Bunge and Field to Market partner on farming transparency

25 Jun 2019 --- Bunge Centerfield, a partnership between growers, food companies and Bunge, is integrating the sustainability metrics of Fieldprint Platform. The platform, developed by Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture (Field to Market), will allow farmers to directly view sustainability measures, as well as letting downstream customers access aggregated data, thus increasing supply chain transparency. Bunge is the first grain and oilseed processor to integrate these outcome-based metrics onto its platform, the company says.

“With this integration, Bunge becomes the sixth of Field to Market’s qualified data management partners. Increased availability of our common measurement framework across platforms is good for the entire value chain, giving farmers greater choice in how they assess their sustainability performance, and streamlining how their downstream customers access and report on sustainability data,” Rod Snyder, President, Field to Market, tells NutritionInsight.

Farm-level data is collected by Bunge Centerfield and is used to promote transparency in the supply chain, as well as sustainable agriculture. The information is then accessible to participating growers and food consumers. The integrated platform, which uses Field to Market’s multi-stakeholder, consensus-driven approach, allows farmers to compare their sustainability performances against regional, state and national benchmarks for key environmental indicators. Field to Market’s common measurement framework of eight key sustainability indicators available to US farmers are also being used.

“The combination of the Fieldprint Platform’s sustainability metrics with Centerfield offers farmers a powerful tool for managing and advancing their stewardship and conservation efforts,” continues Snyder. “By using the industry’s most widely accepted sustainability measurement framework, Bunge further advances Field to Market’s efforts to unite the value chain to deliver sustainable outcomes for agriculture.”

“Centerfield’s partnership with Field to Market helps us further this commitment [to advancing responsible agriculture] by facilitating greater transparency and stronger connectivity from farm to fork,” says Megan Weidner, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at Bunge in North America. “By integrating Field to Market’s outcomes-based sustainability metrics into Centerfield, we offer farmers a simpler, streamlined approach to analyze and share their sustainability performance.”

Field to Market, of which Bunge is a founding member, is comprised of over 140 members who represent facets of the US agricultural supply chain. It aims to define, measure, and advance the sustainability of food, fiber and fuel production, and includes a diverse group of grower organizations; agribusinesses; food, beverage, restaurant and retail companies; conservation groups; universities and public sector partners.

“Consumers are increasingly asking questions about where and how their food is grown, so it’s important that farmers are equipped to communicate their sustainability story down the supply chain. The combination of the Fieldprint Platform's sustainability metrics with tools like Bunge Centerfield offers farmers a powerful platform for managing and advancing their stewardship and conservation efforts,” concludes Snyder.

Last week, Barry Callebaut and Unilever became the first companies to use a harmonized approach to streamline sustainability assessments, when they piloted the Field to Market/Sustainable Agriculture Initiative’s (SAI) Equivalency Module with US farmers. Both companies are helping Field to Market and SAI Platform to test the implementation of the joint Equivalency Module. This allows farmers using “Field to Market’s Fieldprint Platform” to fulfill the requirements of SAI Platform’s Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) through the completion of a 15-question module.

Sustainability awareness is more critical than ever, with UNESCO’s recent announcement that the loss of biodiversity will pose significant challenges to the global food industry. The report stated that current efforts to conserve the earth’s resources will likely fail without radical action, making the Fieldprint platform all the more salient.

By Katherine Durrell