Jul 24, 2024Potato Sustainability Alliance report measures on-farm management practices
A recently released Potato Sustainability Alliance report shares insights from 420 growers representing 589,120 potato acres across the U.S. and Canada.
Report results were gathered through the PSA Program, which helps growers measure on-farm management practices using the Sustainable Outcomes in Agriculture (SOA) Standard and the Cropwise Sustainability (CWS) app.
“In this first year of using the SOA Standard and CWS app as our on-farm assessment tool, we are excited to highlight these results and the great work being done at the farm level to address sustainability needs that meet industry requirements,” Natalie Nesburg, PSA Program manager, said in a news release. “This data is significant to the North American potato industry, with insights that serve stakeholders throughout the supply chain.”
Results were reported using a performance metric of Essential, Basic, Medium or High, summarizing the adoption of beneficial management strategies, practices and technologies.
Participating potato growers across North America achieved an overall performance score of Medium averaged across outcome scores involving biodiversity and habitat, community leadership, human and animal health, optimal production, soil health and water impact.
“Achieving an overall performance score of Medium should be an encouragement to potato growers who participated in the assessment process,” Nesburg said. “This score highlights the collective and proactive adoption of beneficial management practices and technologies driving sustainable production. Looking ahead, we will leverage these findings to showcase on-farm achievements and develop opportunities for continuous improvement and industry collaboration.”
Key findings
Among the report’s findings:
Soil health
- 75% of growers participate in projects that support and measure nutrient management for soil health.
- 49% of growers adopted a new practice to reduce tillage and compaction at the field level in the past three years.
Water impact
- 91% of growers who irrigate are using a crop production irrigation plan that has been optimized over time to consider long-term water availability and challenges in the area.
- 54% collaborate with others in their area on watershed or aquifer initiatives to improve water quality.
The full report is available to download at this link.
