IERE's Sustainable Agriculture Program

The program is designed to help farmers produce meat, dairy and other farm products that are safer for people and for the environment, and that use that improved quality as a marketing tool. Ultimately, the produce of individual farmers will have an ecolable, which identifies the individual farm from which the produce came. Consumers will be able to check up on the environmental performance of individual farms through internet connections.

The program combines an ISO-14000 environmental management system (EMS) with transparent disclosure and community oversight. The EMS and disclosure and ecolabels are all based on life cycle assessments conforming to the requirements of the ISO standards. This means that the ecolabel and market claims they make will be legitimate in national and international courts.

Each individual farm has an ISO 14001 conforming environmental management system, with an annual report. A description and background on farm-based EMS reporting can be found here. Some annual reports can be accessed from the links below:

Triangle H farm - Elsie, NE
Loup Valley Farm - Callaway, NE
Dicke Farm and Ranch - Columbus, NE
Libby Creek Farm - York County, NE
Rosendahl Farms - Columbus, NE
Theilen Farms - Shuyler, NE
Grandview Farms - Schuyler, NE

A recent presentation entitled Farm Environmental Management Systems in Nebraska: A Case Study be viewed here .

A power point presentation for the Iowa Waste Reduction Center at the University of Northern Iowa on Community Based Environmental Management Systems presents background information about these programs. Click here to view the presentation.

A more detailed discussion of agricultural environmental management systems can be found here.

Information on the application of life cycle assessment to agriculture can be found here.

The information on this website describes the program in greater detail and through examples. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at staff@iere.org.

Observations on the environmental impacts of confinement feeding can be found here.