September 2012

WELCOME TO THE SEPTEMBER 2012 EDITION OF THE SUSTAINABLE SOURCE

Vanessa King is a manager in the S stainable So rcing Development Team, the gro p responsible for providing tools, policies and technical s pport to proc rement managers implementing s stainable so rcing. Within the team she has partic lar responsibilities in the areas of pest management, water, and s stainable livestock systems. She is also heavily involved with the development of the Q ickfire software with M ddy Boots and making s re the self-verification process r ns smoothly.

Dear S ppliers

Welcome to the September 2012 edition of the S stainable So rce. It’s been a b sy s mmer for the S stainable So rcing team, as I’m s re it has for all of yo . This edition feat res some highlights from the Knorr S mmit held in Hamb rg at the end of May, the Cargill S stainability S mmit in the USA and describes a new project from the commodities team on s stainable s nflower in So th Africa; it also pdates yo on some changes we are planning to make to the self-verification process (scheme r les), and some of the latest developments made to the software, incl ding new filters and reports.

As part of o r foc s series on Control Union, this time we foc s on biodiversity vers s food safety. The article from Lori Wyman, the Certification and O treach Manager for Peterson Control Union Cer-tifications US, disc sses the progress Control Union has made in the US and the challenges they have overcome.

O r Meet a S pplier spot feat res SVZ, who is work-ing on a joint project with Innocent to improve water sage in strawberry prod ction; Olam, one of Uni-lever’s vegetable s ppliers; and K tas, who s pply s with dried herbs.

O r brand spotlight this time shines on Lipton tea, and describes how Rainforest Alliance certification has helped smallholder farmers, and how Lipton is protecting a local biodiversity hot spot. On page 14 we take a look at o r s stainable agric lt re metrics, to give yo a flavo r of what it’s all abo t, and what yo might be able to find o t from o r new metrics report. We also explore the partic lar challenges for fr it s ppliers, with an interview with

Ansh Dy tiraj, Proc rement Manager - Fr its & Spices.

On 6 September we held o r first Q ickfire review workshop with a foc s gro p of some long-standing sers. This helped s explore in detail some of the software feat res yo wo ld like to see, and how we can make the self-verification process easier for yo . It was a chance to share experiences, good and bad, and we thank all participants for their inp t.

The next ro nd of o r c stomer satisfaction s rvey is d e to go o t to yo all shortly. We hope many of yo will be able to find 5 min tes to let s know how we’ve done over the past 6 months. Yo r feedback really does help s improve.

I hope yo enjoy this iss e, and wish yo all a happy and fr itf l a t mn.

Kind regards Vanessa

CONTENTS 3. SUSTAINABLE SOURCING UPDATE 4. MUDDY BOOTS - TIME SAVING FEATURES & REPORTS 5. YOUR CONTROL UNION - BIODIVERSITY VERSUS FOOD SAFETY 6. MEET A SUPPLIER - SVZ 7. MEET A SUPPLIER - OLAM 8. MEET A SUPPLIER - KUTAS 9. BRAND SPOTLIGHT - LIPTON 10. BRAND SPOTLIGHT - MUFINDI 11. SUSTAINABLE SUNFLOWER SOURCING 12. CARGILL SUSTAINABILITY SUMMIT 13. SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE METRICS 14. SPECIAL FEATURE - ANSHU DYUTIRAJ

SUSTAINABLE SOURCING UPDATE

We wo ld like to thank everyone that attended the Knorr S stainable Agric lt re S mmit 2.0 in Hamb rg at the end of May. We were overwhelmed with positive feedback from yo all and it was fantastic to meet so many of yo and hear abo t some of the exciting projects yo are r nning; it was clear that some great progress had been made over the past 18 months.

TODATEWEHAVEAWARDED34 As we contin e on this jo rney to s stainably so rce CERTIFICATES TO THOSEOF yOUWECAN all o r vegetables and herbs by 2015 it is clear to

me that we will only achieve this by working in close NOWCLAIM TOBESUSTAINABLE SUPPLIERS partnership with yo . 01 . For those of yo who have not yet done so, please For Knorr, s stainable so rcing is integral to o r take action and commit to o r s stainable so rc-brand offering. O r cons mers want to know where ing programme. It is important to make a strategic o r ingredients come from; they want to be ass red decision to p t s stainability at the heart of yo r that agric lt ral materials are farmed nder the b siness plan and to appoint one responsible per-best nat ral conditions and that all of s take care son to manage the programme. Please inform yo r of the environment. Hence o r objective to imple- Unilever contact who yo r programme manager ment s stainable agric lt re practices and to have is to ens re we can work well on this programme a positive impact on the lives of farmers and their together. comm nities.

When we p blished o r Scheme R les in Jan ary 2012 we mentioned that we wo ld review them on an ann al basis.

Since Jan ary we have made some changes to the way we co nt raw ma-terials as ‘s stainably so rced’. This means we have had to change some sections in the Scheme R les.

We have added some external stand-ards to Annex II and also made it clearer which areas are NOT covered

by external standards, as well as the areas that ARE. We hope this helps yo nderstand the gaps that need to be addressed.

These pdates will take effect from the 1st October 2012.

If yo have q estions abo t the chang-es, please speak to yo r Unilever or Control Union contact. Please follow links to a list of changes, new Scheme R les and Q&A for yo r reference.

CHANGES TO SCHEME RULES

Yo are helping s do this by rolling o t s stain-able farming practices and by initiating innovative projects that can be co-f nded by the Knorr S stain-ability Partnership F nd. We need to contin e this work and we want to share the stories of these great farming practices and projects with o r cons mers.

Click here to access a highlights video of the event. To access o r S stainable So rcing video and infor-mation please click here.

Dirk Jan de With VP Procurement Ingredients

& Sustainability

MUDDY BOOTS UPDATE FOCUS ON NEW TIME SAVING FEATURES & REPORTS

Since the last iss e of the S stainable So rce M ddy Boots has foc sed on developing new feat res to save yo time when entering SAC data in Q ickfire, and new SAC reports to help yo to track yo r own s stain-ability jo rney. O r first ‘Q ickfire Webinar’ is taking place on Monday 1st October 2012 at 13:00-14:00 (BST). The Webinar will g ide yo thro gh all of the new time saving feat res. To register please click here.

We have s mmarised some of the recent pdates below, we hope the new feat res are already saving yo time as yo work on yo r 2012 assess-ments.

Jonathan Evans, Managing Director, M ddy Boots, speaking at the Knorr S mmit.

NEWTIMESAVING FEATURES

1. A dit Templating - to allow yo to copy a previo s assessment from the same site for a different raw material or a different year

2. Pre-assessment filter for ‘Sho ld’ responses – if yo do not have time to address the ‘Sho ld’ category q estions these can be hidden from view when completing an assessment

3. Block respond ‘Yes’ to a chapter – if yo know that yo are compliant to a f ll chapter yo can respond ‘Yes’ to all relevant q estions with one click

4. Create m ltiple PAFs – instead of creating PAFs individ ally yo can create batches of assessments for the same prod ct category

5. Delete sites, assessments and certificates yo rself witho t req esting via the M ddy Boots Technical S pport Team

REPORTUPDATES

1. New SAC Metrics Report – as detailed on page 13, this new report presents yo with information on the 8 Unilever metrics

2. Ability to select m ltiple raw materials when r nning the Combined Non-conformance Report

3. M st category q estions added to Individ al Non-conformance Report

OTHERNEWFEATURES

1. Red Tractor certification added to the list of benchmarks

2. New prod ct category of Livestock (no land se) now available when creating a PAF

3. New Freq ently Asked Q estions coming soon to the Q ickfire Help area

QUESTIONS&TECHNICAL SUPPORT

For f rther detail on anything mentioned in this section and other technical q estions related to the software and training, please contact s pport@m ddyboots.com.

x II and also made it or Control Union contact.

YOUR CONTROL UNION BIODIVERSITy VERSUS FOOD SAFETy

Lori Wyman is the Certification and O treach Manager for Peterson Control Union Certifications US, and lives on an organic farm. She cond cts farm, processing and fair trade a dits for the food and fibre ind stry and is ISO 9001 Lead A ditor certified. Lori previo sly served as the Ed cation and O treach Specialist for the Organic Trade Association.

It has been an interesting and challenging year working as a Unilever cons ltant for the SAC. On a personal level, I needed to change my s al “a di-tor” approach. I am sed to the ro tine of ann al inspections, whereby we record what we see b t do not offer any advice. As a Unilever Cons ltant I can work with my clients to strategise how best to meet the SAC – we also stay in comm nication thro gho t the year.

N mero s assessments have been carried o t and finalised in the US and Unilever awarded several US s ppliers: S re Fresh, Olam, Morning Star, Eck-ert Cold Storage, Michigan Freeze Pack, S pherb Farms, and Unilever Stockton. I am pro d to be working with these US clients who have contrib ted to the 2012 vol me targets.

When first visiting my clients to introd ce the SAC, they all agreed with Unilever’s goals and the impor-tance of saving water, red cing energy and so on. B t, the main resistance I received again and again was in the area of biodiversity, and here is why:

• In 2008, the US Food and Dr g Administration (FDA) warned cons mers to avoid eating raw Serrano peppers from Mexico after a sample-tested positive for the Saintpa l strain of sal-

monella, as did a water sample from the same farm in N evo Leon. More than 1,300 cases were confirmed in the US and Canada.

• From 2008-2009 nine people died from the Sal-monella pean t b tter o tbreak that affected at least 714 people across 46 states. The o tbreak res lted in recalls of 3,913 different prod cts made by 361 companies.

• In 2011, a Listeria o tbreak linked to contami-nated cantalo pes was responsible for at least 18 deaths and 100 illnesses, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Preven-tion. Jensen Farms of Holly, Colorado recalled millions of cantalo pes that were shipped to 20 states.

Since food safety is now top priority in the US, farm-ers do not develop wildlife corridors, roosting nests other than owl boxes, or grazing areas. They do not enco rage wildlife to enter their fields, nor do they establish environments that wo ld allow growth of any wild plants.

My clients are following food safety g idelines and certifications that are req ired by some of their c stomers. Also, most prod cers are b ying from independent growers who are free to make their own choices on their property. Some growers live on the property and are offended when asked abo t their own actions regarding biodiversity.

However, I have learned to ask the right q estions and to help shape a model that works to bring together the interests of the farmer with the SAC req irements and to develop steps that the farmer can easily take to meet the code.

MEET A SUPPLIER SVZ

Unilever, in partnership with Innocent, is working with s pplier SVZ on a project to improve water management in the Donana region in Spain to minimise any negative impact water sed for agric lt re may have on the local wildlife reserve.

The Parq e Nacional de Doñana is one of E rope’s most important wetland nat re reserves, known for its h ge variety of permanent and migrating bird species incl ding geese, flamingoes and one of the world’s largest colonies of Spanish imperial eagles. The area is also home to the largest concentration of strawberry prod ction in E rope and the second largest in the world.

With c ltivation dependent on irrigation, farmers and the Doñana compete for the same water. This places stress on the region, so the aim is to find a long-term sol tion that protects the wetlands and s pports agric lt re.

We are now in the second season of meas ring and tracking water sage for strawberry growing. Farm-ers record each time they irrigate, from when the soil is prepared in October thro gh to the end of the

J ne harvest. Project partner, the University of Cordoba, then takes this large vol me of data and calc lates water sage. The objective is for the res lts to be sed for strategic decision making for the region.

We are also starting to compile Best Practice G ide-lines for farmers on optimising the efficiency of water sage, sing the data to compare irrigation systems and management techniq es in order to identify the best model.

The initiative has raised awareness of the need to save water and while there has been negativity in the region aro nd water d e to complicated politics and the lack of regional governance, the project is t rning this aro nd. Other farmers want to know how they can be involved and we are sharing key learnings and best practice.

“We are excited to see the beginnings of a new approach to water management in the region. We have a real opport nity to drive change and develop a long-term balanced sol tion for the f t re.”

Rozanne avis, Fruit Ranger, Innocent rinks

MEET A SUPPLIER OLAM

Unilever, together with Partner to Win s pplier Olam, are partnering with farmers in California USA to improve growing methods for onions and garlic. In line with o r S stainable Agric lt re Code the programme aims to grow and process the two crops with minimal impact to the environment, red cing sage of water, power, fertiliser and pesticides. Following several s ccessf l initiatives, Olam is s pplying Unilever with ‘s stainably so rced’ dehydrated onion and garlic.

Over the last three years, drip irrigation in garlic has increasingly replaced f rrow irrigation red cing water sage by 60%, as well as improving overall yield and q ality.

Anirban M llick, Global Proc rement Lead for onion and garlic adds: “Development of c stomised farming eq ipment has opened new fields to onion c ltivation, allowing farmers to more easily grow and rotate vario s crops witho t additional gro nd preparation. This res lts in red ced eq ipment (and f el) sage, higher tilisation of the planted land s rface area and potentially higher yields per acre of land.”

Thro gh traditional breeding programmes, onion and garlic varieties have been developed specifically for dehydration. These prod cts contain less water than other varieties. As a res lt less energy is sed in growing and processing these two crops.

The plant variants are also selected to be more disease resistant to help farmers obtain a strong harvest with minimal need for pesticides. New varieties have also been developed that extend the harvest period. For example, onions have a six month processing window, leading to better capacity tilisation of the processing operations.

Olam has developed s fficient varieties with distinct mat ration dates allowing them to move from one variety to the next every one to two weeks thro gh the harvest period, ens ring the onions are always fresh. The onions are processed within 24 ho rs of harvest enhancing q ality, micros levels, and the flavo r of the dehydrated onion.

Finally in its efforts to improve s stainability, Olam has reorganised their so rcing model to so rce higher vol mes of onions and garlic from farms within a 200km radi s of their processing facility. Th s red cing transport costs and emissions.

“S stainability is a very important part of o r California dehydrated onion & garlic programmes. Thro gh o r partnership with Unilever we have taken that commitment to an even higher level. O r development of proprietary seeds, wider planting beds, drip irrigation, and fields in close proximity to o r prod ction plants all reflect Olam’s strong commitment to being a s stainable s pplier to Unilever.”

Greg Estep, President and Global Head, Spices & Vegetable Ingredients, Olam

MEET A SUPPLIER KUTAS

K tas is one of the largest prod cers of air dried herbs in the world. Over the last 20 years K tas has grown Oregano on over 20,000 acres of land in the Denizli region in T rkey, the world’s largest growing area for Oregano. This area is c ltivated by smallholder farmers with a typical farm size of one hectare. Many of the smallholder farmers K tas works with have no experience of good agric lt ral practices.

Recently K tas ran a pilot project with two small-holder famers in Denzili to introd ce better farming techniq es, as Kazim G rel, President of K tas explains: “The smallholder farmers we work with have no prior experience of working with agric l-t ral chemicals, fertilisers or irrigation. Now with Unilever o r joint project looks at introd cing best practices to these farmers. We are beginning to ed cate o r farmers to se better fertilisers in a knowledgeable way after a soil analysis and we are introd cing drip irrigation systems into their fields. Together we believe these practices will do ble if not triple crop yields. In t rn this will mean small-holder farmers can do ble or triple their incomes.”

The biggest challenge for K tas is to get local farmers engaged with the s stainability programme.

Kazim contin es: “O r smallholders have differ-ent priorities than we do! They are first and fore-most interested in increasing the cash they receive for their crop. They have little interest in investing in s stainable practices that simply benefit the environment in the long-term. To break this short-termist mentality it’s vital to show farmers they can achieve significant yield increases sing the methods we advise. When the farmer sees that he has more oregano from the same field and conse-

q ently more money in his pocket they will start to show more interest in helping s roll-o t this initia-tive.”

In the pilot project K tas provided f ll implemen-tation of hardware and software in terms of drip irrigation, Good Agric lt ral Practice advice, as well as physical implementation of the work req ired to harvest and monitor yield, implementation of soil analysis, and fertiliser application.

Going forward K tas and Unilever will work on a joint project, co-f nded by the Knorr S stainability Partnership F nd, to roll o t s stainable practices to the remaining smallholders in the Denzili region growing Oregano. Foc s will be on drip irrigation, pest management, soil management and training given thro gh reg lar farmer workshops.

Unilever Proc rement aims to work with o r s ppliers to change the mindset of smallholders highlighting the benefits of s stainable agric l-t re practices that can res lt in improved yields, lower inp t costs and higher incomes when applied effectively.

“Once we are able to prove that o r practices have a significant benefit we believe that we will have a willing gro p of farmers who will try to become part of the f t re development of the project. This first year is critical to establish the s ccess and prove to the farmers that this works!”

Kazim Gurel, President of Kutas

BRAND SPOTLIGHT LEADING THE INDUSTRy

As the first major tea company to so rce tea s stainably on a large scale, we have worked hard to engage farmers and b ild relationships with prod cers. O r efforts have been a catalyst to the ind stry and other tea companies have followed o r lead. The tea ind stry as a whole is now moving to s stainable farming practices. The jo rney began at o r own tea estates in Kenya and Tanzania. These were the first to achieve Rainforest Alliance certification in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

O r s ccess is dependent on changing farming practices among o r tea prod cers. As well as b ying from large estates, we also so rce tea from many h ndreds of tho sands of smallholder farmers aro nd the world. C rrently, aro nd 300,000 small-holders are working to make tea c ltivation more s stainable.

As the largest private b yer of Kenyan smallholder tea, Lipton set p a p blic–private partnership project in 2006 with the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) and other partners to train small-holder farmers in s stainable tea c ltivation.

Click here to watch the KTDA video

B ilding on this work, Unilever is partnering with the S stainable Trade Initiative (IDH) Tea Improvement Project to address bottlenecks in tea prod ction that prevent tea smallholders from implementing s stainable practices. F rther partners incl de Rainforest Alliance, Oxfam and other companies. The project r ns from 2010 to 2013, covering a n mber of co ntries incl ding Kenya, Rwanda, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Together with Rainforest Alliance, the KTDA and IDH, by the end of 2011 we had trained 250,000 Kenyan smallholder tea farmers – aro nd half the total in the co ntry. Nearly 45,000 more have also been trained in Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Indonesia and in a separate initiative in T rkey, Lipton reached another 5,000 smallholders.

To achieve certification, farmers m st adopt s stainable practices and invest in a range of improvements, incl ding protective s its for workers dealing with agrochemicals, wastewater treatment eq ipment and micro hydroelectric schemes.

These improvements can bring benefits to the farmers s ch as increased yields and improved crop q ality.

O r involvement ranges from providing introd ctory training to helping smallholders achieve certifica-tion thro gh g idance and practical advice. In this way we are s pporting the Millenni m Develop-ment Goals for poverty red ction and a s stainable environment.

BRAND SPOTLIGHT MUFINDI - HELPING TO PROTECT A GLOBAL BIODIVERSITy HOT SPOT

The Lipton Tea Estate in so th west Tanzania is formed of over 300 small tea gardens in a mosaic with 12,000 hectares of nat ral forest. The M findi forest has been identified as part of one of the world’s most val able hot spots for biodiversity and is home to many rare species of birds, chameleon, frog, b tterflies, orchids and mistletoe.

The forest is important for the profitability of the estate beca se the trees minimise erosion on steep slopes. They also help maintain the microclimate and water s pply needed by the crop, which is irri-gated d ring the dry season sing harvested rain-water.

The farm and forest are s rro nded by 15 villages with a pop lation of abo t 150,000 people. The forest trees have been severely depleted for firewood and b ilding material.

Tea farmers know how to propagate trees, so it made sense for the Lipton farm to partner with the Tanzanian Forest Conservation Gro p to help villag-es establish tree n rseries and plant trees on their

own farms. These trees, when mat re, will provide s pplies of firewood for cooking and heating, and offer opport nities for agroforestry.

At the heart of the programme are Village Nat ral Reso rce Committees (VNRCs). These train villagers in skills s ch as assessing forest dist rbance and nderstanding ecology. VNCRs also act as a foc s for village experimentation with new stoves and improved cooking methods developed to red ce the amo nt of wood f el sed.

THE CERES PROJECT TAKING THE LEAD IN SUSTAINABLE SUNFLOWER SOURCING

As leaders in the area of S stainability Unilever is seeking to proc re all of its agric lt ral raw materials s stainably by 2020 and Project Ceres is one initiative aimed at achieving this. Ceres, the Roman goddess of Agric lt re, is the name given to a gro nd breaking new so rcing project in So th Africa sing s pplier partnerships to prod ce S stainable S nflower Oil for se in the company’s local margarine b siness.

In the absence of any s itable certifications for s s-tainable S nflower oil, Ceres has adopted the meth-odology of Unilever’s S stainable Agric lt re Code (USAC) to provide farmers with g idelines on how to farm s stainably. Unilever, in partnership with their s pplier, Central Edible Oils (CEOCo) and an enth -siastic gro p of farmers in the province of Limpopo have established a contract farming framework with the aim of growing S nflower seed in a s stainable manner whilst also attempting to improve the har-vested yields thro gh specific hybrid seed selection and good agronomic practices.

D ring the co rse of the 2011/2012 season farmers have worked closely with CEOCo to implement s s-tainable practices on their farms and have nder-gone assessments of those practices to set a base-line and determine progress against it. The progress act ally made has been fantastic across the entire gro p of farmers. With detailed improvement action plans and assistance from CEOCo all is on track for the entire gro p of farmers to be certified as s s-tainable within the very first year of the programme.

News of the project’s s ccess has enticed global Leaders from Unilever’s Proc rement F nction to visit the programme to see the progress for them-selves, visitors incl de the Vice President for Africa and Asia, Vikram Agarwal as well as the Chief Pro-c rement Officer, Marc Engel.

“Project Ceres improves the commercial viability of s nflower oil farming by sing a better seed variety and it also allows s traceability back to farm level,” said Vikram Agarwal on his visit to the farms. So th Africa is act ally leading in this space, it is the first co ntry in the world that will prod ce s stainably so rced S nflower Oil,” said Marc Engel after to r-ing the Limpopo farms.

Looking ahead to the f t re of the project Ashton Eastman, Regional Proc rement Manager, Com-modities adds: “With the first year almost behind s and a great level of progress made, we now need to cement in o r s stainability achievements and look to the expansion of the programme in other areas of the co ntry.”

The Ceres Project Team incl des:

Amit Cho dh ry, So th African Proc rement Director; Ashton Eastman, Africa Commodities Manager and Project Leader; Peter Lovelace, MD CEOCo; Peter Swanepoel, Ops Director CEOCo

CARGILL SUMMIT FOCUSING ON SUSTAINABILITy

Recently, Unilever and Cargill came together to disc ss a topic that is critical to the long-term s ccess of both companies: s stainability. Key members from o r proc rement, R & D and marketing teams visited Cargill’s headq arters in Minneapolis for a fo r-day event aimed at finding pragmatic sol tions to the complex challenges of s stainable agric lt re.

Unilever’s S stainable Living Plan addresses how we aim to grow in size while protecting the envi-ronment and making a positive impact on society. Cargill is also committed to responsible so rcing and environmental stewardship as they strive to be the global leader in feeding people.

“We freq ently invite c stomers to visit Cargill to talk abo t new projects, b t rarely do we host an event on a topic as h ge as s stainability,” said Pat Bowe, Exec tive Vice President and Food Ingredients & Systems (FIS) platform leader. “Unilever is a tr e leader in this area, and we have a lot we can learn from each other.”

Learning was at the centre of the s mmit, which kicked off with two-day “Learning Jo rneys” across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin and Iowa. There were more than 75 participants, incl ding farmers, representatives from other Cargill c stomers s ch as General Mills, as well as from NGO partners like Rainforest Alliance, WWF and The Nat re Conserv-ancy (TNC).

TNC Director of Agric lt re David Cleary was part of the Learning Jo rney gro p that visited General Mills’ Agric lt re Research Facility in Le S e r, Min-nesota. There, the gro p saw how General Mills is minimising the amo nt of land needed to grow corn for its Green Giant® brand, as well as an innovative oat breeding programme and a bee habitat.

“This is exactly what TNC likes to see,” David said of the collaborative approach of the s mmit. “The bet-ter we can all nderstand each other, the more likely we are to find practical sol tions.”

“Cargill is a great partner,” said Dirk Jan de With, Vice President Ingredients and S stainability. “We know we can’t reach o r goals on o r own; we need ind stry and non-governmental organisation (NGO) partners. This s mmit is abo t exploring new joint b siness opport nities thro gh a tangible plan to accelerate o r s stainable so rcing commitments.”

As a res lt of the week together Cargill and Unilever made a joint commitment to accelerate the imple-mentation for eight commodity crops.

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE METRICS WHAT ARE THEy ALL ABOUT?

One of the q estions we are often asked is how we can tell whether o r s stainable agric lt re programme act ally makes a difference ‘on the gro nd’. The data that yo and yo r farmers provide thro gh o r s stainable agric lt re metrics enables s to demonstrate the tangible benefits of yo r work.

THEMETRICS&WHAT THEMETRICS REPORTCANSHOWyOU

We collect data to enable the calc lation of the fol-lowing metrics:

1. More with Less – the area of land potentially saved from c ltivation by improving yield

2. Biodiversity – the area of nat ral habitat protect-ed and/or improved for biodiversity

3. Soil Health – the area of land nder s stainable soil management

4. Livelihoods – the n mber of farmers and farm workers who benefit from a decent wage

5. Nitrogen Balance – kg Nitrogen from fertiliser lost to the environment

6. Water Use – vol me of water sed both directly (irrigation etc.) and indirectly (to dil te poll -tion)

7. Chemical Use – chemicals applied in each World Health Organisation (WHO) class

8. Greenho se Gas footprint – kg CO2 eq ivalents prod ced by farming operations

Each metric can be calc lated either by vol me (i.e. per tonne raw material prod ced) or by area (i.e. per hectare land sed) and can be shown in either metric or imperial nits.

By collecting data over a n mber of years we hope to show improvements over time (i.e. an increase in the n mber for metrics 1-4 and a red ction in the n mber for metrics 5-8) as a res lt of implement-ing s stainable practices. It’s o r way of showing the impact that yo r hard work is really having.

We can look at the metrics at vario s levels: by s pplier, individ al farm, geographical region, raw material etc. and see where improvements are greatest. S ppliers can also look at their perform-ance, and that of their farmers, to see the impact their s stainability work is having.

Metrics reports at both s pplier and farmer level can be fo nd on the Q ickfire reporting site. In the f t re we hope to add the ability to prod ce graphs to show change over time. Please contact M ddy Boots (details can be fo nd on the back page of this magazine) if yo want to know more abo t accessing and sing metrics data.

BIODIVERSITY TAKE A CLOSER LOOK

We nderstand from the farmer assessments we have received from yo that one of the hardest topics to address in o r S stainable Agric lt re Code is often on farm biodiversity.

Knowing this we have p t together a short broch re that talks yo thro gh what biodiversity is, why it’s so important to Unilever and what role yo r farmers play as c stodians of land. Yo can download yo r copy by clicking here.

SPECIAL FEATURE FROM SOURCING TO SUSTAINABLE SOURCING

Ansh Dy tiraj is the Proc rement Manager - Fr its and Spices, responsible for so rcing fr its and spices for Unilever globally as the portfolio lead.

WHAT IS yOURKEyPRIORITy?

This year we are aiming to b y 10% of o r vol mes from s stainable so rces. Next year o r aim is to achieve 40%, followed by 80% in 2014 and reach o r 100% target in 2015. So far we are on target and are foc sing o r efforts on working with Control Union to design and implement field training programmes for s ppliers and their farmers.

HOWHAS THEROLECHANGED?

Unilever’s priority on s stainability means we have to make a step change in the depth of engagement we have with s ppliers. This is beca se SAC compliance thro gh Q ickfire demands not only traceability to fields b t also req ires improvement plans, related doc mentation and a dits. This means we have to work very closely to help o r strategic s ppliers meet these req irements as soon as possible.

Internally the new organisation is very aligned. We work closely alongside the Proc rement Operation S stainable So rcing team. This ens res one way of working with speed and learnings across geogra-phies and categories.

We also need to look at creating a new framework which connects farmers to the cons mers. At one end we are investing in the f t re of s stainable farming and at another end identifying and elimi-nating costs which offer no cons mer benefit to ens re a val e proposition.

WHATARE THECHALLENGES?

The fr its processing ind stry holds a very small share of the fr it market – which is primarily for fresh fr it. So we need to look for fields that can be segregated or create a commercial case for SAC adaptation beyond Unilever req irements.

We are so rcing more than 30 varieties of fr its and most of them have a short harvest season. Fr it growing areas are geographically distrib ted and in most cases not even connected. This m ltiplies the n mber of markets, s ppliers and fields from where o r fr it comes from. Rolling o t the req ire-ments of the SAC to farmers req ires the tracking of practices in a large n mber of small to medi m size fields.

We need to p ll forward o r engagement with s p-pliers and farmers from the end of the season to the beginning of the season to sec re s stainable s pplies in season. This b ilds on relationship at one end b t we will also need to define contingency for crop fail re closer to harvest time as well as on-going innovations in the s stainability jo rney.

WHATDOES THISMEANFORSUPPLIERS?

These are new challenges and we are keen to work with s ppliers to create cons mer relevant sol tions. We see the need for the proactive participation of s ppliers in innovation to s pport category growth plans. Consolidation of b siness with aligned s ppliers offers an opport nity to grow b siness even faster than Unilever’s growth by increasing share in o r b siness. We are open to facilitating o r key s ppliers eval ating investment in high growth geographies.

“To facilitate a q icker roll o t of s stainability we will sim ltaneo sly work on red cing complexity in specifications of raw material that we b y and aggregate b siness to create scale wherever possible.”

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