The United Soybean Board and soy checkoff, through a partnership with the National Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (NISA), have recently released an Internet-based questionnaire to help gather data to show that U.S. soybean farmers already use sustainable management practices.
“We don’t want a list of standards U.S. farmers have to meet that are created by people who know nothing about today’s agriculture,” explains Wisconsin farmer Chuck Prellwitz, a former soy checkoff farmer-director and current NISA board member. “Instead, we want a way of measuring what farmers have already done to grow their products sustainably.”
To visit the website and complete the confidential and anonymous Soybean Assessment Tool or Whole-Farm Assessment Tool questionnaires, go to www.coolbean.info.
The results of the survey will be segmented by region because best management practices are dependent on factors that vary regionally, such as soil, water, and weather. As one way of demonstrating soy’s sustainability performance, the checkoff and NISA could use the data to show U.S. soy customers the share of U.S. farmers who have adopted sustainable best management practices appropriate for their region.
Source: United Soybean Board
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