OREANDA-NEWS. June 25, 2012. AgBalance TM , BASF’s new method for measuring sustainability in agriculture, took joint first place in the German Council for Sustainable Development’s (RNE) ideas competition for sustainable corporate management. At the Council’s annual conference in Berlin on June 25, BASF presented AgBalance as a way to drive sustainability in agricultural business and participated in a panel discussion on sustainable corporate governance.

Congratulating BASF, Prof. Lucia Reisch, member of the Council said: "We were most impressed with the high standard of projects submitted, and AgBalance was a worthy winner. It offers a powerful methodology that, we believe, will drive innovative changes in agriculture — an important area for society as a whole. This is a remarkable project and I commend BASF on its vision and considerable achievement.”

In recognition of this honor, Dr. Dirk Voeste, Head of Sustainability of BASF’s Crop Protection division, was invited to participate in a panel discussion about science and new business approaches at the Council’s Berlin conference. “Dialogues about measuring sustainability, like the one today at the RNE, are crucial if we want to pursue and implement new approaches to sustainable corporate management,” said Voeste. “ Especially in agriculture, we need clear, consistent measurement, so that everyone can better understand the often complex relationship between economy, ecology and society.”

Voeste emphasized the importance of looking at sustainable agriculture in a rational, fact-based way. For BASF this means taking a holistic view covering the complete lifecycle from cradle to grave, identifying options for improvement and measuring progress towards more sustainable production systems.

Recent AgBalance studies have analyzed the sustainability performance of soybean production in Brazil and corn production in the US state of Iowa . Upcoming AgBalance projects among others will focus on ways to improve sustainability in smallholder farm businesses in India as well as in oilseed rape cultivation in Germany.

AgBalance has been jointly developed by the Sustainability Center of BASF, BASF Crop Protection and BASF Plant Science in cooperation with several external partners. Based on the well-established Eco-Efficiency Analysis and SEEBALANCE methods, AgBalance has received the independent assurance by TЬV SЬD, DNV Business Assurance and NSF International.