Sustainable production of fruit and vegetables

Consumers are increasingly inquiring about the ecological and social conditions under which their food is produced. Moreover, the focus is no longer on the quality alone. The availability of high quality food is also assuming greater importance. There is a trend to the more sustainable production of food, particularly in the case of fresh fruit and vegetables. But what does “sustainable production” actually mean?

Together with the REWE Group, BASF is developing a concept for the sustainable production of selected fruit and vegetable varieties

BASF Crop Protection has been one of the partners of the “Best Alliance” initiative for sustainable contract cultivation. The REWE Group set up the project in order to shape the procurement and cultivation of fruit and vegetables more responsibly. The “Alliance of the Best” is based on close cooperation with partners from agriculture, service providers, manufacturers of crop protection active ingredients and agricultural advisory services as well as with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as independent competence partners.

This successful cooperation is now being extended: With the joint development of a concept for the sustainable production of selected fruit and vegetable varieties, BASF’s sustainability experts are supporting the REWE Group in implementing a sustainable procurement strategy within the “Best Alliance” brand.

In order for consumers and other interest groups to better understand what is meant by the sustainability of the products, it is necessary to establish clearly defined criteria and standards.

The requirements regarding fruit and vegetables of the “Best Alliance” brand involve three areas: The optimized use of crop protection active ingredients and adherence to defined environmental and social standards. For a product to be able to bear the “Best Alliance” brand in the long term, it is essential that there is a continuous improvement in all three fields.

Eco-efficiency analysis for assessing sustainability

Apart from the defined basic criteria, investigations are being carried out to determine how the eco-efficiency analysis can be used in future as a central control tool in connection with “Best Alliance”. By identifying the adjusting lever for sustainability and permanent optimizations together with the producers and the supply chain, an improvement process is being installed that at the same time involves the verticalization of REWE’s procurement chains in the case of fruit and vegetables in the form of contract cultivation. “A clear commitment to sustainable production within the “Best Alliance” brand is an important and consistent step for REWE. It is crucial to implement more comprehensible criteria in the sense of ecological and social responsibility”, says Guido Siebenmorgen, head of the strategic purchasing of food in the REWE Group.

The method developed by BASF and certified by the German Technical Inspection Organization (TÜV) assesses the economic and ecological effects over the whole life cycle. It identifies the crucial adjusting levers for improving a product’s sustainability along the value adding chain. In this way, all participants in the procurement chain are involved in the improvement process. Similar products or processes can be compared using the eco-efficiency analysis. “Only if all the influences are taken into account in their entirety, can the best balance be found between the requirements of industry, society and the environment”, says Klaus Welsch, Vice President for BASF’s Crop Protection business in Europe

Under the motto “Living Food Quality Together”, BASF is continuing to extend its partnerships with the food value chains in various countries and crops.

Sustainability in BASF’s customer relations

The issue of sustainability is playing an important role for more and more customers. Therefore, in connection with the Success initiative – added value through sustainability – BASF supports customers in implementing sustainability in their business processes. Thanks to its many years of experience, BASF is in a good position regarding the sustainability issue: Only at the beginning of September was BASF chosen as the top chemical company in the most important sustainability index in the world, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI World). For example, the climate strategy, environmental and social reporting and the development of innovative and eco-efficient products were the decisive factors for this distinction. In the DJSI World, of the 2500 companies of the Dow Jones Global Index, the leading ten percent of each sector are listed in the area of sustainability.