The online tool was launched March 28 during the Canadian Global Crops Symposium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Developed by the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crops (CRSC), the metrics platform covers three sustainability categories: Social Responsibility, Environmental Sustainability and Financial Viability. Within each of these three, information has been organized into sub-categories, or criteria, for easier access to the information.

“The CRSC is pleased to provide this resource for customers, food manufacturers, exporters, commodity supply chains and producer groups,“ said Mark Brock, chair of the CRSC steering committee.

To complement available data, the CRSC commissioned Carbon Footprint studies for 10 major field crops across Canada and a survey of grain producers’ sustainability practices. Based on the results of these studies, together with data accessed from industry partners and Canadian and provincial governments, the metrics platform is able to provide fact-based sustainability performance information that customers want.

The sustainability performance is presented in 12 reports: greenhouse gas emissions and air quality; agrochemical management; nutrient management; water quality and quantity; waste and pollution; soil health and productivity; land use and biodiversity; financial viability; work safety and security; working conditions; labor relations; and community relations.

The Canadian Grains Sustainability Metrics Platform was funded through the Assurance Systems stream of the AgriMarketing Program under Growing Forward 2, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative.