1、 ANSI/ASABE S629 JUN2016 Framework to Evaluate the Sustainability of Agricultural Production Systems American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ASABE is a professional and technical organization, of members worldwide, who are dedicated to advancement of engineering applicable to agric
2、ultural, food, and biological systems. ASABE Standards are consensus documents developed and adopted by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers to meet standardization needs within the scope of the Society; principally agricultural field equipment, farmstead equipment, structur
3、es, soil and water resource management, turf and landscape equipment, forest engineering, food and process engineering, electric power applications, plant and animal environment, and waste management. NOTE: ASABE Standards, Engineering Practices, and Data are informational and advisory only. Their u
4、se by anyone engaged in industry or trade is entirely voluntary. The ASABE assumes no responsibility for results attributable to the application of ASABE Standards, Engineering Practices, and Data. Conformity does not ensure compliance with applicable ordinances, laws and regulations. Prospective us
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6、rds, Engineering Practices and Data approved after July of 2005 are designated as “ASABE“. Standards designated as “ANSI“ are American National Standards as are all ISO adoptions published by ASABE. Adoption as an American National Standard requires verification by ANSI that the requirements for due
7、 process, consensus, and other criteria for approval have been met by ASABE. Consensus is established when, in the judgment of the ANSI Board of Standards Review, substantial agreement has been reached by directly and materially affected interests. Substantial agreement means much more than a simple
8、 majority, but not necessarily unanimity. Consensus requires that all views and objections be considered, and that a concerted effort be made toward their resolution. CAUTION NOTICE: ASABE and ANSI standards may be revised or withdrawn at any time. Additionally, procedures of ASABE require that acti
9、on be taken periodically to reaffirm, revise, or withdraw each standard. Copyright American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. All rights reserved. ASABE, 2950 Niles Road, St. Joseph, Ml 49085-9659, USA, phone 269-429-0300, fax 269-429-3852, hqasabe.org ANSI/ASABE S629 JUN2016 Copyrig
10、ht American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers 1 ANSI/ASABE S629 JUN2016 Approved June 2016 as an American National Standard Framework to Evaluate the Sustainability of Agricultural Production Systems Developed by the ASABE technical committee ASE-16 Engineering for Sustainability. App
11、roved by ASABE and ANSI June 2016. Keywords: Efficiency, Impact, Management, Metric, Sustainability, Risk Management, Best Management Practice 1 Purpose This Standard establishes a framework for developing programs to chart progress towards sustainable agricultural production, including defining and
12、 benchmarking key performance indicators (KPIs), setting goals, implementing strategies for continuous improvement, and reporting improvements over time. This framework constitutes the minimum criteria for developing and implementing a program for sustainable agriculture. The purpose of this sustain
13、ability framework is to provide a process by which key performance indicators may be used to improve sustainability across agricultural production systems. The elements of this framework are critical for uniform, effective, and legitimate implementation of sustainability initiatives across the compl
14、ex, diverse, and multifaceted landscape of agriculture around the world. The Framework provides explicit guidance on the goal and scope of each element, the process for implementing each element, and the necessary components for each element. As with all ANSI standards, this is a voluntary standard
15、and is not intended to be exclusive. 2 Scope 2.1 This Standard is intended to define frameworks for sustainability documentation of all types of farming operations (which includes ranching) typically found around the world. 2.2 The scope of application for this framework includes producers and proce
16、ssors from cradle to farm or factory gate, across the primary dimensions of sustainability (Social Economic, and Environmental) (Figure 1). These boundaries include the processes on which agricultural producers can exert influence or control over. Figure 1 The three dimensions of sustainability key
17、performance indicators ANSI/ASABE S629 JUN2016 Copyright American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers 2 2.3 The documentation process described by this standard shall exclude the farm residence, except where it is not practical to separate baseline data. 3 References The following refer
18、enced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including amendments) applies. ANSI/ASABE S612, Performing On-farm Energy Audits Field to Market 2012 E
19、nvironmental and Socioeconomic Indicators Report. http:/www.fieldtomarket.org/report/ ISO 14040:2006, Environmental management Life cycle assessment Principles and framework Nesheim, M. C., Oria, M., (2) enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the economy depends; (3)
20、make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls; (4) sustain the economic viability of farm operations; and (5) enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole (Food, Agriculture, Cons
21、ervation and Trade Act of 1990, Section 1603, Definitions). 4.2 Agricultural producers: Those enterprises (plural) engaged in growing plants and/or animals for commercial purposes. 4.3 Aspirational goal: A goal that is broad and directionally specific (increase or decrease, for example), but without
22、 a specific end point or timeline. 4.4 Benchmark: A level or state of a metric representing performance of an indicator at a specific place or point in time, usually for comparative purposes. 4.5 Dimensions of sustainability: The three primary categories or classes of impacts, processes, metrics, an
23、d concerns regarding human endeavors, typically characterized as Social, Economic, and Environmental. Social includes community, political, and cultural dimensions. Economic includes financial, commercial, and transaction dimensions. Environment includes geochemical, biological, ecological, and hydr
24、ologic dimensions. 4.6 Efficiency: The amount of output produced for a unit of input (kilogram of grain per liter of water, for example). 4.7 Efficiency Key Performance Indicators: Efficiency KPIs are measurements of the parameters of concern with respect to units of production (yield, area, time).
25、4.8 Enterprise: An organization or affiliation for a common economic purpose, such as farm or company. 4.9 Farming operation: A discrete enterprise that grows plants and/or animals for commercial purposes. 4.10 Greenhouse gas emissions: Release to the atmosphere of any gas that creates or contribute
26、s to creation of the greenhouse effect in Earths atmosphere, particularly CO2, CH4, and N2O. ANSI/ASABE S629 JUN2016 Copyright American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers 3 4.11 Impact(s): The outcome(s) of a specific practice or production system on, social, economic, and environmenta
27、l systems, usually undesirable. 4.12 Impact Key Performance Indicators: Impact KPIs are measurements of outcomes or impacts that result directly or indirectly from activities and processes. 4.13 Key Performance Indicators: Elements that producers and stakeholders can identify, define and measure tha
28、t are important outcomes of activities. KPIs should be procedural, physical, or otherwise measurable using one or more metrics. KPIs should be outcomes based, science driven, technology neutral, and transparent. The relationship between the KPI and the outcome of concern should be described, and the
29、 metrics should represent the outcome as closely as possible. 4.14 Land use transformation: Converting land use (cover, topography) from a non-human dominated purpose (e.g., forest habitat, riparian buffer zone, prairie) to a human-dominated purpose (e.g., pasture, crop lands, urban development, tra
30、nsportation). 4.15 Operational goal: A goal that defines the rate and scope of implementation of practices and other activities to achieve tactical goals. 4.16 Outcomes: The measurable impact or changes in KPIs that occur as a result of an action, including a practice, strategy, or policy. 4.17 Proc
31、essors: Discrete or classes of enterprises that transform plant and/or animal raw materials into products for commercial purposes. 4.18 Publically available datasets: Publically available data are those that are either collected, vetted, or distributed by public agencies, available for nominal to no
32、 fee, for public use. Examples include data collected, vetted and distributed by US Environmental Protection Agency, US Geologic Survey, US Department of Agriculture (specifically National Agricultural Statistics Service and Economic Research Service data), and others. 4.19 Stakeholders: Interested
33、and affected parties engaged in a process for making decisions. 4.20 Strategic goal: A goal that is numerically specific with regards to improvement of a specific outcome, and includes a timeline for achieving the numeric improvement. 4.21 Sustainability strategy: A process for improved decision-mak
34、ing that considers multiple facets of risk and impact across social, economic, and environmental dimensions. 4.22 Tactical goal: A goal that is numerically specific within an enterprise with regards to achieving strategic goals, including a timeline and a range of strategic options for achieving the
35、 desired numeric improvement. 5 Framework for Sustainable Agriculture 5.1 This Framework for Sustainable Agriculture is a process for continuous improvement that is similar in format and content to others, but simplified for more effective implementation (see for example Figure S-3 in Nesheim et al.
36、, 2015). The simplified framework is composed of three Actions: Define, Plan, and Implement. Each Action includes three elements (Figure 2). ANSI/ASABE S629 JUN2016 Copyright American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers 4 Figure 2 The three actions of a sustainable agriculture framework
37、 5.2 Action 1: “Define” consists of defining sustainability-related goals for the enterprise, identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure progress towards those goals, and selecting the metrics that can be measured to represent the KPIs. 5.3 Action 2: “Plan“ consists of benchmarking K
38、PI metrics to provide a comparison point, setting goals for each KPI over some time frame, and developing strategies to meet those goals. 5.4 Action 3: “Implement“ includes implementation of the strategy, measuring and reporting results over time and space, and adapting the strategy to improve outco
39、mes. Implementation shall include a specific time and performance criteria for reviewing and revising Actions 2 and 3. 6 Elements of a Framework for Sustainable Agriculture 6.1 Sustainability Goal Definition. The goal of sustainable management of agricultural systems is to optimize productivity and
40、decrease impact through informed feedback to the system. This is an optimization process that must consider impacts across all three dimensions of sustainability (Figure 1). This approach to sustainability insures the decision maker (usually the farmer) has control over decisions impacting the very
41、complex systems involved in the enterprise. 6.1.1 Multi-Stakeholder Engagement. The legitimacy of the Framework for Continuous Improvement is derived from the transparency of the process and the effectiveness of the strategies for achieving desirable changes in outcomes, as prioritized with input fr
42、om stakeholders from across the value chain. Stakeholders are interested and affected parties, and shall. Stakeholders are interested and affected parties, and shall be engaged by agricultural producers in the Define actions in order to insure that all interests and values are heard and understood.
43、The Multi-stakeholder engagement strategy will vary across production communities and regions, but shall include a process for each stakeholder sector (environmental groups, worker advocates, consumer advocates, neighbors, regulatory agencies, consumers, customers, and others) to have a voice in set
44、ting priorities and identifying KPIs. 6.1.2 Optimization in Defining Goals. The stakeholders shall understand that all processes are interconnected, and that improvements in efficiency often come with some cost. However, most agricultural systems that have evolved over the past century have signific
45、ant opportunities for increased efficiency and 1. Define A. Define Sustainability for the Enterprise B. Define Key Performance Indicators C. Select Metrics for KPIs 2. Plan A. Benchmark KPI Metrics B. Set Goals for Each KPI C. Develop Strategy to Meet Goals 3. Implement A. Implement the Strategy B.
46、Measure, Assess and Report Results C. Adapt Strategy to Improve Outcomes ANSI/ASABE S629 JUN2016 Copyright American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers 5 associated decreased impacts (social, economic, and environmental) without compromising the driving force of the enterprise and a cri
47、tical component of sustainable systems: profitability. Value propositions in the agricultural supply chain are changing, with increased focus on safety, quality, security, and stability. A sustainability goal for the enterprise shall be developed to reflect these values and improve the resilience an
48、d reduce risks across social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability. 6.2 Key Performance Indicators. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) should be defined for each dimension of sustainability shown in Figure 1 and may be categorized as efficiency or impact categories. The distinctio
49、n between efficiency and impact KPIs derives from the application of the component metrics to inform analyses and decisions. KPIs should be limited to parameters, processes, and decisions within the control of the grower/producer, processor, integrator and other enterprise managers. The relationship between each KPI and the target outcome should be defined, and the uncertainties associated with each metric should be identified. 6.2.1 Efficiency KPIs. Efficiency KPIs are comp
