Sustainability Performance Assessment (SPA) at Farm level

Smart Agrimatics - Paris, June 14, 2012 Emeline Fellus - Deputy Manager, SAI Platform

What is SAI Platform ? (1/2) • A Platform created in 2002 by the

food industry

to communicate and to actively support the development of

sustainable agriculture

for the mainstream, involving stakeholders of the food chain.

• Founders were Nestle, Unilever, Danone. • Work on a pre competitive basis. 2

What is SAI Platform ? (2/2) • Today we have 40 members: - 30 food companies - 10 affiliates.

• We coordinate 6 Working Groups: - 5 crop specific (beef, coffee, fruit, dairy, arable & vegetable crops) - 1 WG on water& agriculture • Wide variety of parallel activities such as R&D, developing training for food executives etc 3

SAI Platform Members AFFILIATE MEMBERS

Definition

Sustainable agriculture is a

productive, competitive and efficient way to produce safe agricultural products, while at the same time protecting and improving the natural environment and social/economic conditions of local communities .

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Some sustainability issues Many challenges and opportunities for farmers, society & the food sector

Non-food use (fuels) Climate Change Soil conservation Ecosystem services & Biodiversity Volatile Ag. Prices Natural Resources Overgrazing New technologies GMOs Land Degradation Growing Demand for Food Ensured Supply Rural Livelihood Water Scarcity Improving Yields Reduced Extension Services

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Good Practices 7 7

How to measure progress?

Relation to Farm Practices Tools , like CFT, Simpatica, Keystone, RISE, climate yardstick Metrics Indicators Qualitative or strictly quantitative?

Scientifically sound Purpose, objective, scope?

Many Experts & groups work on this 8

SPA Phase 1

Benchmarked and rated existing farm metrics to help a farmer measure, understand, improve and report progress.

1. Started from our list of Principles and Practices 2. Looked for already available metrics (Not to reinvent wheel) 3. Benchmarked over 100 of them 4. Selected best ones: simple, scientifically sound, readily available@farm, measurable, comparable.

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Example

Table 1: Overview of quantified sustainability indicators Theme

Pesticides

Indicator Data derived from

kg active ingredients used/kg of product Yield data and kg pesticides applied score (points) (active ingredients per ha related to toxicity, exposure, date of application) calculator/yardstick (e.g. Keystone calculator or CLM pesticide yardstick) Water use Energy use Waste score: irrigation efficiency index (crop evapotranspiration / volume of applied water per ha) score: water use efficiency index (crop yield per ha / volume of applied water per ha) water use measured on farm, compared to evapotranspiration measured or from statistics water use and yield measured on farm % share of renewable energy used energy use data (fuel and electricity) energy use/kg of product % of product utilization: area harvested/area planted % of reclaimed byproducts: tonnes of materials used for recycling, composting or animal feed / tons of harvested product energy use data (fuel and electricity) yield and production data measured waste streams on farm % total waste/kg product measured waste streams on farm

SPA Phase 2

Benchmarked and rated existing sustainability measurement tools.

1. Benchmarked over 100 of existing tools – some very specific (eg GHG emissions) and some very comprehensive 2. Selected best ones: complete but simple, scientifically sound, providing user-friendly feedback to farmer, comparable.

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Example

SPA Phase Two

Example of tools: RISE

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SPA Phase 3 (1)

Selection of methodologies (ToR) for computer-based tools measuring sustainable agriculture

SPA 3 – priority issues included 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Climate & energy Water quantity Nutrient efficiency Soil quality Biodiversity Pesticides Waste Land use SPA 3 – priority issues to be developed later on 1.

2.

3.

Animal welfare Occupational health and safety Financial stability 13

SPA Phase 3 (2) • • • For each priority issue: Separate chapter (3 - 7 pages) Summarizing flowchart • • • • • Contents: Farm data (entered by farmer) Background data needed (regional databases) Methodology (calculations, boundaries etc) Output indicator and units Rationale behind choices made 14

SPA Phase 3 (3) Farm data • Data entered by farmer Background data • Data from (regional) databases • Calculation rules • Boundaries • Etc.

Methodology Indicator • Output and unit • Sustainability concern Issue 15

Example: land use Farm data • Production (milk/meat) and/or yield (crop) in tonnes/farm or tonnes/ha • Feed used as input (tonnes) • Yield of feed used • Feed composition • Country of origin of feed Background data • Feed: composition • Feed: share of countries of origin • Feed: country-specific yields • Feed: dry matter content Indicator • For crops: Inverse of yield • For animal feed: Inverse of yield of ingredients Methodology • Land used for crop production in m 2 per kg of production • Land used for off-farm fodder in m 2 per kg of production •Land use Issue 16

Milestones and next steps 1. SPA Phase One published in 2010 2. SPA Phase Two published in 2011 3. SPA Phase Three Version 1.0 published early May 2012 4. Piloting phase in 2012-2013 5. Review and additions mid 2013 6. SPA Phase Three Version 2.0 in 2014 17

Thank you for your attention!

For more information: http:/www.saiplatform.org

[email protected]

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