Purpose
Environmental assessments are core to sustainability initiatives in several livestock sectors. For example, the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management Environmental Stewardship Program and the National Pork Board’s On-Farm Sustainability Reports support dairy and swine farms, respectively, in documenting baselines and improving environmental performance. Although many farms have a long history of environmental stewardship, farms may have limited experience in quantifying and communicating about farm environmental performance. In these cases, an environmental stewardship assessment or other evaluation can be an opportunity to learn about sustainability metrics and discuss their farm impacts. Farms, advisors, processors, and other stakeholders share responsibility in conducting and responding to environmental assessments. Uniquely, advisors and educators can build value in environmental assessment processes by assisting stakeholders in interpreting and communicating results.
What Did We Do?
To improve the translation from assessments to action, we designed a cross-institutional extension program for farmers and advisors in 2023. This W2W workshop shared key findings from this extension program by immersing participants in similar activities. The workshop included two parts. In Part I “Understanding environmental assessment models,” participants discussed fictional assessment results–reviewing inputs, then outputs, then discussing unknowns to the calculation processes. In Part II “Your role in assessment processes,” participants developed an action plan for incorporating environmental assessments into their own advising and professional work through facilitator-guided ideation activities. In summary, our workshop sought to empower participants to: 1) accurately interpret and explain the results of an environmental assessment; 2) develop strategies for incorporating environmental assessment results into their professional activities; 3) build confidence in initiating and leading discussions on environmental sustainability assessments.
What Have We Learned?
In brief, based on the perspectives of farmers and advisors in our Fall 2023 focus groups, an advisor can recognize:
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- Environmental assessments and reports can be relatively simple;
- Assessments will not capture all the specifics for every farm;
- Assessments enumerate key environmental indicators (greenhouse gases and energy consumption), and this can help processors and retailers sell more animal products;
- More support, beyond an assessment, is needed to inform on-farm decision-making.
These acknowledgments are a starting point to establish a common understanding between advisors and others involved in environmental assessment processes.
Summary of Workshop Findings
This workshop generated ideas that we collected into a summary document to distribute to the broader community of Livestock and Poultry Environmental educators and advisors, available below:
2025 W2W Building Value in Baselines Summary Document
Authors
Presenting author
MaryGrace Erickson, Postdoctoral Associate, University of Minnesota
Corresponding author
Erin L. Cortus, Associate Professor and Extension Engineer, University of Minnesota, ecortus@umn.edu
Additional authors
Maristela Rovai, Associate Professor and Dairy Extension Specialist, South Dakota State University
Patricia Villamediana, Dairy Field Specialist, South Dakota State University
Amy M. Schmidt, Professor & Animal Manure Management Extension Specialist, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Richard R. Stowell, Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Additional Information
University of Minnesota Guidance for Milk Processors – https://z.umn.edu/processorguidance
FARM Environmental Stewardship – https://nationaldairyfarm.com/dairy-farm-standards/environmental-stewardship/
Pork Cares Sustainability Report – https://www.porkcares.org/
Acknowledgements
We thank Midwest Dairy for supporting the original work. Additionally, we are grateful to participants in these focus groups and surveys for sharing their experiences. This workshop benefitted from supporting materials provided by National Pork Board and the National Milk Producers Federation Farmers Assuring Responsible Management Program.
The authors are solely responsible for the content of these proceedings. The technical information does not necessarily reflect the official position of the sponsoring agencies or institutions represented by planning committee members, and inclusion and distribution herein does not constitute an endorsement of views expressed by the same. Printed materials included herein are not refereed publications. Citations should appear as follows. EXAMPLE: Authors. 2025. Title of presentation. Waste to Worth. Boise, ID. April 7-11, 2025. URL of this page. Accessed on: today’s date.