Putting Together a Measure of Sustainability

Feb 28, 2023

With companies now publishing sustainability reports annually, you may wonder how these reports are put together.

The word sustainability is popping up everywhere these days it seems. Companies are constantly releasing information on how they plan to be more sustainable. These plans are mainly released in the forms of reports, and there’s now a whole industry focused on helping those reports to be made.

“Sustainability issues are so complex and intertwined. For example soil, water stewardship, carbon and the volume of potato a farmer can grow. All of those sustainability issues really overlap with each other — they’re all interconnected,” Emma Bedlington, manager at Stratos, said during a presentation at Manitoba Potato Production Days on Jan. 25, 2023.

Traditionally, companies have made annual reports, and in these reports they’ll outline their profits and losses. Recently though, these reports have started to include more external information that’s not directly related to financials, she added. Companies will now talk about some of their social programs, or their company governance — these are all environmental, social and governance issues and are called ESG

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Video: Grazing Network Group: What it is and how it benefits our operation

In the spring of 2023 OMAFA, along with the University of Guelph, gathered a group of 18 producers from the beef, sheep, and dairy sectors to support a three to four year research project related to measuring grass growth in Ontario. The producers use a Rising Plate Meter to capture grass growth and record livestock movements. This presentation will explain how the group interact/support one another, some initial findings, as well as the benefits for the research team and our farm.

The purpose of the Profitable Pastures conference is to bring fresh ideas and new research results to Ontario grazing managers across the ruminant livestock sectors. These conferences have a major focus on pasture management