I am glad to see the discussion getting underway about best practices and
whole farm planning. We are in the process of testing "yardsticks"
developed in the Netherlands designed to provide a quantitative basis to
both of these approaches. These tools can help us move beyond the "warm and
fuzzy" stage we are in now with both whole farm planning and BPM into more
accountability and clarity about what are current impacts of specific
farming practices and what will be the likely impact of choosing one option
over another. =C5t the moment we are working nutrient balance and pesticide
yardsticks, and will begin to look at energy balance and biodiversity
yardsticks next year.
----
Mark Ritchie
Executive Director
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
1313 Fifth Street, SE, Suite 303
Minneapolis, MN 55414 USA
tel. 612-379-5980
fax. 612-379-5982
email mritchie@iatp.org