FARM Environmental Stewardship Conservation Practice Questionnaire
FARM Environmental Stewardship recently launched the Conservation Practice Questionnaire (CPQ): an optional add-on questionnaire to the FARM Environmental Stewardship Version 2 evaluation. The existing FARM Environmental Stewardship evaluation focuses on greenhouse gas emissions and energy use; the CPQ goes beyond these topics to ask about dairy farmers’ field and dairy-level conservation practices to capture a more holistic sustainability story.
CPQ development benefited from wide input and feedback via the FARM Environmental Stewardship Task Force, the FARM Farmer Advisory Council, the NMPF Environmental Issues Committee, additional dairy stakeholders, and more. The CPQ was also piloted on 31 dairy farms through 9 organizations in the winter of 2022; recommendations from the pilot were incorporated into the final version.
Organizations that participate in FARM Environmental Stewardship Version 2 have the option to voluntarily sign on to use the CPQ. Organizations may choose not to use the CPQ with no impact on their participation in FARM Environmental Stewardship otherwise.
