The Best Practices Form below contains all the best practices described in the Best Practices Manual, presented as a series of checkboxes. Simply select the best practices used on your farm and submit the form. This triggers the sending of an email with an attached pdf containing some generic principles and explanations, along with the specific best practices you selected. The email contains a link to a free version of Adobe’s pdf-to-MS-Word file converter, so you will end up with a downloaded Word file that you can tweak, format, add images to or embellish however you want.

A farm-specific BP should be viewed as a “living document” that can be modified whenever you make significant changes in management or operations. These modifications could be made to address new problems or changes to regulations, or to improve farm efficiency. Perhaps a good time to update your BP document would be at the end of the growing season when there is time to reflect on what worked and where improvements could be made.

The personalized BP document can serve as a guide for employees, familiarizing them with the expectations you have for processes and behaviors on the farm.

The document could be streamlined and presented as a marketing tool, highlighting how your farm operates in an environmentally responsible fashion. Inserting photographs and emphasizing certain sections can help you tell your story to the public.

Some growers have used their BP document to help in permit applications and to reassure aquaculture opponents that their farm takes environmental concerns seriously.