Start Smarter, Not Slower: How to Turn Certification Data into Actionable Footprints

Why food companies and farmers don’t need perfect data to begin product footprint analysis—and how to use what’s already available to support Scope 3 reporting and reduction goals.

Most of the data is already there — we just need to use it smarter.

From Carbon to Environmental Intelligence

If you're working to reduce or report your emissions, you've probably heard of carbon footprint. It's a way to measure the greenhouse gases associated with your product or supply chain.

What many don’t realize is that carbon footprint is just one part of a broader method called Life Cycle Assessment, or LCA. While carbon focuses on greenhouse gases, LCA looks at the full environmental impact of a product across its life cycle. This includes water use, land use, eutrophication from water pollution, and ecotoxicity.

To make these assessments more consistent and useful, the European Commission introduced the Environmental Footprint method. It’s a structured approach based on LCA principles that evaluates 16 categories of environmental impact.

• For companies, product footprint provides a science-based foundation for Scope 3 reporting and alignment with Science Based Targets.

• For farmers and suppliers, it highlights where the biggest impacts occur and where small changes can make a meaningful difference—even when starting with partial or generic data.

  
  

Term	What It Measures
Carbon Footprint	Greenhouse gas emissions (CO₂e)
Life Cycle Assessment	All major environmental impacts across life cycle
Environmental Footprint	A standardized LCA approach covering 16 impact categories

In short, carbon is the entry point, but LCA is the roadmap. Environmental Footprint brings it all together.

A Common Roadblock: Farmer Data

Whether you're a sustainability manager at a multinational company or a farmer managing daily operations, collecting the data needed for footprinting can feel overwhelming.

Companies need farm-level data to report Scope 3 emissions and align with Science Based Targets. But it’s often the hardest data to obtain. For farmers, the number of data points requested can feel excessive, especially when sustainability reporting is not yet part of daily routines.

The good news is, you don’t need perfect data to get started. You just need a smart place to begin.

A Missed Opportunity: Certification Data Already Exists

Here’s what many companies overlook. Farmers certified under GlobalG.A.P.’s IFA (Integrated Farm Assurance) and IDA (Impact-Driven Approach) already collect most of the critical inputs needed—not just for carbon footprint, but for a full environmental footprint analysis.

These certifications already include documentation of:

• Fertilizer and nutrient management

• Plant protection product use

• Energy consumption

• Irrigation and water use practices

  
  

This is a strong foundation. It means that many farmers and their upstream partners already have the necessary data to go beyond carbon. They can begin evaluating broader environmental impacts without starting from scratch or adding new reporting burdens.

A Smarter Approach: Start with What You Have, Improve as You Go

Instead of waiting for perfect data, start with the information you already have. Here’s how farmers and upstream companies can move forward in four practical steps.

Step 1: Use Certification Data as Your Starting Point

Begin by extracting data from GlobalG.A.P. IFA or IDA certifications. Focus on key inputs like fertilizers, crop protection products, irrigation, and energy. Break this data down by crop and by hectare so that it can be used for footprinting.

Next, collect yield data—kilograms or tons per hectare—so you can understand the environmental impact per unit of product. This is essential for product-level analysis and comparisons.

Finally, input this data into a calculator or platform that matches your farm information with country-level or regional averages to fill in any gaps. This approach allows you to generate a credible baseline, even as you work toward collecting more detailed data over time.

Step 2: Create a Plan to Improve Data Quality

Not all data needs to be perfect at the start. Focus on the areas where improved data will have the biggest impact. For example:

• Land use change: Verifying that farmland has not been converted from forest can significantly lower the reported footprint.

• Residue management: How farmers handle crop residues—burning, incorporating, or removing them—has a major influence on soil emissions.

• Post-harvest practices: Collecting data on storage, transport, and processing can reveal overlooked areas of environmental impact.

  
  

Improving data quality over time allows for better decision-making without delaying action.

Step 3: Use Simulations to Find the Best Improvements

With even semi-detailed data, it becomes possible to run simulations that help you see where emissions are concentrated. These tools can also identify what actions will have the highest return—both environmentally and financially.

Step 4: Make it Collaborative, Not Demanding

Starting to calculate your products' environmental impact with partial data enables better conversations between farmers and buyers. It creates an opportunity to collaborate and improve over time, instead of placing one-sided demands. The goal is shared progress, not compliance for the sake of compliance.

Why This Approach Works

For companies, this method enables credible Scope 3 reporting today—not years from now. It allows you to meet growing customer and investor expectations and align with global climate frameworks like the Science Based Targets initiative.

For farmers, it turns sustainability into a business opportunity. Starting with what’s already available helps farmers show progress, attract support from buyers, and strengthen relationships in the value chain.

We don’t need to choose between perfect or nothing. We can start smarter.

By using certification data, improving precision over time, and collaborating across the value chain, we can turn data collection into a strategic tool for decarbonizing agriculture.

Ready to Turn Your Existing Data into Action?

Nature Preserve’s Environmental Footprint Calculator helps you transform certification and yield data into a full environmental footprint analysis. The tool also helps you build a roadmap to improve data quality, set reduction targets, and clearly communicate progress.

You don’t need to start from scratch. You just need to start smart.

Schedule a personalized live demo today to see how Nature Preserve can help you turn certification into actionable data!

Schedule a Demo Today