IDEA-QC: assessment tool for farm sustainability

Understand and use the IDEA-QC framework (farm sustainability indicators – Quebec) to guide farmers toward using more sustainable practices.

What is the IDEA-QC framework?

It is a diagnostic tool for farm advisors to support farmers in their efforts to adopt sustainable farming practices. The IDEA-QC framework helps identify the strengths and challenges of farms by using 30 indicators to assess 3 main priorities:

• ensuring farm viability and livability
• preserving natural resources
• responding to societal and territorial challenges

A portrait of the farm is developed from data collected during a semi-structured on-farm interview, as well as from answers to a questionnaire for the social component.

IDEA-QC framework indicators

The 30 sustainability indicators are divided under 3 objectives.

1. Ensure farm viability and livability

Fourteen (14) indicators are used to evaluate the economic performance of the farm and to reflect on its long-term viability. These indicators cover the following themes:

• The farm's economic viability
• Management practices and entrepreneurial activities
• Transferability of the farm
• Farmer's quality of life

2. Preserve natural resources

Nine (9) indicators report on the impact of farm activities on the environment and the actions implemented to minimize it. These indicators cover the following themes:

• Soil health
• Water quality
• Greenhouse gas emissions
• Biodiversity

3. Responding to societal and territorial challenges

Seven (7) indicators describe the farm's contribution to the life of the community and local economy and assess the extent to which the farm practices are consistent with societal expectations. These indicators cover the following themes:

• Contribution to local economy
• Maintenance of landscapes
• Animal welfare, biosecurity
• Capacity to feed people

What is the outcome?

By implementing the IDEA-QC framework, farmers assisted by their farm advisor jointly develop a common vision of their farm by sharing their points of view on its strengths and challenges. On this basis, they pool their ideas for developing an action plan to make the farm more sustainable. With a view to continuous improvement, identified actions can be monitored over time to evaluate their benefits.

Objectives

• Diagnose the strengths and challenges of farms
• Jointly identify customized solutions to increase sustainability
• Support farmers in their efforts to adopt sustainable agricultural practices

The IDEA-QC framework could easily be adapted to other agricultural contexts and to other provinces of Canada. This adaptation should be done using a collaborative approach by inviting the stakeholders from the agricultural and research sectors to define the sustainability indicators most relevant to each context.

History of the IDEA-QC framework

The IDEA-QC framework was adapted primarily from the French IDEA framework (a tool for assessing the sustainability of farms that was initially designed for teaching purposes; see IDEA, in French only) and research conducted in Quebec (Bélanger et al. 2012 - Development of agri-environmental indicators to assess dairy farm sustainability in Quebec, Eastern Canada, 2015 - DELTA: An Integrated Indicator-Based Self-Assessment Tool for the Evaluation of Dairy Farms Sustainability in Quebec, Canada; Thivierge et al., 2014 - Environmental sustainability indicators for cash-crop farms in Quebec, Canada: A participatory approach). It was developed by a group of experts with different backgrounds in Quebec under the supervision of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, with contributions from farmers.

The IDEA QC framework is a collaborative approach that puts farmers at the centre of the action. It is used in different regional contexts within the province of Quebec, including within Living Lab – Quebec activities.

IDEA-QC framework

The IDEA-QC framework consists of 5 stages:

1. On-farm interview and gathering of information
   First, a semi-structured on-farm interview with farmers opens the discussion about expectations, needs, points of view and challenges related to the farm. Most of the technical and economic data are gathered by the farm advisor during this meeting. Afterwards, farmers must fill a short questionnaire on the social dimension of sustainability for their farm.
2. Data analysis
   The gathered data are used to complete the IDEA-QC calculation grids, allowing the farm advisor to suggest a score from 1 to 5 to each of the sustainability indicators.
3. Identification of strengths and challenges and development of an action plan
   The farm advisor then meets with the farmer to explain the proposed scores and give farmers an opportunity to validate or modify the scores. This overall portrait allows the identification of the farm's strengths and challenges towards achieving sustainability. Courses of action to be implemented are jointly identified to make the farm more sustainable.
4. Implementation of identified actions
   The farmer implements the identified actions on the farm.
5. Co-construction and improvement of the approach
   The comments and experiences shared by all participants are used to update the indicators and improve the support offered to farmers.

Download the toolkit (2 MB) which contains the indicators guide, the social aspects questionnaire, the greenhouse gas emissions calculator and the visual presentation of results to farmers, or for more information send an email to Marie-Noëlle Thivierge and Guillaume Jégo (aafc.IDEA-QC.aac@agr.gc.ca).