WHAT’S IN OUR 2020 CERTIFICATION PROGRAM?

Living income

Enabling sustainable livelihoods for farmers aroundthe world

More than 1.4 billion people around the world live in extreme
poverty, the majority of them in rural areas. As the livelihoodsof farmers, farm workers, and farming communities are intricately linked to some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems,
creating better livelihoods is key to our vision of a world wherepeople and nature thrive in harmony.
Our approach to achieving a living income and enabling asustainable livelihood is focused on helping farmers grow theirbusiness and become more profitable and resilient, while at thesame time, preserving natural resources. In our 2020 Certification
Program, we are taking this further through the introduction ofseveral innovations that allow farmers to assess risks and progress. We are also promoting a shared responsibility approachthat encourages companies to do their part as well.

What’s our new approach to enabling living
incomes?
Our approach to tackling low incomes and supporting sustainable livelihoods has always been and is still centered aroundhelping farmers improve their business, which naturally allows
them to be more profitable and resilient. Beyond the requirements for good farm management and agricultural practices inour 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard, we are also helping
farmers look more holistically at the economic risks and opportunities in their environment. At the same time, we’re working tocreate more transparency on the gap to a living income andpromote shared responsibility throughout the supply chain.
The Farm Requirements of the new standard place an emphasis
on better farm management with the introduction of several tools:•The Digital Internal Management System facilitatesdetailed data collection at the farm level which will enable farms to analyze their performance and make more
informed business decisions.

•The Farm Risk Assessment Tool helps farm group management better map the risks and needs of members andprovide tailored support to improve their farm performance

What is a living income?
A living income is the net income required for a household ina particular place to afford a decent standard of living for allmembers. Elements of a decent standard of living include food,water, housing, education, healthcare, transport, clothing, andother essential needs, including enough to cover unexpected
events. This amount varies greatly by country and even region,
because the cost of food, housing, and other necessities differ
from place to place. To determine the sufficient amount, we
use the living income benchmarks calculated by the Living
Income Community of Practice in accordance with the Anker
Methodology.
There’s an important distinction to be made between living income (earned by farmers) and living wage (payment receivedby workers). See here how we work towards living wages.
What’s the difference between a living income and a sustainable livelihood?
Having a sustainable livelihood implies that farmers have themeans, capacity, and income to make a living as well as copewith and recover from unexpected events now and in the
future without harming natural resources. Farmers earninga living income are able to cover all their basic needs in thepresent. However, to have a sustainable livelihood, farmers alsoneed to invest in their farm or business to ensure they haveenough to survive in the future as well. To achieve sustainable
livelihoods, we need to create the conditions for farmers toearn a living income while building resilience for tomorrow.

and economic situation. Based on the risk assessment
goals, specific actions are laid out in the group’s Management Plan.
•Key data is collected to assess the costs and benefits ofcertified production and map the main sources of incomeof farm group members. This will allow group manage-

the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Certification Program | living income

ment to advise their members further on the best ways toincrease the profitability of their business and choose thebest diversification strategies for them.
•The Living Income Tool allows farm group management
to estimate the net household income of their members
and identify the gap between that and the living income
benchmark for their country. This tool is currently available
for Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana and will be developed for morecountries.

JULY 2020

We’re taking it further in the 2020 Certification Program by:•Conducting data-driven assessments of farmers’ risks
and needs: By digitalizing the Internal Management System,
we’ve made it easier for farm group management to carryout holistic risk assessments. These assessments are usedto create farm management plans tailored to the uniqueneeds of each farm.

•Measuring progress: Our new Living Income Tool will help
track improvements over time, showing where risks are andwhere more investment is needed.

•Encouraging shared responsibility: The introductionof mandatory Sustainability Differential payments andSustainability Investments work to ensure that farmers arerewarded for more sustainable production.

We also recognize that responsibility for improving livelihoods
must be shared across the supply chain so that the risks, costs,
and burdens of sustainable production don’t fall on farmers
alone. That’s why our 2020 Certification Program takes a shared
responsibility approach designed to encourage companies toreward and invest in more sustainable production and drive
more value from the supply chain to farmers. To this end, companies are required to pay a Sustainability Differential and makeSustainability Investments.

Want to know more?

Why are we taking this approach?

Read more about what to expect in our new certification program. For specific questions, email us a cs@ra.org.

Our 30+ years of experience and many studies show that sustainable agricultural practices and professionalized farm management contribute to better livelihoods. In our new certification
program, we are creating more channels to improving livelihoods
and data plays a central role in that. In line with our reimaginingof certification, we are collecting and providing better data tounderstand the risks and needs of farmers and strengthen farmmanagement through targeted support. This use of data also allows us to identify the progress made towards achieving a living
income.
Both sustainable farming methods and responsible businesspractices are key in addressing the issue of living incomes. This
is why we’ve included mechanisms for companies to recognize
and reward more sustainable production from the certified farms
they source from, enabling farmers to earn a better income andmore easily pay their workers a living wage.

How is this different from our previous standards?
The UTZ Code of Conduct and 2017 Rainforest Alliance Sustainable
Agriculture Standard both take important steps to improving
living incomes. Both standards focus on promoting better agricultural practices that increase productivity, resilience to climatechange, and income. The UTZ Code of Conduct also includes amandatory premium to reward sustainable production.

United States:
125 Broad Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10004
tel: +1 (212) 677-1900
email: info@ra.org

Reimagining certification
Reimagining certification is our long-term vision for thefuture of certification. It is part of our wider strategy at theRainforest Alliance to drive change through our four mainareas of work: climate, forests, livelihoods, and humanrights.
In June 2020, the Rainforest Alliance takes the first stepon its journey towards “reimagining certification” with thepublication of its 2020 Certification Program. We’ve beenworking on this new program since 2018, when the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ merged.
The 2020 Certification Program—including a new Sustainable Agriculture Standard—is a unique opportunity to reallychange the way that certification works and how it delivers
value to the many people and businesses around the worldthat use it.
Between June 2020 and mid-2021, the Rainforest Alliancewill roll out the new program around the world, including acomprehensive training plan. Audits against the new program will begin in mid-2021.

The Netherlands:
De Ruyterkade 61013 AA, Amsterdamtel: +31 20 530 8000
email: info@utz.org

Rainforest Alliance@RnfrstAlliance@rainforestalliancerainforest-alliance.org