• About our approach

    The Sustainable Farming Assurance Programme (SFAP) supports companies in the feed and food supply chain to source responsibly produced commodities that are free from deforestation and land-conversion (DCF) and have a low carbon footprint.

     

    SFAP’s solutions are third-party verified, cost-efficient and scalable and apply to all arable crops in all regions of the world. SFAP’s approach is recognised as one of the credible approaches towards zero-deforestation by Profundo (in 2019 and 2023) and is approved under the FEFAC soy sourcing guidelines 2021 edition (in the proces of benchmarking against 2023 version). Good practices in the following domains are guaranteed:

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    Legal compliance and good business practice

    All farmers in the SFAP-programme comply with local and national legislation.

     

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    Respect of human rights and safeguarding worker safety

    SFAP includes a strong human and labour rights section building up on the ILO Core Conventions.

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    Good agricultural practices and environmental protection

    SFAP-farmers implement good practices in relation to soil, water, agrochemicals, crop health, waste and biodiversity.

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    Safeguarding community relations

    SFAP includes criteria to support a harmonious relation between farmers and their surrounding communities.

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    Zero deforestation and biodiversity protection

    SFAP-farmers are committed to protecting natural reserves and restrain from conversing natural lands in production lands.

  • Solutions

    The Sustainable Farming Assurance Programme offers a solid solution for deforestation and conversion free (DCF) crops. In addition, SFAP helps companies to lower the carbon footprint of their ingredients via SBLC verification

    SFAP Non-Conversion

    All major food and feed companies have published commitments towards zero-deforestation or non-conversion. Translating these commitments into clear buying decisions can be challenging in a commodity environment.


    The SFAP solution for Non-Conversion is a credible way to eliminate conversion and deforestation in the supply chain. The farmers in the SFAP-programme are protecting the natural reserves on their lands, are committed to prevent any further land conversion and reforest areas that have been converted in the past where there is the legal obligation to do so. The SFAP Non- Conversion module links these farmers to downstream companies via the Area Mass Balance supply chain model.

    - Download Non-Conversion document

    *SFAP has a SAI-FSA 2.1 Bronze-equivalent programme available upon request. This standard includes more criteria in the area of farm management. See the: SAI compliant version.

    SBLC verification

    SFAP works with a leading LCA agency, in line with international LCA standards, to calculate the carbon footprint of the soy farmers in the Cerrado who are certified under SFAP. The sustainable practices applied by the farmers (e.g., fever agrochemicals, reduction in fossil fuels) result in a significantly lower carbon footprint than the default values for a whole country, in this case, Brazil. These farmer group-specific data are included as branded data in the Agri-Footprint database and have been included in the pilot with branded data of GFLI.

    In addition, SFAP is committed to supporting companies with a science-based and third-party verified approach towards lowering the CO2 footprint of their crops via the verified SBLC statement.

    The SBLC statement is in line with the Nevedi Guidance on carbon footprint data (annex 3).

    - Download SBLC Verification

  • Impact

    SFAP helps to create meaningful and scalable impact in hotspot areas such as the Brazilian Cerrado, the Amazon and the Argentinean Chaco.

    Impact on farmers

    Farmers appreciate the insights obtained and procedures implemented through the certification process. They achieve better results and experience more control over their farm. In addition, farmers are recognised by third parties such as bank and input suppliers as less-risky and more trustworthy partners. This often results in more favourable financing conditions.

     

    Farmers are rewarded for protecting their natural Cerrado reserves even when they have legal permission to deforest part of their lands.

    Impact on the natural environment

    SFAP currently operates in the middle of the largest agricultural expansion frontier in the world, the Cerrado.

     

    Thanks to the SFAP Non-Conversion approach, farmers protect the legal reserves on their land and are stimulated to accelerate reforestation efforts where there is a legal obligation to do so.

     

    SFAP wants to be there were the risks on deforestation are largest to create the incentives for farmers to work on sustainable intensification rather than expansion.

    Impact on companies

    SFAP gives companies downstream the verified assurance that they meet their zero-deforestation and conversion commitments and support farmers to produce in a sustainable manner. The Area Mass Balance supply chain model offers a balanced solution in between Book & Claim and Mass Balance that guarantees that the sustainability impact (proven by means of a certificate) was made in the same region as where the physical goods have been acquired. SFAP guides companies through the complexity of LCA assessment and offers clear and verified solutions to lowering the CO2 footprint.

  • Latest

  • Partners

    The Sustainable Farming Assurance Programme is created and managed by ProAgros. For the identification of farmer groups, the training of the farmers towards certification and for verification ProAgros is working with diverse trusted partners worldwide.

     

    ProAgros

    ProAgros connects end-users committed to sustainable sourcing with farmers who have proven to be producing sustainably. The company is led by Jan Nicolai. Jan Nicolai has over 40 years of experience in the commodities market, as a buyer, trader, arbitrader in trade disputes and transition manager. He has a vast knowledge of the dynamics in the European market, recent development in the area of sustainability and the needs and challenges faced by market parties. Jan Nicolai worked at Nutreco, The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) and is a former board member of RTRS.

    Approved partners for extension and certification support

    ProAgros works with dedicated partners in the production countries to guarantee a strong embedding in the local context. The partners are responsible for training and coaching farmers and farmer groups to the SFAP-level.

     

    For Brazil, ProAgros is glad to work together with CerQuality. CerQuality trains and supports farmer groups in the Cerrado area to meet the SFAP-requirements.

    Approved inspection bodies

    SFAP has found a dedicated partner in Control Union. Control Union is a leading independent certification body that has a vast experience with sustainability certification, operates in accordance with ISO-procedures and is controlled by an official accreditation body.

     

    Control Union is the inspection body to audit all practices on the ground and to verify claims in the area of CO2-footprinting.

  • Contact

    If you want to know whether SFAP can also offer a solution for you companies sourcing questions, don’t hesitate to contact us and hear what we can do for you.

    Rijkerswoerdsestraat 17
    6836 AG Arnhem NL
    +31 653242021
    +31 653242021
    JanN@proagros.eu
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