Farm Certification Scheme Survey 2024

This survey followed up a baseline survey to measure KPIs for the OLW Challenge - specifically, measuring participation in farm certification schemes. The data tables in the Results section provide a side-by-side comparison of the baseline (2020), 2021-22 and current survey (2023-24) results, thereby measuring progress from the baseline during the life of the programme.

For the current survey, 76 respondents participated in at least one farm certification scheme during the 12 months prior to their completion of this survey, with 15% participating in two, and 5% participating in at least three schemes.

In comparing the current survey results with those of the baseline, there has been very little change between the baseline and current survey, with slight increases in farmer participation in and satisfaction with farm certification schemes over this period. Farmers indicated that, compared with 10 years ago, there appear to be more certification schemes available, and the quality and value of these scheme has increased over time.

As seen with the baseline and previous survey, respondents both liked and disliked aspects of the farm certification schemes that they participated in. For the current survey, the three most liked aspects were 1) ease of use; 2) increased farmer knowledge or improving farming practice; and 3) the ability to measure process and outcomes. As with the baseline survey, the three most disliked aspects of their schemes were 1) compliance costs – time, effort or money; 2) the replication or duplication of information requirements and data entry; and 3) tedious, useless or irrelevant questions.