Sustainable Agriculture News : National Sustainable Agriculture Standard
Leonardo Academy announced the launch of the second public comment and balloting period for the National Sustainable Agriculture Standard (LEO-4000). The ground-breaking standard, developed through the American National Standards Institute's (ANSI) open, multi- stakeholder process, provides voluntary guidance and opportunities for recognition for producers interested in or engaged in sustainable crop production. Both the public comment period and the Standard Committee ballot period will close on May 18, 2015.
The standard has undergone significant streamlining based on comments received during the first public comment period, held in 2014, to make it more practical to use. In addition, public comments were instrumental in identifying several improvement opportunities. Finally, the committee identified specific ways to further streamline the standard to address the needs of small farms. The current version won overwhelming support from the committee, which recommended rerelease for a second round of comments.
Michael Arny, President of Leonardo Academy, said, "This four-tiered standard recognizes producers at all levels on the path toward sustainability. Thanks to the hard work of Standard Committee members, the subcommittee members, and the other process participants, the second edition of the draft standard has been completed and has been released for a second round of public comments. The committee felt that a second round of comments was needed because significant upgrades were made to the draft standard. Now is the time for all interested parties – including producers, processors, manufacturers, retailers, and consumers of agricultural products – to weigh in. "
LEO-4000 is designed to help users navigate the expanding array of proprietary sustainability labels, specifications, information requests, and guides for agricultural products. It is a comprehensive sustainability standard that provides a stable and reliable platform for producers to use in documenting and communicating their sustainability achievements while demonstrating compliance with other sustainability requirements and remaining flexible to meet the diverse needs of agriculture. The standard will also help growers, retailers, and consumers purchase sustainable agricultural products and assess the authenticity of sustainable agricultural product claims.
Source : Leonardo Academy
The standard has undergone significant streamlining based on comments received during the first public comment period, held in 2014, to make it more practical to use. In addition, public comments were instrumental in identifying several improvement opportunities. Finally, the committee identified specific ways to further streamline the standard to address the needs of small farms. The current version won overwhelming support from the committee, which recommended rerelease for a second round of comments.
Michael Arny, President of Leonardo Academy, said, "This four-tiered standard recognizes producers at all levels on the path toward sustainability. Thanks to the hard work of Standard Committee members, the subcommittee members, and the other process participants, the second edition of the draft standard has been completed and has been released for a second round of public comments. The committee felt that a second round of comments was needed because significant upgrades were made to the draft standard. Now is the time for all interested parties – including producers, processors, manufacturers, retailers, and consumers of agricultural products – to weigh in. "
LEO-4000 is designed to help users navigate the expanding array of proprietary sustainability labels, specifications, information requests, and guides for agricultural products. It is a comprehensive sustainability standard that provides a stable and reliable platform for producers to use in documenting and communicating their sustainability achievements while demonstrating compliance with other sustainability requirements and remaining flexible to meet the diverse needs of agriculture. The standard will also help growers, retailers, and consumers purchase sustainable agricultural products and assess the authenticity of sustainable agricultural product claims.
Source : Leonardo Academy
