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Sustainable Agriculture Standard - Rainforest Alliance
Summary

The Rainforest Alliance works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behaviour. The Rainforest Alliance focuses on (small-scale) farmers involved in agriculture, forestry or tourism. Their standards focus on environmental as well as social issues to be taken into account by farmers.
Objective  Is the focus of the standard on economic, social, environmental, food safety or organic issues?
 Social-economic & environmental:
Sustainable agriculture & improvement of the living conditions of farmers/workers.
Protection of environment and development of local communities.
Wildlife conservation.
Why?  Who is asking you to use this system? Is it a market requirement or a voluntary system?
 Voluntary system focussed on agricultural operations of farms.
Scope of the standard  What kind of processes within your organisation/company should be changed according to the standard’s criteria? Most systems look at the production process, and/or look at the processing of the produce. Some systems look at organisational processes as well, e.g. if democratic structures are in place, how support departments are organized (HRM/financial), if internal control systems are in place, if ILO labour conditions are implemented, etcetera. Additionally the processes of your suppliers or service provider can be part of the standards’ scope as well. This means that you are responsible for the sustainability of their (or part of their) actions as well.
organisational processes Y: focus is on how farms are managed
(on-farm) production Y
processing Y: only if processing takes place on farm
supplier/service provider Suppliers/actors in the buying supply chain need to show transaction certificates (full traceability) through our online marketplace system, so we can trace product back to origin.
Who can apply?  Not every code or standard can be used by every actor within the supply chain. Some are just targeted to a specific group within the chain, others focus on the complete chain. You can think of the following parties: producers/producer group, processor, exporter/trader, importer, retailer.  
producers/producer groups Y: from small farmers to large plantations
processor N: only registered to be licensed users/traders by meand of a legal contract with RA (free)
exporter/trader N: only registered to be licensed users/traders by meand of a legal contract with RA (free)
importer N: only registered to be licensed users/traders by meand of a legal contract with RA (free)
retail N: only registered to be licensed users/traders by meand of a legal contract with RA (free)
Products  Most systems focus on specific products, product groups or sectors. Please look carefully if you produce falls under the scope of the standard.
 Coffee, Cocoa, Cupuacu, plantain, passion fruit, pineapple, guava, tea, rubber, bananas, avocado, heart of palm, mango, flowers and ferns, citrus, macadamia, vanilla.
Markets  Although most systems are used worldwide, they often have their origin or focus in a specific country or region. Some countries/regions prefer a certain code or standard.
 Worldwide, but mainly USA, Europe,Japan and Australia.
Benefits  A very legitimate question is what this specific certification means to you. Does it provide you access to markets, or even to niche markets? Does it guarantee a better price, or maybe even a premium on top of a minimum price? Does it create better access to support services?  
market access Y
access to niche market Y
premium Y: ability to negotiate price premium
other Y: more access to credit facilities, schools, transportation, healthcare and training.
Support services  To be able to comply with the requirements of such systems, you may need some support. Various experts in the field of certification are available and can give this (paid/free) support. Technical assistance
Organisational development of farms
Support in finding markets however do not interfere in price setting.
Adaptations/investments   - Environmental requirements: has to comply with IPM model, restrictions on use of pesticides & agrochemicals, waste management.
- Compliance with labour, health and safety standards.
- Policies for ecosystem conservation in place.
- Wildlife protection measures.
- Maximize community relations.
Costs & Time  Working with these certification systems and implementing the necessary steps is often not an easy task. You have to be aware of the many implications and adaptations you may have to make. This section gives some examples of the kind of investments you to have to think of. Farmers pay a per diem & travel expenses for Technicians and auditors
Annual certification fee based on the size of the farm.
Possibility to share part of the costs with funding agencies.
System characteristics  In this section you will find a link to the standard itself and some main points of attention.
 The standard structure consists of 10 principles. Each principle is made up of criteria that describe best practices for social and environmental management and are evaluated by the certification process. Audit team scores farm performence according to all 10 criteria. The farms must comply with at least 50% of each principle's criteria and with 80% of all criteria. The scoring system guides and encourges farmers to make continous improvements.
Rainforest Alliance is the international secretary of Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) and the certification body . SAN develops the Standards.
Each member of the SAN provides certification services for farmers and agricultural companies in their respective countries, while offering knowledge and experience in wokring towards the development of the Sustainable Agriculture standards.
SAN uses the Rainforest Alliance-certified seal Focus is on how farms are managed:managed by local groups understanding the ecology and culture.
For the various standards click here
Verification    
internal inspection Y
external inspection - Preliminary visit of SAN experts to determine necessary changes.
- Annual audit by local auditors
- Evaluation report of the certification committee is assessed
- A contract governs& monitored the use of the label, the handling of certified products and marketplace promotion.
Type of label  One of ways to show that a product complies with a specific standard is to label it. Some codes or standards do not use a label at all. Nevertheless, most choose to carry a Business to Business (B2B) or a Consumer label.
 Rainforest Alliance is also the name of the consumer label
Who's behind it?  What is the origin of the standard, and who has initiated the idea? Who is the owner of the certification system?
 The Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) is a coalition of non-profit, independent conservationist organizations. Rainforest Alliance is the SAN Secretariat and administers the certification system.
Trends  The trend section is mainly based on future perspectives of the standard. Are they going to expand to other products, other markets? Is there increasing interest from markets for this specific certification? What can you expect in the coming period?
 Rainforest Alliance is awarded with the ISEAL code of good practice for setting environmental and social standards. New (food) standards in 2008 will cover 100 crops.
To be implemented in the near future: Company chain of custody audits especially for cocoa processing
Contact Joke Aerts
  website Rainforest Alliance
   
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