WHAT’S IN OUR 2020 CERTIFICATION PROGRAM?

Shared responsibility
Making supply chains more equitable
Photo: Sydelle Willow Smith

At the Rainforest Alliance, we recognize that sustainability isa long-term journey and to make sectors truly sustainable,
all supply chain actors have a role to play. An inclusive supply
chain is one where both the value and the risks are shared.
This requires a shift to a system where the producers’ costs andinvestments are covered and their efforts to make their farmsand production more sustainable are rewarded.
To help realize this vision, our 2020 Sustainable AgricultureStandard outlines two requirements for the buyers of Rainforest
Alliance Certified™ commodities: the Sustainability Differential
and Sustainability Investments.

Why are we taking this approach?
Achieving a decent livelihood in agricultural production is difficult.
No matter the crop or where it’s produced, farming is heavily
dependent on a number of variables, from the weather and pests
to access to inputs and markets. The result is that, in many partsof the world, the slightest shift in operating environment can push
many farmers, particularly smallholders, below the poverty line.
Making matters worse, the global supply chains most Rainforest
Alliance producers rely on are structurally imbalanced. Producers carry the majority of the risk, burden of compliance, and theimpacts of climate change—all while having little to no power
to negotiate prices, terms of trade, and the additional resources
required for sustainable production.

What are Sustainability Differentials and Sustainability Investments?
The Sustainability Differential

Sustainability Investments

The Sustainability Differential is a mandatory additional cash
payment made to certified producers over and above themarket price of the commodity. The amount of the Sustainability Differential isn’t fixed. When possible, it should be negotiated between the farm group/farmer and the market actor
responsible for making the payment, which, in most instances,is the first buyer. The intention is that this payment recognizes
the efforts and specific activities undertaken by the producer
to meet the Farm Requirements of the Sustainable AgricultureStandard. It should incentivize the continued adoption of thesustainable production practices embodied in our standard.

The Sustainability Investments are mandatory cash or inkind investments from buyers of Rainforest Alliance Certified
products to certified producers for the specific purpose ofhelping them meet the Farm Requirements of the Sustainable
Agriculture Standard.

The Sustainability Differential will also play a role in enabling
farmers who hire workers to pay higher wages. Large farms
will be required to spend the Sustainability Differential on
areas that directly benefit workers. They will have to consult
with a legitimate representative of their farm workers in orderto determine how to allocate it.

These type of investments include those that are required forproducers to fulfill core compliance or mandatory improvement criteria in the standard as well as the cost of achieving
certification (i.e. implementation of the Digital Internal Management System and audit costs). The investments must go
towards the needs identified by producers in their investment
plans, and buyers must report on the investments they make.

the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Certification Program | Shared responsibility

In our reimagining of certification, we are moving away from amodel that places the burden of investing in sustainable production exclusively on producers and towards a new system whereresponsibility for sustainable production is shared across the entire supply chain. With the Sustainability Differential and Sustainability Investments, we are encouraging companies to acknowledge the price of sustainability and invest in and reward moresustainable production—because a more sustainable product isa better product that deserves a better price. Rather than setting
a fixed commodity price that could make certified commodities less competitive, our approach is systemic. It aims to tackle
the root causes of inequality and poverty in supply chains byempowering producers to define what investment support theyneed in order to better negotiate and advocate for themselves.

How is this different from the previous
standards?
The UTZ standard requires a mandatory cash premium that farmgroups must use to make payments directly to the individual
farmers as well as to make sustainability investments. But unlike
our 2020 Certification Program, the UTZ program only records
payments from first buyer to a certificate holder (often farmgroup management), not tracing the payment further to ensure
it reaches individual smallholder farmers. In-kind contributions
from a first buyer are also not recorded within the UTZ program.
The Rainforest Alliance 2017 Sustainable Agriculture Standard
doesn’t have any requirement on mandatory payments.
Our new shared responsibility approach, which requires Sustainability Differential payments and Sustainability Investments, isbroader and more explicit than both of the previous standards.
By tracking all of the payments, we are working to ensure greatertransparency and will have more data on what a producer isactually receiving for their certified crop. This will enable us toadapt guidance and information for both producers and supplychain actors.

What other Rainforest Alliance interventions
support this work?
Professionalizing farm management, improving productivity,increasing resilience, and diversification of income are just as
important as sharing responsibility among supply chain actors when it comes to improving farmers’ income. This is why, inaddition to advancing more responsible business practices, ourcertification and landscape and community programs promote
and train farmers in more sustainable farming methods thatenable them to produce more with less and adapt to the effectsof the climate crisis. We also work with producers and local civil

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

JUNE 2020

society organizations to influence governments and companies
to enact and implement national and global policies that lead tomore equitable supply chains.

Is this particularly relevant
for certain crops or countries?
The inequity in global supply chains is felt to one degree oranother across all the sectors we work in, from coffee and tea tococoa and banana. This makes a move towards greater sharedresponsibility urgent in all areas of our work. There is a particularurgency, however, in the cocoa sector of West Africa, which is
why these new requirements will start to be implemented andcome into effect there earlier than in other sectors and countries.

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

Reimagining Certification and the 2020
Certification Program
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.
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 theRainforest Alliance and UTZ merged.
The 2020 Certification Program—including a new
Sustainable Agriculture Standard—is a unique opportunity
to really change the way that certification works and how it
delivers value to the many people and businesses aroundthe world that 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 newprogram will begin in mid-2021.

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tel: +31 20 530 8000
email: info@utz.org

Rainforest Alliance@RnfrstAlliance@rainforestalliancerainforest-alliance.org