SMART: the future of agricultural sustainability assessments

Summary

Food and agricultural sustainability is a pressing issue for both farmers and retailers looking to improve their ecological and socio-economic performance, as well as tap into an ever-growing consumer base who place a premium on genuinely sustainable produce. However, assessing sustainability in a consistent and reliable way has historically proven difficult, and current sustainability assessment tools typically consider only a limited range of factors. For consumers and retailers it is difficult to know whether a farm is operating sustainably or not, and for farmers it is difficult to assess and communicate their sustainability performance in a credible way which avoids greenwashing.