The Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops has encouraged participation from diverse stakeholders including growers, suppliers, buyers, environmental and public interest groups, agencies and technical experts. In an effort to maximize participation while enabling effective decision-making, the project is organized as follows:

Coordinating Council

The Coordinating Council includes representatives from approximately 30 organizations, including NGOs, suppliers, buyers, trade associations and experts, and is responsible for making significant decisions to advance the project including the approval of draft and final metrics. The Coordinating Council seeks to operate by consensus and requires a majority of support from each stakeholder group (NGOs, suppliers and buyers) before advancing a decision. Click here to see who is serving on the Coordinating Council.The Coordinating Council is supported by a Steering Committee and a Communications Committee:

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee is comprised of six founding NGOs, buyers, suppliers and experts and is responsible for staffing the day-to-day needs of the project, including: convening and facilitating meetings; soliciting and retaining expert help in developing metrics; coordinating outreach to stakeholders; raising money; producing materials; and otherwise implementing the decisions of the Coordinating Council.

Steering Committee members include: Hank Giclas, Kathy Means, Tim York, Jonathan Kaplan, Hal Hamilton and John Keeling.

Communications Committee

The Communications Committee is a sub-set of the Coordinating Council and is charged with advising in the development of communications materials and outreach efforts.

Pilots Committee

The Pilots Committee was created by the Coordinating Council late October 2009 and charged with being an advisory group to the development and implementation of the Pilot Testing component of SISC. Members of the Pilot Committee include: Allison Jordan, California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance; Andrew Arnold, SureHarvest; Dan Schurman, Ag Innovations Network; Don Stone, Stemilt Growers; Dana Gunders, NRDC; Hal Hamilton, Sustainable Food Lab; Hank Giclas, Western Growers Association; Cliff Ohmart, SureHarvest; Jonathan Kaplan, NRDC; Ron McCormick, Walmart; Steve Balling, DelMonte; and Suzy Friedman, Environmental Defense Fund.

Metrics Review Committee

The Metrics Review Committee (MRC) provides a forum for recommending metrics through exchanging ideas, addressing concerns, assessing technical merit, and evaluating overall feasibility. The MRC is open to all specialty crops stakeholders and experts who wish to advance the goals of the project. MRC members receive updates on project implementation and access to draft documents; they are also invited to participate in smaller MRC Workgroups to develop specific metrics.

Click here for a list of MRC participants currently serving on MRC Workgroups.

Click here to join the Metrics Review Committee.