Sustainable agriculture guidelines
Our guidelines track progress against 11 sustainable agriculture indicators, including water, energy, pesticide use, biodiversity and social capital.
We subsequently extended our programme to include olives, sunflowers, gherkins, oilseed rape and dairy products which are key ingredients in brands such as Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Amora gherkins, Bertolli olive oil, our Hellmann’s range of mayonnaises and Flora/Becel margarines.
Measuring change in agriculture can be a slow process, due to the length of growing cycles, but we are making progress. For instance, in 2006, approximately 90% of our contract-grown tomatoes (which we estimate account for around 75% of our total requirements) met our sustainable agriculture guidelines.
Other developments in 2006 included:
- gherkins: we have been working with thousands of small farmers in India on a programme that has decreased pesticide use by 90%. Through training and knowledge-sharing, product quality has also improved and yields have increased by 78%;
- oilseed rape: we defined Good Agricultural Practice Guidelines, for publication in 2007;
- sunflowers: we are now close to initiating a programme for sustainable sunflower cultivation;
- olives: we brought together stakeholders for the first time in Cordoba, Spain, to discuss sustainability in olive farming;
- milk: we are continuing our work on sustainable dairy farming (see below).
Unilever's share of world crops
Note: The sale of most of our European frozen foods business has reduced our share of world volume in peas and spinach.
Towards sustainability
Our approach is to work initially with the growers we can influence most directly, namely those on our own plantations and 'contract growers' from whom we purchase directly. Then we extend to third-party growers, whose crops reach us via an intricate network of suppliers. We work with them on the adoption of our sustainable agriculture protocol for the crops they sell us.
Engaging with all our suppliers, farmers and factories has been the focus of much of our activity in 2006. While we want to move towards a position where in the future we will be able to source all our agricultural raw materials from sustainable sources, this is a complex process dependent on many thousands of individuals. For example, we estimate that around 450 000 small tea producers and over a million tea pluckers are involved in producing the black leaf tea that we sell in Western Europe alone.
The challenge is not only in terms of the size and scale of the task and the resources needed on our side, but also in educating and convincing farmers of the benefits of sustainable practices. Furthermore, the unpredictable nature of growing crops means it is rarely possible to guarantee a totally sustainable source.
In Germany, Unilever has worked with UFOP, an independent association that promotes the development of oilseeds and protein crops; the university at Halle; and farmers to develop and publish guidelines for the sustainable management of winter oilseed rape.
Tea sustainability
Our global leadership position in the tea industry gives us the opportunity to make a real difference in sustainable tea growing. In 2002 we published our sustainable agriculture guidelines for tea cultivation. Since then we have communicated them to over two-thirds of our suppliers globally. Around two-thirds of our total global tea purchases come from suppliers who either meet our guidelines or are fully engaged in our tea sustainability programme.
Smallholder farmers are an important group of suppliers for us, but due to their number and size, can be difficult to communicate with. In 2006, we entered into a partnership with the UK's Department for International Development and the Kenya Tea Development Agency to roll out a programme to communicate our tea sustainability guidelines to 450 000 smallholder farmers in Kenya.
Despite the progress we have made over the years, we have not communicated this work directly to our consumers. We are now exploring the possibilities of external certification for our teas. The Rainforest Alliance, an independent NGO, is in the process of developing an independent standard for sustainable tea production, with input from key stakeholders. Once it has completed this process, we will explore the possibility of the Rainforest Alliance certifying some of our tea supplies.
Ben & Jerry's Caring Dairy initiative
Ben & Jerry's promotes sustainable practices in dairy farming through its Caring Dairy programme in Europe and the Dairy Stewardship Alliance in Vermont, USA.
The Dairy Stewardship Alliance has developed a self-assessment toolkit which was used by 24 Vermont farmers in 2006. The Caring Dairy programme developed individual improvement plans for all participating farmers. To make the link to consumers, Ben & Jerry's launched a website on sustainable dairy farming which also allows farmers to tell their story (see related links).
Working in partnership
We are founding members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, created to promote the production, procurement and use of sustainable palm oil. In 2006 it began piloting agreed Principles and Criteria for sustainable production. Since smallholders can account for significant proportions of palm production – 30% in Indonesia and 90% in Nigeria, for example – we participated in the new Smallholder Task Force to discuss their needs.
We are also members of the Roundtable on Responsible Soy, which seeks to establish agreed Principles and Criteria for responsible soya production. After thorough deliberation, in 2006 participants agreed on the key sustainability issues linked to soya production. They also agreed to formalise the Roundtable as a permanent organisation.
