Janet Dwyer has been at the LEAF Marque Summit today (Thursday, 22nd March 2018), which has been exploring some of the pressing questions around the role of assurance systems in delivering meaningful improvements for farmers and the environment.
The summit, which has been hosted by Waitrose in Maidenhead, Berkshire, has talked about efficiency, transparency and impact and identify the ways in which assurance schemes in general, and LEAF Marque in particular, must continue to evolve and adapt in order to drive forward more sustainable farming.
Janet’s talk was based on a study carried out by the CCRI of the LEAF Marque certification, “The effect and impact of LEAF Marque certification in the delivery of more sustainable farming: a study to understand the added value to farmers“. The study, which was undertaken by Janet, together with Matt Reed and Nick Lewis, showed that for many businesses the value of participating in the LEAF Marque assurance system reached beyond their initial motivations for joining, which were predominantly financial, and helped them develop their businesses in ways they had not previously considered.
Janet told delegates at the summit,
“It’s very key from the work that we have done that LEAF Marque is a catalyst and a way of working that works really well with its members”.
Her full presentation can be viewed on our Slideshare account.
The final report of the LEAF study was presented to George Eustace, Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), at Cereals 2017, which was held at Boothby Graffoe in Lincolnshire on 14th and 15th June.
The full report ‘The effect and impact of LEAF Marque in the delivery of more sustainable farming: a study to understand the added value to farmers’ can be downloaded, together with the report summary, LEAF’s response and key highlights.
