Under the Working Landscapes Certificate program, participating farmers agree to raise crops according to production standards that are verified by a certification entity. Some of the standards include:

• Use of non-genetically modified (GM) crop varieties to protect biodiversity.
• No continuous annual crop production on same acreage.
• Soil testing on contracted acres and fertilization according to test results and state agronomic recommendations to assure that nutrients are used efficiently and are not likely to leach or run off into water sources.
• No use of chemicals that are known human or animal carcinogens and no use of atrazine, a toxic herbicide.
• Use of cover crops or assurance that at least 70% of crop residues remain on the entire field to minimize soil erosion.
• Creation of a farm plan that includes information on biodiversity, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions, which are areas not currently addressed by WLCs, to help identify and encourage improvements in sustainability.

The purchase of WLCs promotes equivalent sustainable production practices somewhere in the commodity system, while also demonstrating to farmers that a growing market exists for sustainably grown commodity crops.