Agriculture jumps on the sustainability bandwagon

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

In agriculture, an expanded notion of sustainability has spurred the growth of related niche markets, fostered new uses for field crops and created a potential new commodity – energy crops. And certification is becoming a necessary step along the way

by MARY BAXTER

Claude Ouimet strides across the auditorium stage and points to a tiny speck in a cloud-like image on a screen that stretches lengthwise, maybe 12 feet. That's Earth, the senior vice-president and general manager of Interface Canada and Latin America tells his audience in an earnest, almost preacherly tone.

"This planet cannot be extended; it cannot expand," he says. "And it seems that we are taking so much resources out of our planet that we're not going to leave anything behind for future generations."

Later on, during his presentation at the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario's annual meeting in February in London, the manufacturing executive would refer to people such as Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi and Ruby Bridges as he spoke about how individual and collective efforts can transform society and, in particular, how Interface's founder, Ray Anderson, inspired his company to reduce its environmental footprint dramatically.

Publicly-owned Interface Inc., based in Atlanta, manufactures carpet tile and takes its environmental commitment so seriously it has pledged to eliminate its negative impacts on the environment by 2020. So far, the company has achieved 64 per cent of its goal through initiatives such as using recycled carpet and fishermen's nets and conducting life cycle greenhouse gas audits – an analysis of the amount of natural resources used to make its products. Since 1995, when the environmental conservation program began, it has saved $550 million "because we did the right thing," Ouimet says.

The company is certainly not alone in its missionary zeal to make the world a better place. Businesses and governments everywhere are jumping on the sustainability bandwagon, which often involves not only pledges to reduce reliance on non-renewable natural resources but also commitments to conservation, health and safety measures as well as human and animal welfare standards.

In agriculture, this contemporary notion of sustainability has spurred the growth of related niche markets, fostered new uses for field crops and created a potential new commodity – energy crops. But it hasn't really affected production approaches to large-scale crop commodities. That is changing.

Many of Canada's canola producers now obtain sustainability certification to ensure their product can be sold into the European market as feedstock for biofuels. Dennis Rogoza, a sustainability advisor to the Canola Council of Canada, says the certification complies with the European Union's Renewable Energy Directive to reduce carbon use by adopting biofuels.

The directive's regulations took effect in 2010 and require, among other things, the EU's transport sector to derive 10 per cent of its fuel from renewable content by 2020. It also requires the feedstock and fuel to meet standards for: crop land clearance; water, soil and air protection; and health, safety and labour conditions.

Rogoza describes the directive's approach as a "chain of custody" – applying criteria throughout the production chain. Approved third-party organizations issue conformance certification. (Canada's canola industry uses the ISCC – International Sustainability and Carbon Certification system.) To obtain its certification, the canola crushing facility in Lloydminster, Alta., owned by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), for example, had to have a sampling of the farmers supplying the plant audited.

The auditors "actually physically go to the farm and they have a large checklist," Rogoza says. The audit may take several hours, although there is no product inspection or testing. "They're looking for records and information," he explains. The entire supply chain's record-keeping is also scrutinized before the certificate is issued.

To date, every grower in Canada that has been audited has obtained certification, he says.

Two years ago, the Canadian canola industry began working with the federal government to meet U.S. requirements so Canadian-grown canola could supply American biodiesel manufacturing plants.

In the United States, producers who follow the laws that govern agriculture are considered sustainable when it comes to biodiversity and pesticide management, so no special certification of these is required. But in 2010 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) brought in other qualifying conditions for renewable fuel feedstock. Key is that countries wanting to export biodiesel feedstocks to the United States must demonstrate the land capacity to grow the crops without affecting land used for food crops.

The Canadian federal government petitioned the EPA and in September, 2011 the U.S. agency approved all Canadian feedstock, including planted crops and crop residue, for use in biofuel production.

Canada is also among 31 countries working on ISO (International Organization for Standardization) sustainability criteria for bioenergy. "It's probably a few years away from being completed," says Greg Northey, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture's director of environment policy and a member of the Canadian committee that's involved in developing a draft standard. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Environment Canada and the forestry industry are among other members of the committee.

The effort was launched in 2010 with the goal of addressing "the social, economic and environmental aspects of the production, supply chain and use of bioenergy, and identify criteria that could prevent it from being environmentally destructive or socially aggressive," according to an ISO news release.

If the standard is successfully established, it is likely to offer a "menu" approach that emphasizes the process recommended for the on-farm components, says Northey. A biomass manufacturer, for example, "would go to the farmer or the forestry company with this standard" and use it "like a checklist." Items to check off might include whether there are plans to protect water sources or manage manure, any conservation efforts and whether integrated pest management is used.

A prescriptive approach is unlikely. "If this is being used all around the world, you can't write in really prescriptive rules about what would be most sustainable," Northey explains.

Sections in the proposed standard range from water and biodiversity to greenhouse gas emissions and food security. "For an ISO standard, it's probably the most advanced" in terms of agriculture. "There's not a lot of other ISO standards specifically where they're actually looking at what's happening on the farm."

The Round Table on Responsible Soy Association, an international organization established in 2006, has also launched a global standard for responsible soybean production. The association has 150 members. Many are producers or the organizations that represent them.

The majority of the members come from South America, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and India. There are no members from Canada and only seven from the United States. However, there are industrial members with a Canadian presence such as ADM, Bayer CropScience, Bunge, Cargill, Dow AgroSciences LLC, Monsanto, Nutreco and Syngenta. There are also plenty of food retailers represented, including France's Carrefour Group retail chain, CBL, a Dutch food retail association, and the U.K.'s Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc as well as Marks & Spencer Group Plc.

The Association launched its standard in 2010. It addresses business practices, labour conditions, community relations, the environment and agricultural practices. According to its website, the first third-party certification under the standard was awarded in 2011 to producers in South America, and the soy was sold to the European market in June 2011.

Unilever, the European food and personal products giant, is one of the Association's members and, like Interface, the multinational has adopted an aggressive approach to sustainability. According to its website, Unilever maintains more than 400 brands, such as Lipton, Knorr, Dove, Axe and Hellmann's. The company estimates it buys about one per cent of the world's soy and two per cent each of the world's supply of rapeseed (canola) and sunflower oil. Among the 50 targets of its sustainable living plan is a pledge to source all of its agricultural materials sustainably by 2020.

These companies' presence at the round table begs the question of whether farmers will end up jumping through hoops trying to satisfy corporate expectations of sustainability. Rogoza downplays what he terms "the spectre" of having to comply with an increasing number of sustainability certification systems. "Can you imagine a farmer having 10 or 20 or 30 different auditors come to their farm?" he asks. "This is not going to happen."

A more likely scenario, he predicts, is the development of cross-compliance. For example, ISCC has been establishing cross-compliance certification with Unilever, which means that the canola supply chain in Canada could supply the company without meeting additional criteria.

Rogoza says he's heard farmers express concerns about being shut out of markets and experiencing added costs. He stresses that it's important for the industry to be prepared to adapt to certification, but points out that the foray into canola certification has revealed that, if growers follow good practices, they don't need to incur additional costs. "The early indicator is that Canadian farmers are in pretty good shape."

Northey predicts that the rise of sustainability certification of commodity crops will be more about eliminating trade barriers than obtaining premiums for production. He likens the certification to phytosanitary rules (rules for imports to protect a country's plant and animal health) that exporters must obey to sell their products in other country's markets.

Developing an ISO standard can be a very long and uncertain process, he adds. "There's always the worry that it won't happen." Even if the ISO standard fails, "the value of its development, the rigour that's being put into developing indicators and criteria" could be applied to regular agriculture processes.

Rogoza also emphasizes that sustainability certification is still very much in flux. New changes create challenges for the industry. For example, the EU is proposing to add indirect land use conditions to the renewable energy directive as well as cap how much oilseed can be used to make biofuels and apply a greenhouse gas reduction rating "deduction" to oilseed feedstocks.

Nevertheless, he maintains Canadian canola remains competitive in this new world of certification. Its greenhouse gas reduction number is "probably twice as good as European rapeseed because of growing conditions here and so on," he says. "We think there will be a market; how big it is, that's where the question mark is." BF