In 1991, with the support of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the American Farmland Trust (AFT) undertook an evaluation of its work in sustainable agriculture. For the most part, this evaluation focused on AFT's on-farm demonstration program–accomplishments, strengths and weaknesses, and changes that should be made to program structure and operations.

The evaluation effort included a survey of 53 farmers in four states who have participated in AFT's sustainable agriculture on-farm demonstration project and three day-long meetings of an evaluation advisory panel.