Field to Market Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture Hosted at U of A

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The semi-annual meeting of the Field to Market Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture was held this week at the University of Arkansas, hosted by the UA System Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability and the U of A office for sustainability.

Field to Market is a non-profit organization with many stake-holders involved the process of getting food to consumers in a sustainable way. It has more than 100 representatives from the agricultural supply chain, including farmers, agricultural biotechnology companies, consumer food companies, conservation organizations, retailers and land grant universities.

“We are excited to host Field to Market at the U of A campus,” said Marty Matlock, executive director of the office for sustainability and member of the Field to Market executive committee. “This is the leading agricultural sustainability group in the U.S., and in my opinion, in the world. Our collaboration with Field to Market is a critical element of the university’s leadership in supply chain sustainability.”

Field to Market was created in 2007 to provide a diverse alliance 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.

This week’s meeting was the largest in the organization’s history.

“I am excited to be at the University of Arkansas and to continue the strong collaboration between the university community and Field to Market,” said Rod Snyder, president of the organization. “Field to Market is creating an approach to sustainable agriculture that is transparent, science-driven, outcomes-based, and technology neutral. We are working with leaders across environmental conservation groups and agricultural producers to identify common strategies for continuous improvement across key performance indicators.”

Field to Market recently published a national report analyzing environmental key performance indicators for U.S. commodity crops – corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and rice – between 1980-2011. Agricultural producers in the U.S. demonstrated progress for resource use and impact per unit of production on five environmental indicators: land use, soil erosion, irrigation water applied, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. Improvements in yield for all crops drove efficiency improvements over that time period.