September 2013
WELCOME TO THE SEPTEMBER 2013 EDITION OF THE SUSTAINABLE SOURCE David Pendlington has been with Unilever for over 20 years. He spent his first 6 years in agricultural R&D for Unilever’s European frozen veg business and then moved to the international sourcing development group. David led the first Unilever Sustainable Agriculture project in 1998. In David’s current role of Unilever Procurement Operations Director - Sustainable Sourcing he still works with the Global Sustainable Agriculture programme, giving advice and support to the programmes running on the ground amongst Unilever’s commodity crop suppliers.
Dear Readers We have had lots of great events and supplier engagements over the last few months. In June we held our annual Partner to Win Summit in Singapore. This is an event with over 150 key strategic suppliers in which we look to build value relationships so that we can achieve mutual growth. In order to deliver Unilever’s target of 100% sustainable sourcing materials, suppliers need to also adopt the Sustainable Living Plan as we will only work with suppliers who share the same values and commitments that we do. Sustainability was high on the agenda at the event and I was delighted when one of our Tomato suppliers, Varun Agro won a Partner to Win award for their sustainability efforts. A highly entrepreneurial woman, Manisha Dhatrak, has led work to improve yields and farmer incomes for 1,100 farmers. You can read more about it in this edition. Some other content includes, land use changes in our Sustainable Agriculture Code, the results from our Quickfire satisfaction survey and news about our new Livestock Implementation guides.
You can also read about a project which is close to my heart, the brand spotlight section on Colman’s mustard. A group of English Mustard farming families have been growing for Colman’s since 1836 – now that’s staying power! What has been remarkable about this piece of work is how the farmers themselves have supported the brand and now we are working at getting the Colman’s brand a lot closer to the farming work itself. After this great year, we are now looking forward to the Colman’s anniversary celebrations in 2014. We hope you enjoy reading this edition and let us know any comments you have. Kind regards Dave
CONTENTS 3. 4. 5. 6. 7/8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.
LAND USE CHANGE - SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE STANDARDS & CODES YOUR CONTROL UNION - AGATA LISZKA-PODKOWA MUDDY BOOTS - WORK SMARTER WITH ONLINE QUICKFIRE QUICKFIRE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY - THE RESULTS BRAND SPOTLIGHT - COLMAN’S MUSTARD LIVESTOCK IMPLEMENTATION GUIDELINES MEET A SUPPLIER - KEN AGRITECH MEET A SUPPLIER - GRUNEWALD MEET A SUPPLIER - DONGSHENG MEET A SUPPLIER - VARUN AGRO NGO FOCUS - SOLIDARIDAD AND UNILEVER DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS SAI PLATFORM - CROSS INDUSTRY SELF-VERIFICATION TOOL UNILEVER SIGN SUSTAINABLE WHEAT PARTNERSHIP
LAND USE CHANGE SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE STANDARDS & CODES Land use change – from forest to agriculture, or from wetland to agriculture – is a major driver for greenhouse gases rising in the atmosphere. This is because soils lose organic matter when more exposed to the atmosphere, and because the total amount of carbon stored in and on farmland is usually much lower than that in wetlands and forests. Converting land to farmland also results in net loss of biodiversity and may drive some species to extinction in the wild.
This is clearly an important issue for Sustainable Agriculture Standards to address. However, it’s a particularly tricky issue as well, because certification of agricultural products only kicks in as an option once farms are well established and crops and animals are being produced and sold. So how do certifications deal with the issue? The approach used by the majority of certifications (see Annex 1 of our Scheme Rules) is to set a cut-off date beyond which certain types of land conversion are not accepted (including destruction of forest with high conservation value in all cases, but also including other forms of ecosystem destruction that vary with the certification system). So, high conservation value land converted after the cut-off date will NEVER be eligible for certification as “sustainable”. The date chosen is usually related to the date when the Standard was agreed or when it was agreed to include a “land conversion clause” in the Standard. Not surprisingly this approach is often unpopular amongst farmers who find themselves unable to be certified. The farm management may never even have heard of the certification before being approached by buyers (e.g. from Unilever) with a request to become certified. So what can be done if they find themselves unable to comply because of land use change that may have been perfectly legitimate at the time – and maybe even promoted by government agencies locally? In practice, this has resulted in a small amount of “wiggle room” being introduced into many Standards. When local interpretations are being negotiated, there may be a different (more recent) cut-off date agreed for new geographical areas (or maybe crops or animals) coming into scope. There may be some provision for “compensation” for other farms, if they restore low biodiversity value land to higher biodiversity-value.
And how should this be dealt with in the Unilever Sustainable Agriculture Code? The Sustainable Agriculture Code (SAC) was published in 2010 and there was always the intention of a revision in 2015. The team that developed SAC, on the advice of stakeholders did not introduce a “cut-off date” for land conversion in SAC, as it was felt to be out of scope because it took place before farming started on the land. Unilever were also hoping that a better and tidier and more practical way of avoiding deforestation and other deleterious land use changes could be devised and incorporated into the Code. So the 2015 Code is likely to introduce some form of cut-off date, after which no farmed produce will be accepted as sustainable if it is derived from former high conservation value (or high carbon stock) land. Unilever values your input, so if you have any feedback, it would be great to hear from you as rewriting the SAC is a process that involves the views of many stakeholders. Please email: Gail.Smith@Unilever.com How should the date be defined? • Same for everyone – i.e. when the Code is published • Related to a “date of engagement” in sustainable sourcing for Unilever? And should Unilever allow... • Small-scale conversion e.g. field consolidation / road building etc.) and if so, what counts as “small scale”? • Compensation schemes , ensuring that something of at least equal biodiversity “value” is put in place for anything lost? And should this be extended to having local “carbon compensation” schemes as well?
YOUR CONTROL UNION AGATA LISZKA-PODKOWA
Fruit and vegetable production plays an important role in Poland. According to research by the Polish Central Statistical Office, acreage of field vegetables was 175,487 ha, top fruit 291,750 ha (dominant apple trees 194680 ha). Berries harvest in 2013 estimates 0,6 million tonne.
Agata Liszka-Podkowa, Control Union
My involvement with the Unilever Sustainable Agriculture Code started in 2011. I have a background in agriculture through my studies and my previous employment within the agricultural experimenting trade. Therefore in my current role at Control Union I am naturally drawn to agricultural topics and take great interest in the Unilever project. The global scope of the UL SAC implementation makes me proud to be a part of the project and the fact that assessments also encompass production processes and responsibility towards local community and environment is admirable. Through the UL SAC project farmers and processors are encouraged to seek solutions around “how much and what they produce” but also “how they produce”.
In my role I have encountered barriers to Sustainable Agriculture Code implementation. The biggest problem is the scope connected with biodiversity. During my discussions with suppliers and farmers I hear that there are so many natural areas in Poland that there is no need to take additional action. I can agree with the first part of the statement, however after all Polish Red Books of Plants and Animals say there are about 74 critically endangered species and 59 endangered plants; 47 endangered vertebrates and 67 invertebrates. It means that there is still much to do and much can be done. In my job I have encountered positive examples when farmers engage in a Biodiversity Action Plan and are surprised with successful results.
The Unilever Sustainable Agriculture Code includes practices which are standard in Polish production i.e. proper usage of plant protection products and fertilisers. Polish institutions closely monitor this area. It is important that farmers are aware of the inappropriate use of plant protection products and the effect of fertilisers.
I am delighted to be a part of this important project with its enormous scope and impact. Our common task is to work towards sustainable production becoming a common global standard.
Another area in which Poland excels is Waste. In Poland there is an obligatory act regarding the maintenance of order and cleanliness of communities (new version from 1.07.2013). It solves the waste sorting problem and conveys this duty to communities. It has been standard for many years that farmers return packages of plant protection products to distribution sites.
THE UNILEVER SUSTAINABLE LIVING PLAN COMMITMENT IS: • •
Unilever will purchase 50% of our top 13 vegetables and herbs from sustainable sources by 2012 and 100% by 2015. This accounts for over 80% of our global vegetable and herb volume
WORKING SMARTER ONLINE WITH MUDDY BOOTS Many of you will be familiar with the Quickfire self-assessment tool from Muddy Boots. It is loaded with our Sustainable Agriculture Code and enables Unilever and our suppliers to track and monitor the progress we are making against our sustainability agenda. Here, Josh Snook, your Muddy Boots Account Manager, shares with you some of the exciting new developments that will be available to you soon.
NEW - QUICKFIRE ONLINE Here at Muddy Boots we have been working extremely hard to bring you a more intuitive online version of Quickfire and we are delighted to announce that the development work is nearly complete. This means that you will soon be benefitting from all of the below: Improved Efficiency You can now complete the Unilever assessment in Quickfire Office as well as in PAF Reader, so you can easily work your way through the assessment; view your progress; and validate your assessment before submitting it! It also means that you can now complete the assessment online from any mobile or handheld device (as long as you are connected to the Internet and have access to Quickfire Office). Confidence There is no longer a risk of losing the assessment during the download process from Quickfire to PAF. This simplifies the process, and because all information is now completed and stored within one platform, it’s easy to search for your assessment information (including your historic archived data). User-Friendly The software is now much more user-friendly and intuitive to use, with simple navigation, redesigned interface and a progress bar to show you how far through an assessment you are. It’s a much simpler way of working!
NEW - GREENLIGHT AUDIT MANAGEMENT IPAD APP Shortly after the launch of Quickfire Online, Muddy Boots will also be launching the Greenlight Audit Management iPad App, which offers the same offline data capture capabilities as PAF Reader but is no longer restricted to Windows-based operating systems.
The new iPad App will make this software truly portable and has all the advantages of touch screen technology; it’s simple to use, removes duplication of data entry and means that you no longer need to take your computer with you when completing an assessment offline. We hope these changes will significantly improve your experience of using Muddy Boots on behalf of Unilever.
ANNA’S RETURN TO WORK! Anna Powell, who has been your Muddy Boots account manager since 2008 is returning to work at the end of September following her maternity leave, and she is excited to resume her position and continue working with you all. Josh Snook, who has been working with you in Anna’s absence will be returning to his role as Key Account Co-ordinator on some of Muddy Boots’ other large accounts. “It is great to see so much positive change and so many new Sustainable Suppliers appearing in the last few months, thanks to everyone for your commitment. Also many thanks to Josh for looking after the project in my absence. Motherhood is great fun and my little boy keeps me busy, being back at work will certainly be quiet compared to life at home!” Anna Powell, Muddy Boots.
“It has been an absolute pleasure working with you all, an incredible journey over the last 8 months and I am very grateful for having the opportunity to work with Unilever and their suppliers on such an important project” Josh Snook, Muddy Boots.
QUICKFIRE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY THE RESULTS ARE IN! The latest Unilever Supplier Survey is complete, thank The second new question rated the usefulness of Quickyou from Muddy Boots to everybody who provided valuable fire reports. Responses this time were neutral, so we look feedback on the project and the service we provide. forward to tracking progress on this question in the next survey. It was encouraging to see more free text comments than in previous surveys, providing a depth of feedback that RESPONSES is invaluable in understanding your opinion. In previous surveys the Training and Product Adoption results have Training been excellent and it is encouraging to see the trend 90% of you thought the speed of training was good 97% of you felt training was clear maintained this time around. 92% of you felt prepared to use the software following training REPORTS In the Quickfire Reports section we introduced 2 new questions. The first asked which Quickfire reports you use the most to support the assessment process. The Assessment Submission Report and the Sustainably Sourced Report proved to be the most popular whilst the Metric Report ranked lowest. In the Metric Report, metrics data is currently presented as a table but soon there will be a new graphical presentation of this data, and you will be able to make comparisons, look at change over time etc., we hope that this will boost this report’s popularity. It is also apparent that a number of you do not use Quickfire Reports. This is surprising as, after such commitment to data collection, the reports are a reward - illustrating your progress and performance and enabling you to tell your own sustainability story. If you need a reminder of how the Quickfire Reporting area works and an overview of the key reports there is a ‘Supplier Reports’ webinar available in the Help Area of Quickfire along with several other useful webinars.
Those who felt unprepared have been offered additional training. Quickfire Reports You use the three reports below most frequently to support your SAC assessment process 1. Assessment Submission Report 2. Sustainably Sourced Report 3. Non-conformance Report SAC Assessments 49% of you are taking less than 3 hours to complete a Farmer Assessment The percentage of participants completing all of their assessments in less than 1 week has doubled since the last survey.
FREQUENCY OF SURVEYS Due to a lower response rate than usual Unilever and Muddy Boots have decided to reduce the f requency of the survey, making it annual. The survey will be more detailed and there will be more free text responses so that all of your opinions and feedback can be captured. The results of this survey are studied in detail by both Muddy Boots and Unilever and are used as the basis and direction for positive system development. As the survey frequency is reduced it is even more important that you get involved and help us provide a better service to you.
BRAND SPOTLIGHT COLMAN’S MUSTARD
The English Mustard Growers (EMG) cooperative, uses knowledge and passion to revive English Mustard for Colman’s and share best practices through social media. EMG has also praised the way that the Unilever Procurement team has worked to help engage farmers.
The same farmer families have grown for Colman’s mustard since the 1880s. The group of cooperative farmers all live within 80 miles of the factory and are fully traceable back to each individual farm. All farmers are also fully compliant with the Unilever Sustainable Agricultural Code and have been since December 2012. The success of the English Mustard Growers Co-operative has ensured that top UK brand Colman’s can call its mustard ‘English’ and that English mustard growers can develop together. The mustard seed crop is particularly important in the fens of East Anglia, where it is a traditional part of the area’s rotational systems, and where the freedraining soils suit it well. Many of the families in the EMG co-op have been growing it for five or six generations. Meanwhile Colman’s, with its factory in nearby Norwich, is preparing to celebrate its bicentenary in 2014. EMG Chairman Michael Sly, whose family has been growing mustard for 110 years, says that the Unilever Procurement team has been working to rebuild relations with farmers. “We have a really positive relationship with them,” he says. “Although Unilever
is a multinational, it still feels like we deal with a local family business. And that’s important to us.” Mr Sly was among the farmers who worked with Unilever and business consultancy EFFP to develop a collaborative supply chain for Colman’s. “Eleven individual growers were left,” he says. “We’d had an appalling harvest. It looked like the crop was going to disappear, which had happened with other sectors. We set up the growers’ co-operative to help improve husbandry and marketing. It’s that mutuality. It’s us sharing information and bringing us as growers and the group forward together.” The co-op was the preferred option for Unilever too. It wanted to maintain its strong ‘English’ brand and its local growing base, and was looking for ways to support and encourage farmers. EFFP helped the growers develop a business plan aimed at re-establishing mustard seed as an important and profitable crop in the East of England. Determined to keep English seed in Colman’s mustard, EMG and Unilever enlisted plant breeder Tony Guthrie from Elsoms Seeds to halt decline in mustard yield. Tony quickly discovered that an imbalance in seed size was the cause and reintroduced smaller seeds back into the varieties for the farmers to sow.
COLMAN’S MUSTARD BENEFITS FROM LOCAL FARMERS In its first year, the co-op invested in mobile crop drying and cleaning equipment, to ensure mustard production was as efficient as possible. Mr Sly says the farmers are benefiting from improved long-term profitability and reduced risks, and are able to continue to grow an important break crop on a commercial basis.
farmers living in the past - they use twitter and Facebook to tell their story...in all a deeply authentic story waiting to be told and a real differentiator for Colman’s as the only genuine English grown, English mustard in the world.”
This all contributes to the goal of sourcing 100% of materials sustainably by 2020. We started with our “By handling administration, the co-operative top 10 agricultural materials and are now considersimplifies contract management for Unilever and for ing the next 30. These account for around 20% of farmers,” he says. “When the crop is delivered to the our volume, so progress in these areas will mark a factory in Norwich we do the invoicing. It means Uni- significant milestone. In 2013 we are making lever don’t have to deal with 17 growers individually.” considerable progress with ingredients such as vanilla, meat and mustard seeds. David Pendlington, Procurement Director said: “This is a prime example of local sourcing. It is this sort of To learn more, please visit www.colmans.co.uk. sustainability story that really resonates with consumers. We went to visit the farmers last month to hear how they are experimenting with new varieties, sharing agronomy knowledge & supporting biodiversity in the East of England. These are not
SUSTAINABILITY INDICATOR LIVESTOCK IMPLEMENTATION
The Unilever Livestock Implementation Guides have been recently completed with the help of our external partners FAI Farms (Farm Animals Initiative). These replace the current Dairy IG, extending the advice to cover meat as well as dairy.
Species covered are cattle (for dairy and beef), pigs (for pork) and chickens (broilers for meat and layers for eggs). The advice covers the full range of SAC chapters, giving specific advice for livestock farming on issues such as manure management and reduction of GHG emissions, and gives more detailed, speciesspecific information for the Animal Welfare chapter. As well as the Sustainable Agriculture Code coverage, there is an additional guide for the transport and slaughter of animals. This is outside of the current scope of the SAC, but will be included in the next version, as both are important in terms of animal welfare. We are pre-empting these revisions with guidance for suppliers ahead of time.
ABOUT FAI FARMS: FAI farms believes that companies and organisations will only secure sustained success by bringing Ethical and Environmental considerations into their business model. To do this requires commitment, strategic planning and technical development. The company’s activity has changed how global organisations engage with and develop sustainable food supply chains. FAI has become a recognized and trusted partner to both small and large clients in Europe, North and South America and Asia, providing scientific, veterinary and producer support. The guides can be viewed and downloaded here: http://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/ sustainablesourcing/why/index.aspx
MEET A SUPPLIER KEN AGRITECH
Unilever has contributed over â‚Ź9,000 towards a scheme in India to improve pesticide handling, enhance biodiversity and encourage vermicomposting among smallholders growing gherkins in the Indian state of Karnataka.
This is the first time Unilever has been involved in such a project, although its partner in the venture, Ken Agritech, has been working with brands including Amora and Maille for 17 years, and currently processes a sizeable volume of gherkins in India each year. Gherkins have been grown in India only since the 1990s, and Ken Agritech currently works with farmers across the five main growing areas: Gajendragada, Ranebennur, Hubli, Hosadurga and Kottur. This year, Ken Agritech has introduced the Unilever Sustainable Agriculture Code practices into a segregated gherkin production programme in the Gajendragada area and has already delivered 800 tons of gherkins from 700 farmers involved in the segregated supply chain. The specific initiatives that Unilever is supporting with the farmers includes the distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and pesticides boxes, vermicomposting kits, mango saplings and bee keeping boxes. All 700 farmers have benefited
from the PPE and pesticides boxes distribution, while Ken have trained 350 smallholders in vermicomposting – essentially, using earthworms to turn organic waste into usable compost. They have also distributed 1,600 Alphonso mango samplings as part of an afforestation programme in an area with little natural tree cover. Finally, Ken Agritech have installed 20 bee keeping boxes this season, again as part of their overall biodiversity plan. Ken Agritech has also introduced drip irrigation on 150 acres of gherkin growing land this year and expects to cover 25% of the growing area by 2014. Drip irrigation increases yields by about 20% and leads to water savings of up to 40%.
MEET A SUPPLIER GRUNEWALD
Unilever supplier Pomerania Frucht Spolka z o.o. is a member of Grünewald International, one of Europe’s leading groups of fruit processing companies. They run a Bee Project which is focussed on increasing the bee population for harvesting fruits such as strawberries, raspberries and cherries for Unilever brands such as Breyers, Walls and Ben & Jerry’s.
We know that the number of bees around the world has now been in decline for years. Research hurries along to find out exactly why that is and what to do about it. Meanwhile, the fact that bee colonies ensure the pollination of almost 90% of our crops causes a devastating ecological problem: no bees, no crops. At Pomerania Frucht in northwestern Poland we aim at supporting our farmers in achieving a bountiful harvest efficiently and in harmony with nature. Our latest programme promotes the use of the mason bee for pollination as one environmentfriendly cultivation strategy on the path to ecologically sustainable farming. If the crops are to flourish so must the bees. The mason bee (Osmia rufa) from the Megachilidae family of solitary bees lives in the wild all across Poland. Its name originates in the characteristic usage of clay in nest construction. Rather than building from scratch, the mason bee seeks shelter in pre-existing cavities such as hollow stems, poles and rotten tree trunks. These are furnished with small nesting cells made of clay and filled with pollen. During the completion of a single nesting cell one bee may pollinate more than 1,200 blossoms
from among 150 different plant varieties. The ability to gather large amounts of pollen and their versatile taste ranks mason bees among the most effective pollinators. Our programme currently employs mason bees in the cultivation of strawberries, raspberries, black currants and cherries. The small and harmless insects are extremely easy to keep and do not require the allocation of extensive beekeeping equipment. But, given that natural nesting places on groomed fields are scarce, we have to provide the bees with what little they need to make our growers’ orchards their home. Since the autumn of 2012, Pomerania Frucht has already supplied 22 plantations with 500 simple nesting kits to encourage permanent mason bee colonization. We are thrilled that the program has become this popular with our farmers and hope that fields buzzing with mason bees will lead to increased annual yields and further enhance the quality of our farmers’ crops.
“Our company works closely with regional farmers to continuously improve crop performance. With the mason bee program we seek to demonstrate that practicing sustainable agriculture creates long-term benefits for everyone involved.” Norbert Ginda, General Manager, Pomerania Frucht Spolka z o.o.
MEET A SUPPLIER DONGSHENG
China is the largest garlic producing and dehydrating geography accounting for over 80% of global supply. Dongsheng Foods based in China is a key supplier for dehydrated garlic.
Garlic is grown by a large number of smallholder farmers in the Shandong province of China who have limited knowledge of sustainable agriculture and contract farming. Unilever supplier, Dongsheng has worked with over 1,400 small holder farmers across 6 villages to educate them on the benefits of sustainable agriculture and the conservation of resources to ultimately improve livelihoods. With support and guidance from Unilever, Dongsheng has now achieved full sustainable status as per the Unilever Sustainable Agriculture Code. In 2012, Dongsheng organised six sustainability awareness training workshops aided with audio visual tools and booklets in Mandarin to connect with the 1,400 smallholder farmers at the grass root level. The training material was based on the Sustainable Agriculture Code with easy to understand illustrations to help the smallholder farmers. The training created a huge impact and improved the smallholders’ sustainability awareness.
OMO brand team, from UL China also joined in to distribute free soaps as a way to spread Unilever brand awareness and drive sustainable living plan agenda on healthy living and hygiene. A smallholder farmer gave some positive feedback at the time: “It is really a good training and easy to understand! Unilever has so many brands, foods and soap too!”. Leading the engagement from Unilever is Changyan Ma, Supplier Development Sustainability, who said: “Dongsheng has set up sustainable garlic farms in line with the Sustainable Agriculture Code; they will be a role model to introduce sustainable agriculture for our other Chinese suppliers”.
FEATURE IN THIS MAGAZINE! Would you like your business to feature in the ‘Meet a Supplier’ section of The Sustainable Source? Unilever would love to hear from you! E-mail: unilever@muddyboots.com
MEET A SUPPLIER VARUN AGRO A highly entrepreneurial woman, Manisha Dhatrak, has led supplier, Varun Agro, to improve yields and farmer incomes for 1,100 farmers. The work was in partnership with Unilever and won a Partner to Win Award for Winning in Sustainability at the awards ceremony in Singapore in June. Tomatoes from Varun Agro are being used in Kissan ketchup.
Varun has helped to deliver capacity for Unilever’s growth in Tomato and to ensure that together we both enjoy a competitive business. They have partnered with farmers through a contract farming approach and have reached 650 farmers in the first year. They have also partnered with Unilever’s enabling parties like Bayer Crop Science in furthering the sustainable agriculture practices. All of the above has also been conducted under the auspices of a successful Private Public Partnership together with the Maharashtra government. In a true partnership approach Varun and Unilever worked together to ensure that the facility once constructed was audited and received approval. Varun also ensured full compliance to our responsible sourcing principles in completing a full SMETA audit. Beyond compliance Varun had to focus then on managing a contract farming network of 650 small holder farmers in order to deliver the right quality of tomato to the facility at the right time. The facility would also need to process these tomatoes to produce the right quality and quantity of paste under contract from Unilever in its first full year of operation.
Unilever, also worked to bring more partners into the collaboration by entering in further partnership’s under the World Economic Forum’s new vision for agriculture. Under this a Public Private Partnership was formed with the government of Maharashtra. Varun in the end was able to produce more paste than contracted for with a high level of compliance to quality requirements. In fact Unilever India feedback was that the development also contributed to a major improvement in overall colour and quality of ketchup produced. The R&D team termed this a Red Revolution in Maharashtra. Upon winning the award, Manisha Dhatrak, Varun Agro said: “I would like to thank Dirk-Jan, Martin Huxtable, Varun Agro teams and my farmers. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” To top off the achievement in May Varun Agro was awarded their first sustainability diploma as all of the production in the year was verified as sustainable against Unilever’s Sustainable Agriculture code. The tomato products are now also well on their way to being 100% sustainably sourced for India with great capacity for future brand leverage.
“This is a great example of pioneering setting in place a sustainable business model in a very short time. Right from the outset Unilever and Varun made a commitment to drive the business model in a sustainable way.” Dirk Jan deWith, VP Ingredients and Sustainability Unilever
NGO FOCUS UNILEVER & SOLIDARIDAD TO FURTHER IMPROVE CONDITIONS FOR SUGAR CANE WORKERS IN CENTRAL AMERICA Unilever has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with international NGO, Solidaridad to further drive sustainable development in the sugarcane industry in Central America. This initiative supports the company’s commitment in the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan to source 100% of its agricultural raw materials sustainably.
The project is being led from Central America, with an initial focus on Mexico. The aims are to improve productivity of 3,600 farm and mill labourers in compliance with International Labour Organisation decent labour standards, improve triple bottom line farm performance for 1,900 farmers through farmer support (8,000 hectares under good agricultural management), achieve one mill and 5,000 hectares in compliance with Bonsucro Production Standard and to create cross-industry learnings around sustainability and certification. Organisations involved are: Solidaridad, Bonsucro, International Labour Organization and other consumer goods organisations. The initiative starts this year and has a deadline in October 2015.
Sven Sielhorst, International Programme Director for Sugar Cane, Solidaridad, said: “We look forward to our partnership with Unilever. Company engagement like this is crucial for the drive towards a thriving sugar cane sector, with positive impacts on society and the environment.” Unilever has been a member of Bonsucro since January 2011. However, it is a small player in terms of global supply, with only 0.26% of market share. Unilever purchased the first 3262 tonnes of Bonsucro credits when the credit platform went live in December 2012.
Marc Engel, Chief Procurement Officer, said: “This is an important collaboration for us on our journey towards sourcing 100% of sugar sustainably by 2020. We are committed to working with partners and fully support the work that bodies such as Solidaridad and Bonsucro are doing.”
About Solidaridad Solidaridad is an international organisation dedicated to responsible food production to feed the growing world population and to providing the world with an alternative to fossil fuels like oil and gas.
SAI PLATFORM CROSS INDUSTRY SELF-VERIFICATION TOOL This summer, Unilever is piloting SAI Platform’s Farmer Self Assessment, the first globally aligned self assessment tool of sustainable agriculture practices. Unilever was among the members developing the Farmer Self Assessment and joins 12 other companies committed to test and use the tool in their agricultural supply chain - Barilla, The Coca Cola Company, Danone, HEINEKEN, Innocent Drinks, Kellogg Europe, McCain Foods, Mondelez International, Nestlé, PepsiCo, CIO Parma and Yakima Chief.
Unilever is testing Farmer Self Assessment with wheat growers, together with fellow member Barilla and common wheat flour supplier, Grandi Molini Italiani. The supplier will approach 10 farmer groups in Italy, France and Ukraine. Unilever is also testing with sugar beet growers in Western Europe. The Farmer Self Assessment has been created for farmers to assess their level of sustainability with the aim of securing a viable production that is able to prosper and develop, economically, environmentally and socially. It includes approximately 100 questions which are based on SAI Platform’s Principles and Practices, already approved and used by members and consulted upon with many stakeholders. Using one assessment that all food and drink companies agree adequately defines sustainable agriculture practices should dramatically reduce the assessment workload on farmers. The Farmer Self Assessment is the latest development from SAI Platform in helping companies and farmers to achieve sustainable agriculture practices. Firstly, through collaboration with members in working groups it developed Principles and Practices along the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainability for arable and vegetable crops, coffee, dairy, fruit and beef. Next, members chose to create other tools designed to help farmers implement the standards. A series of technical and practical tools were developed, such as an Agriculture Standards Benchmark Study, a Water Impact Calculator, and a Financial Tool on farm sustainability. Now, SAI Platform members have developed the Farmer Self Assessment in order to help farmers
assess their level of implementation of the Principles and Practices. SAI Platform has researched the tool with experts from two working groups, Arable and Vegetable Crops and Fruit, and consulted with over 20 expert organisations. Peter Erik Ywema, General Manager of SAI Platform, says: ‘The 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, the aim is to reduce the amount of assessments required by farmers and support them in their journey towards sustainable agriculture.” The Farmer Self Assessment is being benchmarked across a number of well known sustainability standards. Unilever’s SAC incorporates all the elements of the Farmer Self Assessment. SAI Platform, the global initiative helping food and drink companies to achieve sustainable production and sourcing of agricultural raw materials, has played a critical role in advancing sustainable agriculture worldwide. SAI Platform brings together members who share, at precompetitive level, knowledge and initiatives to support the implementation of sustainable agriculture practices. With over 50 global members collaborating with millions of farmers around the world, they have the potential to influence farming practices in every agricultural producing country. For more information, visit www.saiplatform.org/farmerselfassessment
PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE WHEAT PRODUCTION IN INDIA NEW UNILEVER-ADM PARTNERSHIP SET TO BENEFIT INDIAN SMALLHOLDERS
Unilever has signed an agreement with Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), to work together to implement the Unilever Sustainable Agriculture Code for wheat in India.
Unilever will be working with ADM and the government of the state of Maharashtra to promote the development of a high gluten wheat variety for small holders, and will be working directly with those farmers to promote good agricultural practices to support sustainable wheat cultivation. ADM already has a good farmer network in the oilseed growing districts of Maharashtra, and some of these farmers also grow wheat. The partnership will help them gain access to ADM’s processing operation, while Unilever will be able to work directly with farmers to implement its sustainable agriculture code at farm and village level. Having signed the agreement, the partnership’s next step is to launch a sustainable wheat farming pilot in the district of Latur. In the first year, this will involve 500 farmers and around 1,000 acres of cultivated land. The partnership will use a contract farming model, and plans to replicate it across a much wider area once the pilot’s results have been analysed. Unilever will work with farmers through ADM and the state government, providing certified seeds, an
infrastructure subsidy and training to farmers, with a goal of ensuring good cultivation practices, and consequently better yields of higher-performing wheat strains. Bhachndra Tukaram Gaddime has been an ADMregistered farmer in Latur for more than a decade. He is one of more than 80,000 farmers in the district who has already benefited from ADM’s support on such activities as soil nutrition management, integrated pest management, seed production and bio-activator trials. He, like all the farmers associated with ADM has maximised his earnings by following high standard of cultivation practices. Now, the new Unilever-ADM partnership is set to take these advances even further into the Indian smallholder community opening up great possibilities for great improvements in wheat cultivation.
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