Field to Market, The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture

Field to Market® is a diverse alliance working to create opportunities across the agricultural supply chain for continuous improvements in productivity, environmental quality, and human well-being. The group provides collaborative leadership that is engaged in industry-wide dialogue, grounded in science, and open to the full range of technology choices. 

Field to Market engages in broad communication and collaboration with stakeholders to ensure a coordinated, outcomes-based approach to sustainable agriculture issues. By developing analytical tools such as the Fieldprint Calculator, the entire supply chain can better understand and communicate sustainability at the field, local and national levels.

• Farmers evaluate how their decisions influence their sustainability outcomes.
• The food industry can access and share more accurate details about sustainable food and fiber production.
• Conservation groups understand what’s happening on the farm, while helping farmers understand questions and concerns about sustainability.

The Fieldprint® Calculator is a free and confidential tool developed for corn, cotton, rice, wheat, potatoes and soybean growers. It allows growers to better understand and communicate how management choices affect overall sustainability performance and operational efficiency.  The Calculator estimates field level performance on the following sustainability indicators: land use, soil conservation, soil carbon, irrigation water use, water quality, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Management information entered into the tool are analyzed and transformed into a “Fieldprint”, which graphically represents the farmer’s unique operation. It helps farmers visualize and assess how efficiencies and environmental impacts fluctuate based on various management decisions. Farmers can also compare their performance against local, state and national averages developed using publically available data.

Nutrient management decisions impact several of the environmental indicators in the Calculator, and Field to Market is working to ensure that the benefits of 4R practices are accurately reflected in a farmer’s Fieldprint outcomes.