Sustainability on our farm is a continuous process that evolves season by season, improving how we grow potatoes, manage resources and engage with our communities. At R.D. Offutt Farms, that commitment is grounded in measurement — tracking performance over time to inform decisions and guide improvement.
Each year, our Midwest potato acres are reviewed through our participation in the Potato Sustainability Alliance (PSA), which benchmarks farm practices using established sustainability standards recognized across the food and agriculture supply chain. The assessment helps translate day-to-day farm practices into consistent, comparable metrics.
The 2025 crop year report covers 20,813 potato acres across our Midwest operations and provides a snapshot of how our practices align with those benchmarks — and where there is opportunity to continue improving efficiency, documentation and outcomes over time.
Across North America, the 2025 PSA on farm assessment program included 12 aggregator companies and nearly 500 growers, representing almost 650,000 potato acres — nearly half of all harvested potato acreage.
What the assessment measures
As part of PSA participation, our operation is evaluated across environmental, social and operational categories using the Sustainable Outcomes in Agriculture Standard, an established framework recognized across the food and agriculture supply chain. The standard emphasizes both responsible management and continuous improvement rather than onetime outcomes.
Performance is measured on a four level scale, ranging from Essential, which reflects regulatory compliance, to High, which indicates optimized practices that extend beyond the farm’s boundaries.
For 2025, our acres were evaluated across:
- Biodiversity and habitat
- Human and animal health
- Soil health
- Community leadership
- Optimal production
- Water impact
Across all six areas, our practices met or exceeded PSA benchmarks, reflecting a balanced approach to environmental stewardship, operational efficiency and community engagement.
The report also reflects a benchmark to the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform’s Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA 3.0), a globally recognized framework widely used across agricultural supply chains. Using multiple frameworks allows us to view performance through different lenses while tracking progress consistently year over year.
What this looks like in the field
Behind each category are practical decisions made throughout the growing season — decisions that prioritize efficiency per unit of production, long term soil productivity and responsible resource use — including:
- Biodiversity and habitat: Collaborating regionally on initiatives that support species restoration and habitat improvement alongside active agricultural production
- Human and animal health: Communicating with neighbors and responding to operational questions and concerns to support transparency and trust
- Soil health: Participating in nutrient management projects and managing field traffic and compaction across crop rotations to protect soil structure and long term productivity while supporting continuous living cover whenever conditions allow
- Community leadership: Expanding team awareness and training around protected species and responsible land access so expectations are clear across our operations
- Optimal production: Using technologies that support precise input use, data informed decisions and improved fuel efficiency to reduce inputs per pound of food produced
- Water impact: Upgrading irrigation equipment and infrastructure to better match water application to crop needs and local conditions while maintaining yield and crop quality
Each action reflects the broader goal of producing high-quality potatoes while stewarding the land and supporting the communities where we operate.
Why benchmarking matters
As a long-time PSA participant, we value collaboration in advancing responsible potato production. PSA brings together growers, supply chain partners and advisors to identify practical practices, share insights and benchmark performance using consistent standards.
“Continuous improvement is at the heart of sustainable agriculture,” said Natalie Nesburg, PSA Program Manager. “When growers measure performance against consistent standards and share insights across regions, it strengthens the entire supply chain.”
Programs like PSA help turn sustainability from a general concept into something measurable. Rather than comparing farms, the focus is on documenting progress, learning from data and improving year after year.
A season-by-season commitment
Our 2025 report shows a score of 59 percent, with 105 of 176 indicators logged. The results confirm areas of strength while helping identify where additional data, documentation and progress can be made as part of an ongoing improvement cycle.
For our Midwest potato acres, this assessment is not a finish line — it is one of the tools we use, year after year, to guide responsible potato production and continuous improvement while maintaining productivity, quality and economic viability.
