The single resource maximum sustained yield management model, for commodities like corn or natural resources like deer, usually pits benefits accrued for one resource against costs compiled in other resources that are produced by the same land area.  Through development of the Healthy Grown Standard (HG) we have created a process that concomitantly produces meadowlarks, pollinators, sustainable aquifers, clean water, and carbon banks along with potatoes and other crops.  While farm producers need to grow to a more complicated, whole-farm standard, natural resource managers must also develop tools and means that help producers achieve these universal goals. Most pressing conservation problems can only be solved by land-based solutions upon which agriculture, worldwide, also depends.  To certify potatoes, carrots or onions, HG growers must document sustainable activities to an independent certifier for validation that include 1) an assessment document for the farm 2) an IPM Planning Protocol Form, and 3) ecological restoration plans for non-production lands.  Future modules include carbon storage and perhaps social guidelines.  Since establishment in 1996, HG farms have reduced potential pesticide risk, increased participatory practice points and implemented prairie, ecosystem restoration.  Future metrics of progress need greater flexibility, lower management costs, and better spatial records.  UW-Madison faculty, a representative commodity group, individual farms and conservation NGO’s collaborate to improve the standard over time.  Food production under HG is more expensive than conventional agriculture but currently no premiums have offset these costs.  Instead, producers have gained market share and more control over their business models in the face of increasing complexity of the regulatory environment.  Yet participation by leaders alone is insufficient to achieve the scale of adoption necessary to solve land-based environmental problems such as climate change.  To succeed, market forces must encourage broader participation by growers and consumers must pay for some added costs of production.<br/>

Wisconsin “Healthy Grown” Program: Research, innovation and implementation of high-bar, whole-farm production systems with certification for potatoes, carrots and onions

256th National Meeting (2018)

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