Sustainability Tool

Anonymous Online Assessment from Noble

Victoria G Myers
By  Victoria G. Myers , Progressive Farmer Senior Editor
Noble Research Institute now offers a way for operations to compare where they are with the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef's metrics. (Screenshot of Noble assessment tool)

Chad Ellis believes it's important for businesses to be able to compare year-to-year data, to see where they stand in their sector when it comes to sustainability. He's also aware, many would like that comparison to stay in house.

Ellis is Noble Research Institute's industry relations and stewardship manager. He says a new app on Noble's website now makes this assessment possible. Best of all, it's incredibly easy to use, free and anonymous.

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The app uses metrics and indicators developed by the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. Those metrics vary by business sector. A ranch, for example, would have a different set of metrics—also called indicators—than a feedyard. Because this assessment is meant to be private, Ellis notes the site will not save any data. If an organization wants to save their assessment to have a basis for future comparison, the tool is able to generate a PDF that can be downloaded and printed or saved.

The assessment works for all five segments of the beef industry: cow/calf, feedyard, packers/processors, retail/food service and auction markets. Each sector will have 6 indicators to consider. Walking through the cow/calf assessment, questions cover grazing management, use of Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) principles, herd health, production efficiency, breeding decisions, marketing goals, employee safety, estate planning, disaster planning and water resources. A score is created for each of the 6 indicators, with an overall results score as well.

This assessment can be found at: https://nobleapps.noble.org/…

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Victoria Myers

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