Designed for today. For a better tomorrow.
The Leading Harvest Farmland Management Standard is the inaugural standard of Leading Harvest designed to optimize sustainable farmland management as part of a comprehensive assurance program.
Created by diverse stakeholders, the Standard is flexible and adaptable so it can scale across all geographies, crop types, and management systems. It is scientifically-rooted and users of the Standard can achieve certification through rigorous, independent third-party auditing.
the standard addresses 13 sustainability principles:
1. Sustainable Agriculture
2. Soil Health and Conservation
3. Protection of Water Resources
4. Protection of Crops
5. Energy Use, Air Quality and Climate Change
6. Waste and Material Management
7. Conservation of Biodiversity
8. Protection of Special Sites
9. Local Communities
10. Employees and Farm Labor
11. Legal and Regulatory Compliance
12. Management Review and Continual Improvement
13. Tenant-Operated Operations
What the Leading Harvest Standard can do for you.
The Leading Harvest Farmland Management Standard is designed to address your unique needs and grow with your agricultural operation over time, providing you with a framework for continuous improvement.
Through Leading Harvest sound auditing assurance, you can confidently make claims to the market that your operation is achieving lasting outcomes for communities and growing a healthier future for generations to come.
Interested in learning more?
In April of 2021, the Leading Harvest Board of Directors adopted a five-year revision cycle for its Farmland Management Standard. Revisions will be an essential part of Leading Harvest’s own process of continual improvement and will help to ensure that its standards evolve with both societal expectations for sustainability as well as scientific and agronomic knowledge.
From time to time, a formal process may be needed to interpret the Leading Harvest Farmland Management Standard or supporting documents. Please view a record of formal interpretations by Leading Harvest here.
“Rigorous and complete, yet also practical and achievable.”
—STEVE BRUERE, PRESIDENT, PEOPLES COMPANY
“Leading harvest sets the standard” the land report
Creating the Leading Harvest Farmland Management Standard.
We collaborated with a broad coalition of national and local stakeholders to design our inaugural Standard, working together through comprehensive workshops and feedback sessions to incorporate their input. The result is a standard that’s inclusive of everyone—from farmers to investment managers to sustainability experts.
To ensure our Standard was credible and readily accessible to everyone, we tested it across a variety of production systems, regions, and crops, including corn, beans, grapes, almonds, pistachios, apples, walnuts, citrus, peanuts, and pumpkins.
Over 2 million U.S. acres committed to certifying to the Standard at the outset.
“The Standard is unique in three, critical aspects:
it is outcome based, third-party assured, and is designed to be universally applicable across all crops and all geographies.”
—Andy Whitman, Director, Sustainable Economies Program, Manomet
Leading Harvest Program User Certification Documents
Public summary documents from Leading Harvest Program Users can be found below. These documents have been prepared by a verified independent certification body following a certification or surveillance audit to the Leading Harvest Management Standard.
Ready to lead the way?
