New farm accounting method measures natural capital across 50 Australian farms

La Trobe University researchers have developed a new way to measure and report the environmental performance of farms, which could pave the way for future “sustainability assessments” of consumer foods and fiber products. Published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution, the measure, developed on 50 mixed grazing and cropping farms in southeast Australia, addresses one of the biggest challenges facing agriculture: the growing demand for accurate farm-level data on biodiversity, ecosystem services and environmental sustainability.