Tuesday Keynote to Focus on Environmental Reporting and Lessons from Other Industries

Conference Preview

Tuesday Keynote to Focus on Environmental Reporting and Lessons from Other Industries

By Paul Schrimpf, Director of Marketing and Communications

Both keynote presentations at this year’s North America Annual Conference are focused on challenges and opportunities around environmental reporting for sustainability and carbon programs. While the opening general session’s panel discussion on Monday, 11 November will take an “inside” look at the current state of environmental reporting through the eyes of ag retail and technology manufacturing, Tuesday’s afternoon keynote scours other industries facing similar challenges for best practices and lessons learned.

Andrew Selck, Partner with Kearney working in Agriculture and Food Practice, will dig into this topic in his presentation, “Sustainability Data Standards: What Ag Can Learn from Other Sectors.”

The cornerstone of all sustainability credit markets, including carbon, water quality, methane, and biodiversity, is data. The availability, quality, and cost of this data are crucial factors when setting baselines, monitoring agronomic practices, or measuring outcomes. Sustainability credits offer significant opportunities for farmers, agribusinesses, and the global community. What insights can we glean from other sectors that have successfully established and upheld data standards? And how can these insights guide AgGateway’s future role and trajectory in the sustainability credits area?

“In my role I have been a consumer of agriculture data, and I have seen the benefit when you can leverage that data and pull it together,” says Selck. “I also see the challenges your industry is dealing with data, from business to agronomic to geospatial, so I really believe in AgGateway’s mission – you need to make that data more interoperable and more standardized if you are going to create the value the industry needs. And the value can be discovered across the board whether it’s agronomic insights and strategic business information to farmers, efficiency and cost savings to a value chain organization, or improved employee experience.”

Selck has been researching across other industries to discover how problem statements were developed, who was involved in developing the solution, and how systems are maintained. “I’m really excited to share some strategies from other parts of the economy to help guide AgGateway and its membership,” says Selck. “I’m also looking forward to speaking with attendees about their experiences in collecting and managing data.”