Survey says buyers stipulate sustainability requirements

Should retail buyers or the USDA build in sustainability requirements in their contracts with suppliers?

Requirements relating to food safety and delivery standards are common enough. Why not add another stipulation that suppliers (of a certain size) must have “sustainable” growing practices in place? Wouldn’t the leverage of such language push sustainability progress ahead?

I asked the LinkedIn Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group that question, and put it this way:

Should retailers or the USDA include sustainability-related requirements for suppliers in their purchases? Why or why not?

With 83 votes, the results were:

Yes: 67%

No: 33%

Here are selected comments from the thread:

• Produce buyers need to reward those who incur additional costs to deliver sustainability requirements with more money to cover such costs. In addition, they also need to give preferential treatment to such suppliers and not play them off against suppliers who are not committed to sustainability at all. Too often buyers are out of step with what is being communicated to the public versus their actual buying practices, which unfortunately is still too often based solely on price!
• GlobalGAP standards must include sustainability practices in their certification. Also practicing grower/supplier needs to be incentivized to promote sustainability practices.
• I agree that there should be requirements as long as the producer doesn’t have to pay for it or cumbersome software that is inefficient to their operations.
• For farmers to shift into regenerative practices may require adaptations to local types of soil, condition of soil, availability of water, climate, and socioeconomic factors. That in turn may require different types of crops, customized seeds, rotations etc.
• For that to happen at scale will require markets that are receptive and flexible to change menus, recipes, products. Think of California flat out of water, aquifers pumped so low that city wells are running dry. Where is that production going to shift to, is there a plan already?
• The regeneration of soil is the single most important task at this point to secure local ecosystems.
• I trust our produce safety system. I trust the integrity of our growers and shippers. We don’t need to add to their plate. Especially when they are not compensated for it
• Not requirements, but clear sustainability branding should be implemented. Let the market do the rest.