ABSTRACT
The term 'sustainable change' is used here in its rather literal senses of making changes that can be sustained and of making changes that will sustain the business or individual who has made the decision to change. 'Sustain' has a number of connotations related to endurance, nourishment and capability of survival, all integral to the mindset of farmers and producers. On wider, societal and global levels, there are connotations of environmental protection, preservation of landscape and economic well-being. The term 'benchmarking' is used to cover a number of practices found in farming and food that are designed to highlight the good and make it possible to avoid the harmful. The use of benchmarks and the development of new forms of benchmarking for best practice is well established in agriculture, although less so in other areas of the food chain. The United Kingdom (UK) project led by the Food Chain Centre to encourage the growth of business improvement clubs in agriculture and horticulture.
