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RESOURCES FOUR CROP COMMISSIONS LAUNCH FARMSUSTAINABILITY.COM Alberta farmers were talking about the new farmsustainability.com pla orm at many summer events, including CanolaPALOOZA in June. Producers who have completed the online ques onnaire like John Kowalchuk, Director-at-Large (Non- Bean) with Alberta Pulse Growers (APG), were eager to share their experience with peers who may be wondering how easy it is to use and whether it is worth their me. "The sustainability tool was very simple to use," Kowalchuk said. "It was straigh orward and took very li le me to go through all the ques ons. The way it was divided worked very well. I see a lot of value in the tool itself. It's educa onal, but it's also a way of doing be er at so many different parts of my farm that I've never thought of before. The value to me is self-improvement and improvement on my farm." APG Zone 3 Director Chris Allam had a similar experience. "The farm sustainability tool was easy to use and helped us realize where our farm needed to improve," he said. "It's quick and gives our opera on a strong benchmark. We look forward to using this tool regularly on our farm to track our environmental stewardship progress." As supply chains and mul na onals con nue to expand globally seeking lower costs and greater produc on capacity, they are exposed to a widening range of risks. This is especially true when companies expand into developing countries. Alberta farmers can relate to many of these risks, like supply disrup on, cost vola lity, compliance with local laws and regula ons, and even brand reputa on. Companies like Walmart, General Mills and McDonald's are looking to source sustainable ingredients to meet the growing expecta ons from their stakeholders to be more responsible for their suppliers' social, ethical and environmental prac ces. Sustainability was just becoming a hot topic in 2015, and the four crop commissions – Alberta Barley, Alberta Canola, Alberta Pulse Growers and Alberta Wheat – collaborated on a pilot project that looked at sustainability cer fica on on grain farms. The commissions learned that Alberta farmers are using a lot of beneficial management prac ces on their farms and that agriculture has great stories to tell, but the commissions needed to be more proac ve to help farmers provide the proof in a way that wasn't too onerous. As a result, the groups con nued to work together, forming the Alberta Farm Sustainability Extension Working Group along with staff from Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, ul mately launching farmsustainability.com, a hub for advancing sustainability within Canada's cropping sector. The working group contracted Groupe Ageco to build this pla orm, which focuses on increasing farmers' readiness to supply sustainable ingredients. The website provides informa on about sustainability, and addresses the drivers behind sustainable sourcing and sustainability cer fica on. The tool itself serves as a pla orm for farmers to voluntarily complete an online self-assessment that was created from a hybrid checklist of three interna onal sustainability standards: The Interna onal Sustainability and Carbon Cer fica on PLUS (ISCC PLUS), the Sustainable Agriculture Ini a ve (SAI) Farmer Self- Assessment 2.0, and Unilever's Sustainable Agriculture Code (ULSAC). The farmer-friendly format makes it easier to understand the sustainability standards required for compliance. When enough farmers have completed the surveys on the pla orm, then the tool can also make it easier to understand how their farm compares to industry averages. The pla orm is aimed at farmers who are open to learning more about their opera ons and who may be considering a sustainability cer fica on program on their farms some me in the future. "If I were to pursue the cer fica on process, I would say this would definitely help me," Kowalchuk explained. "It's already shown me so many ways that I can do be er and it's detailed in the way you can follow through. It gives you the informa on on how to improve." 1 0

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