Power of IDH Fresh & Ingredients program grows

A dozen of companies joined our Fresh & Ingredients program in the last quarter, increasing the power of the program.

The members commit to increase in sustainable volumes sourced. The IDH program combines a number of agro-commodities such as fruit, vegetables, spices and flowers, and provides cross-sector solutions on working conditions, agrochemical use and climate change issues.

The companies that recently joined the program represent different parts of the supply chains. Such as Dutch bank Rabobank, who was welcomed by the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (the coalition for Flowers and Plants within the Fresh & Ingredients program) this summer. The Rabobank is active in the international floricultural industry, both in finance and as knowledge provider for the Agri and Food sector. The bank and FSI (Floriculture Sustainability Initiative) members will collaborate to improve practices and will drive positive change towards the sustainable production and trade of flowers and plants.

Arne Bac from the Rabobank said: “We have become a member because we believe sustainability is one of the main pillars of the Food & Agri sector, for the international ornamental sector, and therefore for Rabobank and its customers in the international floriculture chain too. We think it is it important to use our networks, knowledge and our funding tools to enable our customers to achieve the desired sustainability impact. Improvement in the sector is needed, and FSI, supported by IDH, contributes to the acceleration.”

One of the goals of the Fresh & Ingredients program is to embed responsible sourcing practices in policies of member companies. The newly joined members join a community of companies that continue to work on the prosperity of the countries they operate in. They aim to make a positive contribution towards increasing the sustainability of their sourcing in relation to social and environmental aspects.

As part of our wider strategy on fresh and processed fruit and vegetables, juice was chosen as the initial focus. Since the launch of the Sustainable Juice Covenant in March this year, an extra handful of companies have signed up making it a group with representatives from the juice industry supply chain. This month, the latest two, SVZ and Firmenich, committed themselves to the goal of 100% sustainable juice and puree by 2030.

All new Fresh & Ingredients members include:

Floriculture Sustainability Initiative

E. Den Dekker

Floricultura

Rabobank

Sustainability Initiative Fruits and Vegetables

Camposol Fresh

Fresh Del Monte

Organic Trade Company (OTC) Holland

Sustainable Juice Covenant

Firmenich

Frutco AG

Rainforest Alliance

SVZ

Sustainable Vanilla Initiative

Dr. Oetker/Queen Foods

Mother’s Murphy