WASHINGTON, DC – November 21, 2014 – Across the entire agricultural supply chain—from the farm gate to the store shelf—the challenge of meeting demand for a rapidly growing population, while conserving natural resources, necessitates a harmonized science-based approach to measure and communicate sustainability in agriculture. Today, Field to Market®: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture is proud to announce a partnership with The Sustainability Consortium® (TSC) that will create progress toward this goal.
In a memorandum of understanding signed last week, TSC and Field to Market have agreed to work toward greater harmonization of metrics in overlapping product categories, encourage data platform interoperability and collaborate together on innovation projects. This partnership will enable Field to Market’s metrics and benchmarks developed through a multi-stakeholder process to be utilized in reporting against TSC’s key performance indicators on continuous improvement in corn, cotton, rice, potatoes, soybeans and other crops related to a number of sustainability indicators.
“The partnership with The Sustainability Consortium is an important step in Field to Market’s efforts to create a common framework to measure the sustainability of U.S. agriculture. This move toward alignment will help the agriculture value chain communicate more clearly to consumers while creating a foundation to advance sustainable outcomes in U.S. crop production,” said Rod Snyder, president of Field to Market.
Through its diverse membership of grower organizations, leading companies, academia, conservation groups and public sector partners, Field to Market seeks to create opportunities across the agricultural supply chain for continuous improvement in productivity, environmental quality and human well-being. Leveraging the metrics and benchmarks of the Fieldprint® Calculator, Field to Market’s supply chain sustainability program focuses on benchmarking and collecting data on current sustainability outcomes, catalyzing continuous improvement at the field and landscape level, and enabling supply chain sustainability claims through data aggregation.
“The Sustainability Consortium is built on a foundation of collaboration and alignment. A strong partnership between TSC and Field to Market will allow us to openly share information and harmonize our approaches to measuring the sustainability of key agricultural crops. We are pleased to have Field to Market as a partner and look forward to working with them as we help companies all across the supply chain capture the big opportunities sustainability has to offer.” said Sheila Bonini, CEO of TSC.
About Field to Market
Field to Market®: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture brings together a diverse group of grower organizations; agribusinesses; food, beverage, restaurant and retail companies; conservation groups; universities and public sector partners to focus on defining, measuring and advancing the sustainability of food, fiber and fuel production. Field to Market is comprised of more than 65 members representing all facets of the U.S. agricultural supply chain, with member companies employing more than 3.9 million people and representing combined revenues totaling over $1.3 trillion. For more information, visit www.fieldtomarket.org and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/FieldtoMarket.
About The Sustainability Consortium
The Sustainability Consortium® (TSC®) is a global non-profit organization operating at the dynamic intersection of science and business to drive consumer product sustainability. TSC translates raw science into business insights and develops transparent methodologies, tools and strategies for a new generation of products and supply networks that address environmental, social and economic imperatives. The Sustainability Consortium is comprised of more than 90 members, including NGOs, civil society organizations, scientific experts and corporations from all corners of business. The Sustainability Consortium is jointly administered by Arizona State University and the University of Arkansas, with additional operations at Wageningen UR in the Netherlands and Nanjing University in China.
Contacts
Field to Market
Betsy Hickman
202-802-6477
bhickman@fieldtomarket.org
The Sustainability Consortium
Susan Arnot Heaney
917-209-9518
susan.heaney@asu.edu