National Index

See also "Describing the Index in 20 essential Q&As" in the May 2022 Final Report - Part 1: Synthesis of Results.
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While many players track their sustainability performance on a proprietary basis (or do so on some aspects), the need for a national picture is compelling and pressing. Worldwide, benchmarking national agri-food practices against environmental, social and health priorities is becoming essential to operate and compete. However, Canada does not have an integrated picture of its sustainability credentials from farm to retail to meet global sustainable development goals and address the twin crisis of climate change and biodiversity loss, among other issues. Customers, regulators and others increasingly want such assurances.

Complementing individual company or sector-specific metrics, the Index can be used to enable market access, differentiate Canada’s sustainable value proposition and further validate agri-food claims as well as to show meaningful environmental and socio-economic improvements across the Canadian food system as a whole.

The Index is intended for use by the country’s agri-food sector. All players from production (all proteins) to retail (including restaurant/grocery retailing/food service) can use the Index in the marketplace and to compare their segment’s respective sustainability performance. As well, the Index provides a reference for the broader food system which includes governments, financial institutions, civil society, researchers and academia, and other adjacent sectors and suppliers that contribute to the sector’s sustainability response. Consumers may ultimately refer to this Index to gauge the sustainability of the sector overall.

While initially conceived as being industry-driven, the Index is being developed collaboratively and pre-competitively for the benefit of all players across the food system. Having a balanced governance process is important for its credibility and success.
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As an outcome of Phase 2C, a detailed governance roadmap is presented in the May 2022 Final Report - Part 1: Synthesis of Results. See how the work will be governed going forward: the May 2023 Final Report – Part 4: The Centre for Agri-Food Benchmarking.

From the outset, the work has been cost-shared by the partners, including producer and industry organizations and companies, environmental organizations, academia, governments, innovation and technology organizations, financial institutions, among others. As the work evolved, more resources were required. Phase 2C (2021–2022) was substantially funded by Protein Industries Canada, the federal supercluster, with contributions also made by industry and the public sector. Phase 3 received significant funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and other public and private sector contributions. Since 2020, partners have also devoted considerable in-kind contributions to the project. Going forward, a long-term Index funding plan is required to set up the proposed Centre for Agri-food Benchmarking.

They are complementary. The National Index is providing an overall view of sustainability performance across Canada’s agri-food sector. CASI (which is a partner in the Index project) has been exploring how to enable producers to efficiently comply with market-based sustainability requirements. CASI, among other enabling platforms, could help roll-up relevant and consolidated metrics to support Index benchmarking.

No, the National Index is not measuring individual farm or firm performance, nor will it report on this basis. The National Index will rely on existing national statistics-gathering processes, such as by Statistics Canada (a partner) to help develop national-level/consolidated benchmarks. This project is also exploring how best to roll-up statistics being gathered, or could be gathered in the future, by sectoral initiatives, or by industry, province or other. See more about the data sourcing process in the May 2023 Final Report – Part 4: The Centre for Agri-Food Benchmarking.

While the first priority is to develop an over-all picture of national agri-food sustainability, being able to disaggregate data where possible would be meaningful. As well, using new and better data will allow for time series to be reported; this will enable assessments of change and be a more relevant benchmark. As our process unfolds, these matters will be further considered and addressed.

The intent of the Index is, indeed, to measure and demonstrate Canadian sustainability leadership and areas for improvement. Leadership includes acknowledging shortcomings and being transparent about how genuine progress is being marked across the Index’s four sustainability blocks: environmental, food integrity, economic, and societal well-being. This approach echoes industry’s long-standing principle of continuous improvement.

Being forthright about the Index’s structure and results is very important to the coalition of partners. The partners sought feedback through external reviews from Canadian academics and global organizations on the draft indicators (in phase 2C, 2021-2022). Their counsel was welcomed, and modifications were made to the text at that time (although their input should not necessarily imply endorsement of the Index). Their feedback also advised the partners to present Index results with a balanced tone. The coalition of partners heeded the advice and made the decision to keep the pilot’s metrics (i.e., the May 2023 Final Report – Part 2) largely focused on the measures. The partners also believed that some interpretations might be helpful and separately published several short papers on selected results; see May 2023 Final Report – Part 3: Seven Papers on Index Results.  

Learn more about the external reviews from phase 2C reported in May 2022: Highlights of Projects, May 2022.

It remains up to readers to decide about Index’s credibility. However, the choice of measures was selected through a process of engagement and feedback amongst the diverse coalition of partners. Decisions were taken to define the Index’s scope. For instance, the Index does not measure consumer food choices and dietary behaviours which extends well-beyond sector sustainability considerations. While the National Index measures sustainability across four areas with 20 metrics and over 130 indicators, the partners acknowledge that there are limitations to this Index, with the inability to measure every aspect of sustainability. The choice of measures reflects what is deemed to be material, driven by available science-based data. However, practice-based data is used where suitable evidence does not exist.  

Data limitations, a challenge facing all benchmarking initiatives across the world, provide an opportunity for continuous improvement on this Index pilot.  Learn more about the metrics, including data gaps and limitations, in the May 2023 Final Report – Part 2: Index Pilot: Indicators and Metrics. See also the plan to evolve the Index in the May 2023 Final Report – Part 4: The Centre for Agri-Food Benchmarking.

While various indices measure agri-food sustainability around the world, the National Index on Agri-Food Performance is focused on metrics that are relevant and material to the Canadian agricultural and food context. That said, each of the 20 Index indicators within this Index pilot includes an analysis of how the Canadian measures align or not with several leading global indices and standards.  

Learn more about the differences between other global initiatives and the Index in the commentaries of the global context under each indicator in the May 2023 Final Report – Part 2: Index Pilot: Indicators and Metrics.  

More importantly, the process of developing the Canadian Index (as opposed to adopting a global scheme) was fundamental to driving up alignment around the need to define and measure sustainability in Canada. The process was equally as important and valuable as the outcome, and this cannot be overstated. A collaborative spirit was nurtured across a very diverse group of partners – an unprecedented coalition – as they selected each metric and weighed the merits and limitations of what to measure and how to do so. In the process, the partners also identified the data gaps, a key outcome. Evolving the Index will require addressing what needs to be better measured in the future. As well, many partners have started using the Index – even before the pilot was launched – to express how they will deploy it. This  further demonstrates the importance of this bottom-up initiative to advance a Canadian designed Index.  

See Partner testimonials. Learn how some project work in phase 3 advanced the Index in section F in the May 2023 Final Report – Part 1: What was Achieved: Summary.