The 2023 North American Potato Sustainability Assessment Report is now available!
View the results and insights gathered from the PSA Program annual on-farm assessment.
The Potato Sustainability Alliance Program
The PSA Program collaborates across the potato value chain to support sustainability initiatives and streamline the use of existing market tools to define, benchmark, and advance sustainability. Members of the Alliance together with more than 550 U.S. and Canadian farmers are committed to advancing a united vision of potato sustainability that meets customer goals, reduces the sustainability reporting burden, and showcases the remarkable accomplishments of our farming community.
Growers
Use PSA program tools to assess, improve, and communicate your sustainability story.
Processors
Engage in a unified program, tailored to meet your sustainability reporting needs.
Buyers
Help shape an industry-wide program that is tailored to measure and meet your ESG goals.
Allied Industry
Engage with growers and better understand how your products and expertise can help shape the potato sustainability story.
Defining, Benchmarking, and Advancing
The PSA Program has established commitments across three sustainability pillars that serve as the foundation for driving continuous improvement in seven focus areas.
Environmental Stewardship
The Alliance is committed to reducing energy use and greenhouse (GHG) gas emissions, adopting responsible water management practices, and minimizing food waste throughout the production system.
Focus Areas:
GHG Emissions
Water Stewardship
Food Waste
Farm Legacy
The Alliance is committed to ensuring that future farmers can profitably grow potatoes on healthy soils while supporting biodiversity.
Focus Areas:
Soil Health
Farmer Prosperity
Biodiversity
Safe and Nutritious Foods
The Alliance is committed to growing safe, affordable, and nutritious potatoes through targeted and responsible pesticide use.
Focus Areas:
Integrated Pest Management
We recognize sustainability as an ongoing endeavor with our members representing various stages along our collective journey. To address all stages, our program employs a multi-option approach providing a path for participants to use performance management tools and standards that align with industry requirements, engage in sustainability projects, and receive actionable sustainability insights.
We foster participation in working groups to facilitate the standardized implementation of tools and approaches that align with our members’ individual goals and industry requirements. Contact John Mesko, Executive Director, to learn more about our working groups and how you can join: mesko@potatosustainability.org.
Measuring On-Farm Performance
On-farm sustainability is evaluated annually through a self-assessment process. Over 550 growers across North America participate in the self-assessment to benchmark their sustainability practices, share insights, and identify areas for improvement. Our program uses Syngenta’s globally recognized, Sustainable Outcomes in Agriculture (SOA) standard, enabled through the Cropwise™ Sustainability app (CWS), as the on-farm self-assessment tool. PSA has partnered with Syngenta to enable seamless data-sharing and enhanced reporting for our participating growers and members.
The SOA standard provides a framework that empowers growers and supply chain companies to measure, promote, and improve regenerative agriculture outcomes, aligning with our program focus areas and commitments. The Standard is benchmarked to the latest version of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform’s (SAI Platform) Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA), FSA 3.0, at the gold-level. Participating in an on-farm sustainability assessment that is benchmarked to FSA meets current industry requirements and ensures that performance is evaluated against globally recognized best practices.
Growers
Benefits of participation
Real-time Performance Insights: Receive live performance insights that highlight the sustainability of your practices as you navigate through the app.
Individual Benchmark Report: Receive personalized benchmark reports showcasing your sustainability achievements and areas for improvement, compared to other practices being implemented by growers in your region.
Data Use Transparency: With clear options for data sharing built into the CWS app, you have full transparency and control over how your information is shared and used.
How To Participate
- Enroll in the PSA Program
- Follow our Self-Assessment Checklist for completing the SOA standard
- Receive sustainability performance insights through the CWS app
- Showcase your sustainability practices on our Grower Profiles page
Members
Benefits of participation
Effortless Result Sharing: Be included as an aggregator in the app for growers to easily select and share their results with you.
Aggregate and Anonymized Dashboards: Gain valuable insights by receiving aggregate and anonymized dashboards that summarize results shared by your growers.
Individualized Data Export: By obtaining consent from your growers through the CWS app, you can receive an individual-level export of assessment responses to further inform your ESG goals and initiatives.
How To Participate
- Become a Member of PSA
- Engage your growers in an industry-recognized program
- Promote program resources and webinars using our Communications Toolkit, available in the member portal
- Contact Natalie Nesburg, Program Manager, at natalie@potatosustainability.org to learn more about the benefits of participation
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main goals and objectives of the program?
Align stakeholders: The program aims to bring all stakeholders together, fostering collaboration and unity around a comprehensive approach to sustainability. By establishing a standardized framework, it ensures that everyone is working towards common goals for a more sustainable future.
Drive continuous improvement: The program provides a framework for farmers to demonstrate their sustainable practices and to learn from peers about new or emerging approaches.
Reduce Reporting Burden: One of the program’s key objectives is to alleviate the reporting burden on farmers. By streamlining reporting processes and providing a credible pathway for measuring progress towards ESG goals, farmers can focus on nurturing the land and producing food for a sustainable future without unnecessary administrative constraints.
Communicate Performance: The program seeks to effectively measure and communicate the achievements and progress made in sustainable practices. Transparent communication ensures that the efforts of farmers and other stakeholders are acknowledged, celebrated, and can inspire further positive change in the agriculture industry.
How is the sustainability program structured?
The Sustainability Program is built around three pillars that guide seven focus areas: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water stewardship, food waste, soil health, farmer prosperity, biodiversity, and integrated pest management (IPM). Each focus area has a related commitment statement and components that have been designed by our Program Design Team (PDT) and approved by our Board to align with current industry requirements and meet our members’ reporting needs.
The Program Design Team, composed of PSA members from the entire value chain, collaborates to create a multi-option approach for sustainability engagement. The multi-option approach allows members to participate at any level, utilizing common frameworks, industry best practices, and existing market tools to drive continuous improvement. The PDT follow four core values to streamline the implementation of multiple components for our members:
- Credible: We will integrate input and program content from existing initiatives and seek input and validation from issue-specific experts.
- Transparent: We will communicate publicly about the program design process and seek input and engagement from stakeholders.
- Farmer-centric: We will make program design choices that reflect farmer priorities and needs, and to reduce their reporting burden.
- Simple: We will prioritize fit-for-purpose program design and select the best content from other programs and focus on only collecting what we need.
How are the program focus areas selected and prioritized?
PSA partnered with Stratos (now with ERM, a global sustainability consultancy), in 2018 to conduct a materiality assessment that surveyed internal and external PSA stakeholders, including farmers, customers, processors, academics, science advisors, and environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOS) to identify the key sustainability topics for the industry. Topics were prioritized based on their impact on farmers and aggregators and based on the interest of stakeholders As a result of this assessment, seven topics were identified as top priorities for PSA members and these form the basis of PSA’s Sustainability program: GHG emissions, water stewardship, food waste, soil health, farmer prosperity, biodiversity, and integrated pest management.
Our Board and Program Design Team prioritize focus areas based on current industry trends and form collaborative working groups with diverse stakeholders. These working groups collaboratively design approaches, identify tools, and present recommendations to the Board for approval before implementing them into the program.
How does the sustainability program measure and track its impact?
The program asks for farmers to identify their on-farm management practices against a set of criteria which are aligned to the globally recognized Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA). To deliver this, PSA has partnered with Syngenta to utilize the FSA Gold-Aligned Sustainable Outcomes in Agriculture (SOA) standard, enabled through the Cropwise Sustainability (CWS) app, as the primary tool for measuring on-farm sustainability performance. This grower self-assessment provides insights to benchmark and track progress of management practices across five of our focus areas: GHG emissions, water stewardship, soil health, integrated pest management, and biodiversity. PSA is working to include the remaining focus areas in future program updates.
How does Syngenta use data submitted by growers participating in the program?
Syngenta uses the data that growers submit through the Cropwise Sustainability app to generate individual and aggregate performance reports for PSA, our members, and participating growers. Grower data are the property of the grower and are only shared at the request or as authorized by the grower. Download Syngenta’s Data Privacy Pledge to Growers to learn more about how our grower’s personal information is protected and used.
What states, provinces, and territories are included in each PSA region?
PSA Regions
| West PSA | Midwest PSA | East PSA |
Alberta British Columbia Northwest Territories Yukon Saskatchewan | Manitoba Nunavut Ontario | Labrador/ Newfoundland New Brunswick Nova Scotia Prince Edward Island Quebec |
Alaska Arizona California Colorado Hawaii Idaho Montana Nevada New Mexico Oregon Utah Washington Wyoming | Arkansas Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Nebraska North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma South Dakota Tennessee Texas Wisconsin | Alabam a Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Maine Maryland Massachusetts New Hampshire New Jersey New York North Carolina Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina Vermont Virginia West Virginia |
How can I get involved in the PSA Program?
Enroll in the PSA Program and complete the SOA standard: Any potato grower in North America can participate in the PSA Program by enrolling on our website and following the self-assessment checklist to complete the SOA standard through the CWS app. Complete the self-assessment to benchmark and receive sustainability insights on your production practices.
Join the Program Design Team: If you are a PSA member and want to actively contribute to shaping the program’s initiatives, consider joining the Program Design Team (PDT). You can contact John Mesko, Executive Director, at mesko@potatosustainability.org to learn more about becoming a member of the alliance or joining the PDT.
Participate in Focus-Area Working Groups: Engage with stakeholders and industry experts by joining one of the focus-area working groups. These groups delve into specific focus areas in sustainability, allowing you to exchange ideas and collaborate on meaningful projects.
Share your Sustainability Achievements: Growers can submit a form on our website to have their sustainability practices highlighted on our Grower Profiles web page and social media accounts.
Connect with the Program Manager: For further inquiries or to discuss your involvement, reach out to Natalie Nesburg, Program Manager, at natalie@potatosustainability.org.
Are there any specific events or activities related to the PSA Program?
PSA hosts an annual Summer Symposium where members and value chain stakeholders are invited to learn, share, unify and connect on current sustainability topics and trends in the industry. The Symposium is an incredible, in-person opportunity to collaborate and collectively advance potato sustainability.
Our next Symposium will be hosted by McDonald’s at their Chicago, IL headquarters, July 9-11th, 2024. Further details will be made available on our website and announced in our newsletter closer to the event.
Stay up to date on all PSA events and news by subscribing to our newsletter.
How can I provide feedback or suggestions for improving the sustainability program?
Feedback is vital for continuous improvement and effectiveness of our sustainability program. Your insights and suggestions help us identify areas of improvement, address concerns, and better tailor the program to meet your needs.
You can send feedback directly to the Program Manager, Natalie Nesburg, at natalie@potatosustainability.org, or participate in surveys designed by our working groups and included in our monthly newsletter. Click here to Sign-Up.
Who is putting potato sustainability into practice?