The FARM Tool: Measuring Whole-Farm Sustainability
OAK created the FARM Tool, a farm resilience assessment tool, in collaboration with Kentucky farmers. This tool is a US-based adaptation of the Global Farm Metric (GFM) framework, stewarded by the Sustainable Food Trust. The GFM framework measures social, economic and environmental indicators across 12 categories to assess the state of on-farm sustainability.
Based on globally recognized research, OAK staff built this tool around the GFM framework by embedding it with relevant measures and a benchmark scoring system that allows farmers to understand their individual farm data in the context of peer farms as well as established Kentucky, US and global datasets. The tool also points farmers to best practices from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and taps into Cornell University's Environmental Impact Quotient system for measuring the impact of farm pesticides. The tool connects farmers to a broader set of resources, including a suite of animal welfare standards, NOAA's Climate Time Series, the National Integrated Drought Information System, soil health and fertility benchmarks that place a farmer's own soil sampling results in context, the National Wildlife Federation's Keystone Native Plants for the Eastern Temperate Forest Ecoregion and Agricultural Justice Project standards. The FARM Tool establishes a common language, supported by quantitative measures, that enables all stakeholders in food and farming to drive positive change.
OAK's FARM Tool Development and Farm Trials Timeline
Since OAK began adapting this tool for US-based farms, several cohorts of producers have participated in trials and completed the tool for their operations.
In the spring of 2023, six OAK member farms were part of the trial. Farmer feedback and insights were integrated into tool adaptations, and another 25 specialty crop farms participated in a research trial in fall of 2023 that utilized the updated tool and added on-farm technical assistance providing quantitative measurements of soil fertility and health, water quality and crop quality. This research was supported by a Specialty Crop Block Grant through the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the Owsley Brown II Family Foundation.
In December 2022, OAK was awarded a USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant to expand the tool and services for Kentucky farmers. The FARM Tool was a core component of OAK’s project, which offered farmer education programs, on-farm technical assistance and incentive payments for certain conservation practices. Numerous participants said the tool was an invaluable part of the program and helped them make farm improvements with long-lasting benefits. In April 2025, the USDA paused the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities (PCSC) initiative and overhauled it into the Advancing Markets to Producers (AMP) program. Around the time the PCSC initiative was paused, OAK had distributed 73 FARM Tool files to participating Kentucky producers.
The FARM Tool is now the cornerstone of OAK's Soil Health Project (SHP), relaunched in 2026 as part of the USDA's AMP program. This marks the next chapter in OAK's work to help Kentucky farmers understand, measure and strengthen the resilience of their operations. Through SHP, 71 farms across the state have completed the FARM Tool as their entry point into a broader effort that pairs whole-farm assessment with direct technical assistance, individualized resilience planning, market development and financial incentives for farmers building healthier, more productive land and businesses.
“I love that the assessment asks about wildlife on the farm, because improving habitat has always been one of my personal goals and values but doesn't really ever get measured.”
“I love having all the farm data in the assessment, and it will be exciting to see the impact of the conservation practices over time!”
“The tool has allowed me, a soil-health-conscious farmer, to have a benchmark not just for my own farm year to year but a comparison to world metrics. Data-driven decisions are important to me.”
