The Public Goods Tool
The Public Goods Tool was initially developed by the UK Organic Research Centre, as part of the Organic Conversion Information Service (OCIS) in 2011. Designed to capture data about farm practices and represent the sustainability and produce of public goods, the PG Tool has since undergone various iterations and adaptations; MVARC has been involved in its most recent iteration that has transformed the original excel-based version into a user-friendly on-line tool as part of the EU Horizon Re-Livestock project.
The PG Tool offers a simple way of visualising the state of the farm in relation to 12 indicators:
- Soil Management
- Agri-environmental Management
- Landscape and Heritage Features
- Water Management
- NPK Budget
- Fertiliser Management
- Energy and Carbon
- Food Security
- Agricultural Systems Diversity
- Social Capital
- Farm Business Reliance
- Animal Health & Welfare
- The assessment covers a 12-month period and is on a farm-gate basis i.e. it captures inputs and outputs to the farm but not internal flows.
A full user guide can be found here
Details about the development of the PG Tool and future use can be found here
The github repository for the PG Tool Online can be found here
If you are interested in these kinds of tools and have research proposals in the forge, let us know. We are happy to contribute not only with the architecture, design and user interface, but also with the scientific background (modelling) of the decision process/scoring of backend. Other examples of a similar concept and user interface experience (e.g. form collecting data and showing scores depending on answers), can be found in the online version of Global Farm Metrics research tool and Resiliency Self-Assessment tool.