Producer Environmental Self-Assessment Program Engaging Producers in Conservation Planning The passage of the 2002 Farm Bill marked the beginning of a philosophical change in conservation planning. While always considered important, renewed interest has been placed to conservation planning on working lands. This change in emphasis created a shift from agency controlled to producer controlled conservation planning. The advantage to producer controlled conservation planning is that by personally being involved in the process, the producer "owns" the conservation plan and accepts responsibility in its implementation. The Ohio Agricultural Environmental Assurance Alliance (OAEAA) Producer Environmental Self-Assessment Program provides a new tool for producers to use to conduct an independent and confidential evaluation of their operation. After completing the self-assessment, information and technical assistance will be provided to help producers consider solutions to the natural resource concerns they have identified and prepare an action plan. When developing their action plan, producers will have to think about what is needed to address the identified natural resource concerns, either right away or over the next few years. The final result will be the incorporation of environmentally friendly management practices into their current conservation plan while maintaining economic viability and enhancing social acceptability.
Three-Step Process Step 1 – Education The environmental self-assessment program begins with producers registering and attending the first session of a two-part producer workshop. The first session provides an introduction to the environmental self-assessment process. Following the introduction, participants will be instructed on how to conduct the environmental self-assessment. Producers will have two to three weeks to conduct your environmental self-assessment. Step 2 – Environmental Self-Assessment The environmental self-assessment will be conducted in two zones or areas within the production facility. Zone 1 is that area directly associated with the farmstead and zone 2 the area associated with the production of the commodity (row crop, vegetables, fruit, pasture and woodland). By evaluating the existing situation for a series of influencing factors, producers will be able to identify conservation needs. Step 3 – Action Plan The second session of the producer workshop takes place after conducting the environmental self-assessment. During the second session, participants will be able to utilize workshop materials to match possible solutions to identified resource concerns problems. By taking economics and effectiveness factors under consideration, as well as their implementation timeline, a personalized action plan will be developed. The process of developing the action plan provides the opportunity to plan a customized system of conservation practices to address identified natural resource concerns.
Format of the Environmental Self-Assessment Tool The materials in the self-assessment tool are assembled in 2 sections; one focusing on soil quality and the other water quality. Within each section are topical worksheets that will be used to assess the farmstead, cropland, pastureland, woodland, vegetable crop and fruit crop areas of the producer’s operation. In addition to the worksheets, a conservation practice effects matrix and practice fact sheets are included to help guide the producer through the solution identification process and the development of an action plan. The value of the self-assessment format is that it provides the producer opportunity to examine where they are in terms of environmental assurance and where they need to go. It is based on the evaluation of natural resource issues rather than conservation practice needs and is designed to highlight and promote the benefits of Core 4 conservation. Two formats for the worksheets have been developed. One is "Standards" based and the other "Risk" based. The standards based worksheets were designed to evaluate the resource concern to an established Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) natural resource quality criterion. The risk based worksheets provide a relative indication to the potential environmental impact of the resource concern being evaluated.
Self-Assessments Are: Voluntary – Participation in the environmental self-assessment program is strictly voluntary. The producer decides whether or not to register to attend the workshops and conduct the environmental self-assessment. Confidential –All information contained in the environmental self-assessment is completely confidential. Because the producer conducts the self-assessment, it is the producer’s choice to determine what portions, if any are shared. Flexible – Decision-making is the responsibility of the producer. Developing a personal action plan allows the producer to plan a customized system of conservation practices to address identified natural resource concerns based on practice effectiveness and cost considerations.
Benefits of Participation
How to Participate Four Easy Steps -
Support for the Environmental Self-Assessment Program has been provided by the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, Ohio Environmental Education Fund, Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. and USDA Risk Management Agency.
Click
here to view the PDF version of the two-sided, tri-fold,
program promotional brochure. * Note this is a very large PDF file
(11 MB) that will take awhile to download, but worth the wait. Please note: PDF items require Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free and freely distributable software program. If you do not currently have it, you can download Adobe now. | |