The challenge
Almost half the world’s habitable land is now farmed to feed our global food production system. What happens on these farms will determine our biodiversity, climate and future health.
A unique opportunity exists to harness the power of farming and land use to address the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and declining public health through the introduction of a common framework to monitor farm sustainability.
However, there are barriers that prevent farmers becoming drivers of positive change.

The solution
The Global Farm Metric defines on-farm sustainability and enables farmers to monitor the state of their farming system in a consistent way. The framework is designed to align existing assessments and create a common baseline of data.
Evidenced based and evolving, the framework is supported by our coalition of researchers and farmers so that data collection is both practical and useful. It is outcomes focused to recognise the diversity of farming systems and practices.
The categories provide a holistic overview of the farm’s sustainability, so none is considered in isolation and farmers are better equipped to mitigate negative consequences in other areas. The sub-categories and indicators identify changes in the state of the system and highlight unintended consequences to improve environmental, social and economic outcomes.
A common framework starts and ends with consistent data collection. It is not another certification, audit or management tool.

The framework
Click here to explore the Global Farm Metric categories, subcategories and indicators.

Key features
Global Farm Metric
Whole-farm
Measures environmental, social and economic indicators
Common language
A framework and baseline of data for all food and farming stakeholders
Aligned
Compatible with other frameworks
Farmer-led
Developed with farmers, for farmers
Outcomes-based
Monitors changes in the state of the farming system over time
Inclusive
Applicable to all farming systems and landscapes
Evidenced based and evolving
Grounded in data and built on scientific evidence
Driving change
A common language drives positive action. It enables shared understanding, a supporting policy and economic environment and informed consumer choice.

Farmers
For farmers to be a driver of positive change, they must have a shared understanding of sustainability and be financially rewarded.
A common framework enables consistent monitoring and reporting so farmers can evidence and improve the production of nutritious food, growth of natural capital and delivery of public goods.
This data can be used to support consistent sourcing and investment by the financial industry and food businesses, as well as inform direct payment schemes.

Government and policy
For farming to be part of the solution, governments must create an enabling policy environment and monitor progress at farm level.
By incentivising the collection of GFM data, which monitors the outcomes of our farming system overtime, governments would have data to evaluate the success of their policies and the effectiveness of incentives to drive positive change in our farming systems, across the whole spectrum of sustainability.
The holistic nature of the GFM framework also helps governments to identify the unintended consequences of policies that are focussed on one aspect of sustainability. It can also identify issues beyond the agriculture sector which need addressing to enable effective change.

Finance industry
In order to finance the transition towards more sustainable systems, we must have a common baseline of data.
A common framework can support sustainable investment by the finance industry, informing farm support payments, access to new markets, and ESG reporting.
This helps to create a supportive economic environment that rewards farmers who are actively improving the environmental, social and economic state of their farm.

Food business
For food businesses to support more sustainable producers, they need comparable information on whole-farm sustainability.
A common framework and baseline enables food businesses to assess the sustainability of the farms from which they source their products across social, economic and environmental indicators.
As well as streamlining internal reporting, this can create a positive market incentive that rewards more sustainable farming.
A common framework of measurement and pool of on-farm data can also help agri-tech companies understand the impact of practice change and develop appropriate technologies.

The public
For citizens to mobilise consumer power, we need consistent and verifiable information.
A common language enables transparency and accountability across the supply chain. It can align food labelling and raises awareness of whole-farm sustainability.

Educators
For knowledge exchange that inspires innovation and drives change globally, we need a shared understanding of sustainability at farm-level.
Expressed through the Global Farm Metric framework, a common understanding of on-farm sustainability will enable dialogue between educators, learners, consultants and farmers.
Frequently asked questions
Still have questions? See this document for further FAQs. You can also contact us via info@globalfarmmetric.org or @GFMCoalition on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
