In India companies like Lipton, Costa, Typhoo Tea are all Rainforest Alliance certified. Products with the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal (#FollowThe Frog) are grown and harvested on farms and forests that follow sustainable practices. Are you a farmer interested in getting Rainforest Alliance certified? Wondering what’s involved? Here’s a simple guide to the steps in the process.
1. Prepare for your farm’s certification audit
To be certified, your farm will need an audit. The first step is to prepare for the audit. Review and make sure you comply with all the requirements of the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard. Be sure to review all the supporting rules and policies. To help, the Rainforest Alliance offers online training to guide you. In some countries, we also have experts on the ground that can help. Contact your local representative or trainer to get started.
2. Find an authorised Rainforest Alliance certification body
When you are ready, the next step to get your farm Rainforest Alliance Certified is to contact an authorized certification body in your area. (https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/business/sustainable-farming/farm-certification/find-a-rainforest-alliance-authorized-certification-bodies/) This certification body will audit your farm. This audit will determine if you are complying with the Rainforest Alliance’s Sustainable Agriculture Standard.
Farmers are responsible for paying for the audit. And audit costs can vary greatly and depend in part on the size of the farm, its geographic location, and its complexity. For example, a farm that just produces a crop is simpler than a farm that produces, processes, and packs that same crop. Please contact the certification body of your choice for a price quote.
3. Host your farm audit
Once you’ve chosen a certification body, its auditors will schedule a visit to your farm. During this visit, they will conduct field audits and make sure you are following the Sustainable Agriculture Standard.
After your audit, the certifying body will let you know if your farm meets all of the requirements of the standard. If you pass, great. You are ready for the next step. But if you don’t pass the first time, don’t worry. Your auditor will give you feedback on what needs improvement. Then, you can try again.
4. Sell your Rainforest Alliance Certified crop
Once you have successfully passed your farm audit, you’ve done it! You can now sell your crop as Rainforest Alliance Certified. If you would like to also sell products with the Rainforest Alliance name or seal, please register your products in the Rainforest Alliance Certified Marketplace. This is the traceability and trademark portal (https://marketplace.ra.org/). Any farm selling Rainforest Alliance Certified products needs to sign a licensing agreement in the Marketplace.
That’s it. Congratulations! You now have access to new markets.
Does Rainforest Alliance Certification Guarantee a Minimum Price for Certified Crops?
Rainforest Alliance certification does not guarantee a minimum price for certified crops.
Pricing is definitely an important part of certification, and while Rainforest Alliance Certified farms often generate higher prices for their crops, a system that focuses primarily on pricing disregards other critical elements that influence whether or not farmers can lift themselves out of poverty. For example, price-based systems depend on the willingness of buyers to pay a fixed minimum price for a certified product, but this approach is of little use to farmers who are not lucky enough to have such customers.
Rather than emphasising price, the Alliance’s approach is holistic and focuses on helping farmers grow their businesses and become more profitable and resilient through training in farm management and financial literacy as well as market access. A farmer’s success depends on crop quality, productivity, and efficiency as well as sales price, which is why all of these areas are addressed. Rainforest Alliance supports farmers in increasing their incomes and conserving their soils and natural resources, all of which empowers them to become better business people and gives them more control over their futures.
A requirement for additional cash payments for certified crops is an important facet of the 2020 Certification Program. The new program requires buyers to pay a Sustainability Differential, a mandatory additional cash payment to certified farms over and above the market price; this payment is designed to be completely free of restrictions or requirements on how it is used.
In addition, the Alliance is introducing a Sustainable Investment requirement for buyers, who must make cash and in-kind investments to farmers based on the needs identified in their own investment plans. This investment is critical not just for the implementation of the certification scheme, but for ongoing sustainability improvements. It also centers the expertise and voices of farmers in its ongoing effort to build a more equitable supply chain.
Cocoa: minimum Sustainability Differential
The requirements for the cocoa program are designed to address the structural inequalities in the cocoa sector, persistently low incomes, and the challenges farmers face in negotiating prices in an extremely price-sensitive environment. Under the cocoa program Rainforest Allaince will be introducing a minimum Sustainability Differential at US$ 70 per MT as of July 2022.
Source: rainforest-alliance.org
