MEMBERS OF the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform have developed the world’s first industry aligned Farmer Self Assessment of sustainable agriculture practices.
The Self Assessment has been designed to enable farmers to assess their sustainable agriculture practices in a way that is universally recognised by the food and drink industry. The assessment criteria farmers will need to meet have been created in alignment with the sustainable sourcing requirements of many companies. The assessment can be completed by any farmer online, or in the Excel tool, and it can be used for most crop types, farm sizes and locations around the world.
SAI Platform developed Farmer Self Assessment with representatives from two working groups, Arable and Vegetable Crops and Fruit, as well as consulting over 20 expert organisations, including farmer organisations, retailers, procurement companies, NGOs and universities.
Farmer Self Assessment has about 100 questions created from SAI Platform’s Principles and Practices which food and drink companies have agreed define sustainable agriculture practices. It covers everything from social, economic and environmental sustainability.
More than 20 companies have already used the first version of Farmer Self Assessment. Early adopters include: Danone, HEINEKEN, Kellogg’s, McCain Foods, Mondelēz International, Nestlé, PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company, Unilever and Yakima Chief, who have tested it with their supplying farmers and/or farmer representatives.
Peter Erik Ywema, General Manager of SAI Platform, said: “This is a major step change for sustainable sourcing. Farmer Self-Assessment will change the way the food and drink industry assesses sustainable agriculture. With the world’s leading food and drink companies aligned behind one assessment method, Farmer Self-Assessment reduces the amount of assessments for farmers and supports them in improving sustainable agriculture practices.”
Rozanne Davis, Head of Ingredient Supply, innocent drinks, commented: “The complexity and depth of sustainability issues facing our planet are significant and directly impact agriculture. It is only through partnership between all stakeholders in the supply chain that we have a chance to make headway with these.
“SAI Platform’s Farmer Self Assessment is a great vehicle for this, uniting organisations committed to sustainable agriculture, and facilitating our farmers to assess their sustainability performance, provide a platform to highlight their progress, and then improve their sustainable farming.”
