their impact and then design their goals for the next year founded on
their baseline.
What Do the Metrics Look Like?
(Example: Organic and Land Use Metrics and Indicators)
POLICY AND GUIDELINES, PRACTICES
CORE Policy: Does your company have a policy or general guidelines in place regarding pro-
duction or purchasing of organics? If so, state the policy and/or provide document or
URL. Include name of organic certifier. (GRI 4. 8)
CORE Guidelines & Practices: Provide a narrative describing your organic practices and efforts related to biodiversity, forests and native ecosystems, including progress made
since your last report, if applicable, and descriptive goals. (GRI EN 11, EN 12)
ORGANIC PRODUCTION AND PURCHASING
CORE Total Annual Organic Products/Ingredients Purchased or Sold in Pounds
• percent of total purchases by weight that are certified organic
All businesses except farms should report purchases; farms should report sales. Use dollars if pounds cannot be derived. Use sales if purchasing cannot be derived.
Certified Organic Acres in Past Year
• percent of total acres grown
Acres in Organic Conversion in Past Year
• percent change year over year
Total Annual Transitional Product/Ingredients Purchased or Sold in Pounds
• percent of total purchases by weight that are transitional
All businesses except farms should report purchases; farms should report sales. Use dollars if pounds cannot be derived. Use sales if purchasing cannot be derived.
ORGANIC OTHER
Provide narrative describing farming practices for all other agriculturally derived
materials involved in your operation, including bio-based fuels and packaging, company meals, fiber and other products.
Organic Materials in Past Year
• percent of organic in other agriculturally derived materials used (e.g., fiber-based
packaging materials, etc.).
ORGANIC BENEFITS
Provide any measured benefits of your organic practices (activities or purchasing),
such as:
1. Soil health testing/measurement (soil organic matter, soil carbon, pH, available
water holding, water percolation/infiltration, erosion)
2. Air quality
3. Water quality
4. Improved biodiversity on or near farms
5. Avoided synthetic inputs: type and amount
6. Climate benefits: soil carbon sequestration, avoided emissions (direct
activities/processes and inputs)
7. Embedded energy savings (inputs)
8. Nonrenewable-resource savings (e.g., not using petroleum-based inputs)
BIODIVERSITY, NATIVE ECOSYSTEMS, SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY
Provide narrative describing how you protect and enhance biodiversity, native
ecosystems and forests (native/old growth and secondary) in relation to agriculture
and other key business activities/purchases. (GRI EN 11-14)
LAND USE CERTIFICATIONS
Certifications: List certifications related to land use and agriculture practices, and
acreage or of purchases covered (e.g., biodynamic, Forest Stewardship Council,
Salmon Safe, Rainforest Alliance). (GRI EN 11-14)
GOALS
CORE Please state any measureable improvement goals for organic and land use practices.
Conclusion
Adopting metrics not only formalizes sustainability programs, but also
brings accountability to behaviors
and impacts. With the public release
of SFTA’s sustainability metrics, all
other organic companies outside of
the organization also now have access
to a framework specific to the organic food and agriculture industry
with which they can assess and measure their social and environmental
impact. Additional support is available to SFTA members, who also get
access to supporting documents,
tracking and reporting templates
along with peer review and feedback
on their reports.
The organic industry can now
collectively track and measure the
same metrics, bringing more harmonization to industry reporting. For
more information about Sustainable
Food Trade Association and its metrics, please contact SFTA’s executive
director, Nate Schlachter, at
nates@sustainablefoodtrade.org. o
*Sustainable Food Trade Association
(SFTA) was formerly named Food
Trade Sustainability Leadership Associ-
ation (FTSLA). The association name
change is a strategic decision to simplify
the association’s brand and contribute
to the next phase of growth.
Nicole Bassett is the director of membership development and education at
SF TA and is responsible for
advising members, developing educational resources to drive continuous improvement, educating the
broader organic food trade to catalyze
wider change and implementing SF TA’s
communications. She also consults on sustainability for PrAna and has worked with
Patagonia, the Outdoor Industry’s Sustainability Index, Fair Trade USA, Textile
Exchange and the Fair Labor Association.
You can reach Nicole
at nicole@sustainablefoodtrade.org.
