Self-assessment tool allows farmers and ranchers to establish a conservation score to baseline different aspects of their operations.
Farmers around the country want to do the right things when it comes to conservation, and they have been adopting conservation practices for generations. Many say they’re not getting credit for the best practices they’ve established through the years, but how do farmers know how sustainable their operations are? How do they begin to assess how their farms compare to evolving conservation standards?
A new mobile app by Syngenta helps provide farmers with the perspective they need to assess their current operations and plan for continuous improvement. The Cropwise Sustainability app uses a self-guided survey and assessment tool to generate a score that gives users immediate feedback on how their operation ranks in various categories using its Sustainable Outcomes in Agriculture Standard, a gold-level equivalency standard against the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform’s Farm Sustainability Assessment 3.0.
“We want to put sustainability in the hands of every farmer out there,” says Liz Hunt, head of sustainable and responsible business at Syngenta. “Growers also have the unique option to view their results and benchmark against other app users in their area.”
Farmers can download the app in their app store to login and complete a farm assessment in about 30 minutes. The assessment will generate a sustainability leadership score and identify opportunities to improve in each conservation category.
The immediate feedback allows farms to pinpoint where to focus their efforts, gain efficiencies and prioritize their conservation efforts.
Growers can choose to share their assessment results with value chain partners, who are then able to anonymize aggregated data based off of assessments to provide a view of where opportunities for sustainability improvements exist.
Collaboration comes to fruition
Trust In Food helped in the development of the Cropwise™ tool by providing insights on producer attitudes using anonymous grower data generated by the Farm Journal database, along with surveys across large data sets, individualized development interviews and insights from its Readiness Index and Human Dimensions of Change research.
“Trust In Food uses Farm Journal’s data-driven solutions to understand what farmers want and the best way to deliver products and programs to be effective for agriculture and conservation,” says Amy Skoczlas Cole, president of Trust In Food, the purpose-driven initiative of Farm Journal.
Farm Journal has the country’s largest database of producers with more than 4 million records and 1.2 million consented users across its network of trusted publications that reach virtually every American farmer, rancher, dairyman and the decision-support networks that help make the American farmer the most productive and profitable in the world.
About the Cropwise Sustainability app:
Cropwise Sustainability is the latest offering in the Cropwise suite of mobile apps, which includes imagery, operations, financials, scouting, business operations, telematics, productivity and others that support farm management decision-making, strengthen productivity, streamline operations and bolster climate resiliency.
Designed as a practice-based tool, the Cropwise Sustainability interview identifies current practices for soil health, crop production, water impact, biodiversity and habitat, community leadership, human and animal wellbeing and other key conservation areas.
Download Cropwise Sustainability at the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, and learn more about Farm Journal’s data-driven solutions and suite of trusted media products.
