producers in the world.Questions range from whether or not a producer is taking The challenge for many of them is they dont have the timeadequate measures to limit the spread and impact of plant or resources to properly record the data that backs this up,disease in the environmental sustainability section to what kind which makes complying with most sustainability certificationof employment practices they follow in the social responsibility programs difficult at best. portion. The aim of an online tool created on behalf of the AlbertaUsers are provided with a score sheet once they have crop commissions (Alberta Barley, Alberta Canola, Albertacompleted the questionnaire, which theyre free to update Pulse Growers and Alberta Wheat) is to make navigating thatas many times as they wish. The score is intended to provide compliance process easier for growers. The Farm Sustainabilityproducers with information on which areas of their operation Readiness Tool was developed to help farmers betterthey need to improve on if they wish to achieve sustainability understand where their operations are at in terms of sustainablecertification. The tool also provides them with tips on best practices and identify potential areas where they could improve.practices and recommended management practices based on It was introduced in 2018 by the four producer-ledthe data they provide in the survey. Theres also a resource commissions and Alberta Agriculture and Forestry inlibrary which provides information on everything from financial partnership with Group AGCO, a consulting firm whichviability to air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and labour specializes in economic studies and corporate socialrelations.responsibility.Updated data on the number of visitors to the sustainability A large number of our members are already doing thesereadiness tool website wasnt available. But Bergstrom says sustainable practices. If I had to throw out a ballpark number Iuptake for such initiatives generally depends on market drivers would say 85 per cent, says Nevin Rosaasen, sustainability andat a given time, meaning the more demand-driven signals there government relations specialist for Alberta Pulse Growers. The thing is not many of them are recording those practices. Thats where the documentation is important.What we wanted to know was where our farmers are at in terms of sustainability, adds Karla Bergstrom, manager of government and industry affairs for Alberta Canola. We thought if they pass with flying colours it would be a great news story. If they dont, and there are areas that we need to work on, thats a really good extension exercise to go through to figure out where some of the holes or gaps are.The Farm Sustainability Readiness Tool is not a certification program. Instead, its meant to provide farmers with the information they need to better understand whether or not they meet the requisite standards set out by most international sustainability certification schemes and how they can better position themselves to do so.Producers can use the tool free of charge by registering online at farmsustainability.com. Once registered, theyre asked to fill out 22seed.ab.ca'