Sustainability Performance Assessment (SPA) at Farm level

Smart Agrimatics - Paris, June 14, 2012Emeline 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.

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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

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SAI Platform Members

AFFILIATE MEMBERS

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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Definition

Some sustainability issues

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

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Ecosystem-services &

Biodiversity

Climate Change

Volatile Ag. Prices

Land Degradatio

n

Water Scarcity

Non-food use (fuels)

New technologies

GMOs

Natural Resources

Improving Yields

Ensured Supply

Rural Livelihood

Reduced Extension Services

Growing Demand for

FoodOvergrazing

Soil conservatio

n

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Good Practices

How to measure progress?

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MetricsIndicators

Scientifically sound

Relation to Farm Practices

Tools, like CFT, Simpatica,

Keystone, RISE, climate yardstick

Many Experts &

groups work on this

Purpose, objective,

scope?Qualitative or strictly

quantitative?

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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 Practices2.Looked for already available metrics (Not to reinvent wheel)3.Benchmarked over 100 of them4.Selected best ones: simple, scientifically sound, readily available@farm, measurable, comparable.

Table 1: Overview of quantified sustainability indicators

Theme Indicator Data derived from

Pesticides 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 score: irrigation efficiency index (crop evapotranspiration / volume of applied water per ha)

water use measured on farm, compared to evapotranspiration measured or from statistics

score: water use efficiency index (crop yield per ha / volume of applied water per ha)

water use and yield measured on farm

Energy use % share of renewable energy used energy use data (fuel and electricity)

energy use/kg of product energy use data (fuel and electricity)Waste % of product utilization: area harvested/area

plantedyield and production data

% of reclaimed byproducts: tonnes of materials used for recycling, composting or animal feed / tons of harvested product

measured waste streams on farm

% total waste/kg product measured waste streams on farm

Example

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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 comprehensive2.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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Selection of methodologies (ToR) for computer-based tools measuring sustainable agriculture

SPA 3 – priority issues included 1. Climate & energy2. Water quantity3. Nutrient efficiency4. Soil quality5. Biodiversity6. Pesticides7. Waste8. Land use

SPA 3 – priority issues to be developed later on

1. Animal welfare2. Occupational health and safety3. Financial stability

SPA Phase 3 (1)

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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

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SPA Phase 3 (3)

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Example: land use

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Milestones and next steps

1. SPA Phase One published in 20102. SPA Phase Two published in 20113. SPA Phase Three Version 1.0 published early May 20124. Piloting phase in 2012-20135. Review and additions mid 20136. SPA Phase Three Version 2.0 in 2014

Thank you for your attention!

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

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