A vision and roadmap for the next generation of agricultural systems

Outcomes and
Performance Measures
 

 

 

 

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Contact:
Dr. Helene Murray
411 Borlaug Hall
1991 Buford Circle
St. Paul, MN 55108

612-625-8235
hmurray@umn.edu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Desired External Outcomes

  • Development of new crops, products, and associated markets
  • Increased continuous living cover on the agricultural landscape
  • Improved community health, well-being, and resiliency
  • Development of monetary and non-monetary values for ecological services
  • Improved soil health at the farm level and beyond
  • Reduction in nutrient and sediment loading from the farm to the watershed
  • Increased carbon management and sequestration
  • Enhanced wildlife habitat and biodiversity
  • Natural pest management
  • Erosion and flood control
  • Improved water quality and reduced number of impaired waters
  • Shrinkage of the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico
  • Heightened public awareness
  • Mentoring and other educational opportunities for farmers to learn from one another
  • Strengthened civil society and the private sector around the constellation of issues on which increase in collaborative research and development efforts for transformational change in agricultural systems

Desired Internal Outcomes

  • Increase in collaborative research and development efforts for transformational change in agricultural systems
  • Effectively leveraged resources among partners to gain greater traction toward our goals

Among the near-, medium-, and long-term external and internal performance measures we will use to gauge the impact of our work at varying scales are the following:

External Performance Measures

  • Improved education of farmers about transition possibilities
  • Numbers of farmers making a successful transition to perennial production or continuous living cover systems
  • Identifiable shifts in policy that contribute to achieving our mission
  • Increase in net farm income due to increased use of perennials and other cover crops
  • Local dollars generated and other measures of farm-level and community well-being
  • Increase in percentage of perennials and other cover crops on the landscape
  • Increase in the percentage of animals grazed on grassland
  • Increase in the percentage of cellulosic biofuels produced
  • Decrease in farm size
  • Increase in number of local, sustainable and/or organic farms
  • Decrease in reactive nitrogen losses from farm fields
  • Decrease in farm-related GHG emissions due to expanded use of perennial crops and other continuous living cover
  • Increase in carbon sequestration potential due to expanded use of perennials and other cover crops
  • Expansion in wildlife habitat due to increased perennials and other continuous cover crops
  • Stabilization or increase in populations of at-risk wildlife species
  • Overall improvement in water quality and decrease in number of impaired waters
  • Increase in amount of protected wetlands

Internal Performance Measures

  • Frequency of interaction and quality of results from GLBW research collaboratives
  • Qualitative measures for communications and other outreach materials including reach and effectiveness of messaging