KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Sustainability was the buzzword at the 2013 Commodity Classic conference.
It cropped up in many of the speeches, news conferences and presentations at the annual gathering of U.S. corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum growers.
Customers are increasingly curious about how the food they’re eating was produced, especially those in the European Union.
That has groups such as the American Soybean Association attempting to prove to buyers that they are sustainable crop producers.
To that end, the ASA has developed the Soy Sustainability Assurance Protocol in conjunction with the United Soybean Board and the U.S. Soybean Export Council.
Read Also
Alberta eases water access for riparian restoration
Alberta government removes requirement for temporary diversion licence to water plants up to 100 cubic metres per day for smaller riparian restoration projects
ASA chair Steve Wellman said the protocol assures buyers that U.S. soybeans are the most sustainably produced soybeans in the world.
“Our approach has been an aggregate approach for all the U.S. soybean production and not an approach that says this farmer is sustainable, this one isn’t,” said Wellman during an interview at the Classic.
That’s a different tactic than what’s being promoted by some of the world’s biggest food companies.
Unilever has pledged to its customers that 50 percent of the agricultural raw material it uses in its food product will be sustainably sourced by 2015 and 100 percent by 2020.
Unilever’s sustainability program takes consumers all the way back to the individual farmer, who is asked to complete a 90-page sustainability form that is subject to a company audit.
Wellman said that identity preservation approach doesn’t work for a commodity crop such as soybeans.
“We have 17,000 initial collection points for soybeans. Then it’s commingled. As it’s exported out, everything gets mixed together,” he said.
“It’s very efficient that way. It’s the cheapest way to move the whole product to the consumer.”
Wellman said the aggregate approach uses data dating back to the 1980s to show the improvements in U.S. soybean production in terms of reduced soil erosion and increased water efficiency.
The industry’s definition of sustainability is for farmers to meet the needs of consumers while leaving the environment in as good condition as when they started.
He said it’s too early to tell whether buyers in the European Union will accept the U.S. soybean industry’s approach to sustainability because the program is just being rolled out.
