Sustainable Agriculture Network (https://www.sustainableagriculture.eco) and Fundación Global Nature have been working together with Nestlé on their Sustainable Sourcing Program for Vegetables, to ensure the respect of ethical standards and reduce the impact of agricultural practices on the environment within Nestlé’s vegetables supply chain.
Helping conserve and restore biodiversity within the farms is one of the program’s main goals, which is becoming a promising reality in some countries.
Project implementation includes the design of ecological infrastructures such as tree-lines and flower strips to attract pollinators, the installation of equipment to monitor weather conditions and control pest infestations, and the conduction of soil and plant tissue analysis to improve fertilisation management and avoid the overuse of synthetic fertilisers.
The Sustainable Sourcing Program has three pillars: Traceability, Compliance, and Creating Shared Value. The first two pillars are at the core of the program. They are directly related to the mapping of the supply chain for improving transparency of the product origins, and the compliance with responsible sourcing standards.
The third pillar (Creating Shared Value-CSV) works with suppliers that voluntarily chose to go beyond traceability and compliance, and are interested in collaborating with Nestlé to reduce the environmental impact of the farming base. Within this pillar, biodiversity conservation and restoration is one of the core principles guiding the implementation of improvement actions at farm level.
Regional projects within the CSV pillar have started since 2018 in Badajoz (Spain), Emilia Romagna (Italy), Laon (France), and Lüchow (Germany), and as for 2020, involve eight different companies that supply tomatoes, bell peppers, onions and carrots to Nestlé.
Sodeleg, a Nestlé onion supplier in France and Steriltom, a tomato supplier in Italy are participating in the CSV pillar of the Program since 2018.
In 2019, the Sustainable Sourcing Program covered nine vegetables (tomatoes, carrots, bell peppers, spinach, horseradish, potatoes, garlic, chickpeas, and onions) sourced through 66 suppliers. With each year, new vegetables and geographies will be added into the scope to expand the program’s reach, enabling it to come closer to SAN’s goals.
