Overall Aim 

This project will lay the scientific foundation for more consistent and appropriate methods to evaluate the environmental outcomes of these complex farming systems. At a practical level, the project will help food companies strengthen the credibility of their environmental accounting and make better-informed sourcing decisions when evaluating or investing in organic, regenerative, and other biologically based systems. At a broader level, it will address a systemic challenge in corporate sustainability reporting: ensuring that the tools and models used to measure impact are scientifically rigorous, transparent, and fit for purpose across diverse agricultural systems. 

The Challenge 

Across the food industry, life cycle assessment (LCA) is the foundation for environmental reporting, GHG accounting, and ESG commitments. Yet today’s models and methodologies were built for simplified, input-intensive, conventional systems — and they often misrepresent the realities and benefits of organic, regenerative, and perennial farming. This directly impacts decision-making around investment in sustainable farming systems and threatens the market for sustainable products when they are misrepresented by inaccurate or inconsistent outcome measurement tools.  

When data from organic and other more complex agroecological farming systems are run through conventional LCA tools, the results can be misleading or even backwards: LCAs frequently show that these systems have higher emissions or impact per unit of yield, while ignoring some of the ecosystem services and longer-term benefits that organic and regenerative management provides. Key problems include: 

• Emissions from natural sources of fertility, such as manure or compost, are overstated relative to synthetic fertilizers.

• Yield-based normalization that penalizes organic and regenerative for producing more ecosystem services with less yield.

• “Carbon tunnel vision”—LCA reporting that focuses narrowly on GHGs, overlooking biodiversity, ecotoxicity, and other impact categories.

• Lack of data and overreliance on assumptions and outdated averages that may not reflect the realities of today’s organic and regenerative systems. 

These gaps lead to inconsistent results that disadvantage organic, regenerative and perennial farming systems in ESG reporting, procurement, and corporate decision-making. As a result, companies face internal barriers to investing in organic and regenerative supply chains, even when these systems deliver the long-term environmental outcomes they seek.

Why This Matters 

This work is foundational to ensuring organic, regenerative and other agroecological farming approaches are appropriately valued in corporate climate and ESG strategies, sourcing decisions, investments, and policy. 

For farmers: Fair, credible measurement and reporting of outcomes supports farmers who adopt organic and regenerative systems, and gives corporations the confidence they need to invest in these systems and create much-needed markets for farmers.  

For companies: Reliable LCAs enable more accurate Scope 3 accounting and climate-target progress, reducing risk of under- or over-stating emissions. It gives companies the accurate data and confidence they need to invest in organic, regenerative and other agroecological systems.  

For the scientific and policy community: A robust, transparent framework for agroecological systems will strengthen alignment between corporate reporting and real-world outcomes. 

For funders and the public: This work ensures that investments in organic and regenerative transitions are backed by rigorous, science-based evidence. This project will lay the scientific foundation for more consistent and appropriate methods to evaluate the environmental outcomes of these complex farming systems. At a practical level, the project will help food companies strengthen the credibility of their environmental accounting and make better-informed sourcing decisions when evaluating or investing in organic, regenerative, and other biologically based systems. At a broader level, it will address a systemic challenge in corporate sustainability reporting: ensuring that the tools and models used to measure impact are scientifically rigorous, transparent, and fit for purpose across diverse agricultural systems. 

Goals and Objectives 

Our program aims to transform how complex agroecosystems (e.g. organic, regenerative, and perennial systems) are represented in corporate sustainability reporting, including climate accounting and sourcing strategies by: 

• Conducting a gap analysis to identify the data, model, and partnership needs required to develop new LCA best practice guidelines for agroecological systems.

• Developing and validating improved LCA methodologies that accurately capture the full climate, nature, and systems-level benefits of organic and regenerative agriculture, including perennial integration.

• Integrating on-farm data—such as practice-level insights from Organic System Plans (OSPs)—to improve transparency and connect farm practices to impact reporting.

• Building new reference datasets and improving LCA database access, with region- and commodity-specific benchmarks for key crops like wheat, cotton, specialty, and perennial crops.

• Ensuring alignment with major climate and ESG frameworks, including the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and other corporate reporting standards, to drive credible, scalable adoption. 

Overall Desired Outcomes

• Corporate sustainability teams and institutional investors gain access to accurate, science-based metrics that reflect the full environmental and ecosystem benefits of complex agroecological systems, including organic, regenerative, and perennial agriculture.

• Increased confidence and investment in truly sustainable sourcing strategies across supply chains, driven by better data and more credible climate and nature accounting.

• Strengthened market demand for organic and agroecological systems by providing companies with the tools to recognize—and substantiate—their climate and nature value, ensuring the continued growth of these markets and creating more opportunities for farmers.

• Added value and recognition for producers adopting more complex agroecological systems, particularly those transitioning to organic or integrating regenerative practices and perennial crops. 

This project, a collaboration between The Organic Center and leaders in the organic industry including brands, NGOs, academic institutions, organic certifiers, and LCA practitioners, aims to address the current shortcomings of LCA tools by developing and implementing scientifically robust impact reporting methods tailored to organic systems. This will offer a more accurate reflection of the value of organic supply chains.