Determine your farm's needs and objectives and current performance

Evaluating the suitability of emission reduction activities for your region and your farm is a critical first step. The activities in the Pathfinder, and the steps of undertaking a baseline exercise and developing a Farm Emissions Reduction Plan (FERP) described later will guide you through this process.

At the outset, engage with your agronomic and business advisors and peers to gain insights on potential benefits, risks, and implementation challenges.

Consider your entire operation or broader farm operations, and in developing your actions, ensure you are not doing things that are inconsistent with the principles of the Pathfinder. 

Know the benefits: understand how targeting emissions reduction can lead to improved production efficiency alongside new revenue streams and market positioning. Being able to report your product emissions intensity is becoming increasingly important in markets with growing sustainability expectations. The GHG baseline will assist in getting a quantitative understanding.

Understand the risks: understand how changed practice or technology adoption can affect current operations, production, and return on investment over short and long-term time horizons. Engage your advisors and peer-networks to evaluate implementation needs, challenges, and vulnerabilities.

Plan the transition: understand and manage risks, such as considering phased implementation, continuous monitoring, evaluation, and learning, and technology or expertise services to support change and ensure success. The Farm Emission Reduction Plan (FERP) will help structure this process.