What does a lender or a buyer need to see before it pays or signs? For a cow-calf farmer in Saskatchewan, it is a standing the other side can check on its own. Farm Credit Canada (FCC) pays an incentive of up to CAD 4,000 a year to eligible customers certified under the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB). The certification, called CRSB Certified, is audited by a third party. A farmer who cannot show that standing does not get the payment, and an ESG (environmental, social and governance) report does not replace it.
So you keep one dated sheet: for each standard, the standing, the date checked and the proof.
What does a lender check before it pays an incentive?
It checks a standing it can confirm without a report from the farm. The incentive is for eligible customers who are CRSB Certified. That program works at the level of the whole operation, with audits by a third party of how the beef is produced. By the program’s own count, 1,280 farms and ranches across Canada are certified.
The payment is a portion of the customer’s lending at FCC, up to CAD 4,000 a year, and the customer can reapply once each program year. Applications run from 1 June 2026 to 31 January 2027.
The example is a cow-calf farmer in Saskatchewan who borrows from FCC. The proof is the CRSB Certified certificate and the date of the last audit, and the farmer finds both before the application period closes. Ask the lender in writing what a verified standing is worth, in access, in rate or in limit. This program is one answer, and CAD 4,000 is a ceiling.
What does a buyer who ships beef to Europe check?
It checks what the European Union’s deforestation regulation (EUDR) makes it prove. Cattle and beef are among the products in Annex I of the regulation. The operator is the person or company that places the product on the EU market or exports it. In the example, if the buyer exports the beef, the buyer is the operator and needs the data from the farm.
For cattle, the geolocation covers all the establishments where the animals were kept, in coordinates with at least six decimal digits. The beef must also come from land with no deforestation after 31 December 2020. It must be produced under the law of the producing country and be covered by a due diligence statement.
The regulation applies from 30 December 2026. For operators that are natural persons, or micro or small undertakings established by 31 December 2024, it applies from 30 June 2027. Whether a given buyer asks you for the data depends on that buyer, and you find out by asking.
Does a report change what they check?
Not in the standards above. Under the incentive and under the regulation, the lender and the buyer ask for an audit, coordinates, proof of legality and a due diligence statement, not for an ESG report.
The EU’s own reporting rules are narrowing. In the recitals of Directive (EU) 2026/470 (Omnibus I), the EU legislators state that mandatory sustainability reporting should apply only to undertakings with more than 1,000 employees and net turnover above EUR 450,000,000. They also state that the reporting standards should not require a company to collect from undertakings in its value chain with up to 1,000 employees anything beyond the voluntary standard.
Ready-made tools teach little too. In a 2016 study, four sustainability assessment tools were tried on five Danish farms, and the farmers said the tools gave them limited new knowledge. The longest, RISE, took 330 to 525 minutes in all.
So before you pay for a report, ask the lender and the buyer in writing which standard they check and whether they require any report. That is a recommendation.
What goes on the one-page sheet?
One line per standard, with five things: the standard, the standing today, the date checked, the proof and the date to check again. The coordinates of every establishment sit on the same page. Write the standing in plain words, such as certified with the audit date, or not checked. Keep the proof in one place, on paper or in a file, so that anyone who asks for it gets it the same day.
Tracing a lot back to the field shows how to keep the coordinates. The dates that expire come onto the sheet from the calendar of what comes due.
| Standard | Who checks it | What you keep, with the date |
|---|---|---|
| CRSB Certified | The lender, through the third-party audit | The certificate and the date of the last audit |
| Location of every establishment where the cattle were kept | The buyer that exports to the EU | The coordinates, with six decimal digits, and the date they were taken |
| No deforestation after 31 December 2020 | The same buyer | The record you used to check the land, and its date |
| Produced under the law of the producing country | The same buyer | The permits and registrations that apply, with their dates |
A line with no proof yet stays on the sheet, marked as not checked, with the date.
What should you write first, and by when?
The first lines are the ones with a date. The FCC application closes on 31 January 2027, and the EU rule applies from 30 December 2026, or from 30 June 2027 for the smaller operators described above. In the example, the farmer writes the CRSB Certified line first, then the coordinates the buyer may ask for. When a lender or a buyer asks a question, the farmer answers from the sheet and does not have to rebuild it.
The same page works for any other standard a buyer or a lender checks in farm management; the other sustainability articles cover more of them.