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Leonardo Acadamy launches fundraising campaign for sustainable agriculture |
MADISON, USA, July 16, 2010: Leonardo Academy has launched a fundraising campaign to support the continued development of the American National Standard for Sustainable Agriculture.
The goal of the standard is to provide guidance for continuous improvement in sustainable agriculture practices, as well as a basis for clear communication between buyers and sellers on the sustainability profile of agricultural products. The initial phase of the standard development process focuses on the production of agricultural goods within the farm gate. Additional components of the agricultural supply chain will be addressed in subsequent modules.
The Sustainable Agriculture Standards Committee held its third face-to-face meeting in Fayetteville, Arkansas in June, where a number of significant accomplishments regarding the standard development process took place. Great progress was made regarding the approval of initial environmental, economic, and social sustainability principles for the standard; the approval of the process for coordinating the work of the Standards Committee and the subcommittees; and the approval of a timeline to complete the first phase of the standard by late 2012.
With the Sustainable Agriculture Standard development process in full force, Leonardo Academy has launched a fundraising campaign to raise the funding necessary to fully support the continued facilitation of this growing initiative. The objective of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard is to establish a comprehensive, continual improvement framework and common set of economic, environmental, and social metrics by which to determine whether an agricultural crop has been produced in a sustainable manner. The standard will provide producers with a credible set of tools and metrics for incrementally advancing their sustainability performance, as well as a common benchmark against which to communicate their achievements.
Leonardo Academy's work on the project includes coordination and support of the Standards Committee and subcommittee work; committee meetings and conference calls; communications, outreach, and education; travel support for under-funded Committee members; tool development and maintenance, and more. Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), the initiator and seed funder of the standard development process since 2007, provided funding for the first three years of the process.
Michael Arny, president of Leonardo Academy said, "We greatly appreciate SCS' generous financial support since the inception of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard. Now that their contribution has ended, it is time for other stakeholders to step up and provide financial support to help build this important standard. We value support at any level and appreciate all contributions made on behalf of this effort. We also welcome the participation of all agricultural stakeholders, including producers, processors, agricultural product manufacturers, and retailers, as well as environmental groups, labor groups, academics, and government representatives."
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