chingford fruit
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Sustainable horticultureTRANSCRIPT
Sustainable horticulture
Sam Howard speaks to Willie Wood, senior sustainable horticulture manager at CFL to find out how partnerships with producers and growers worldwide are impacting the
products found on UK supermarket shelves
114 October 2011
Sustainable horticulture
Chingford Fruit Limited
Sam Howard speaks to Willie Wood, senior sustainable horticulture manager at CFL to find out how partnerships with producers and growers worldwide are impacting the
products found on UK supermarket shelves
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art of the AG Thames group of companies, Chingford Fruit Limited (CFL) was founded in 1966. Over the last forty four years AG Thames has continued to grow through the acquisition of companies within key areas of its business. The group now employs 480 people with offices in South Africa, Italy, Spain, New Zealand and Chile.
Climate change, water scarcity and over-exploitation of resources can all seriously threaten our food security and the long-term sustainability of agricultural production. By sourcing with integrity and forming partnerships with growers at farm level, CFL aim to raise both environmental and social standards and move towards genuine sustainability. In practice this means working with growers to initiate change at farm level and foster greater consideration for the economic, environmental and social impacts of their activities.
Chingford Fruit Limited
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systems. In short, farming is the primary means of converting solar energy into food for human kind and no other approach is likely to replace it.
Agricultural productivity and food supply are directly dependent upon the adequate availability and supply of natural resources such as fertile land, fresh water, energy and natural biodiversity.
These critical natural resources, and the complex natural cycles and processes that maintain them, are under increasing pressure and threat from agricultural production itself. The challenge is to increase agricultural output while at the same time preserving and restoring the underlying natural resource base that enables it.
Farming needs to function in such a way that
According to studies by Pimental (1999) and Granatstein & Kumpferman (2006), the human population is adding more than a quarter of a million people daily and is set to grow to 12 billion within the next 40 years. The production and supply of sufficient food worldwide will therefore become an increasingly challenging task.
To all intents and purposes, for global food supply to meet this dramatically increasing human population the dependence on land-based agriculture can only intensify. Currently more than 99 per cent of food comes from these systems, the balance (less than 1 per cent) from the oceans and fresh water
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Volatile prices, unpredictable weather patterns
and surging demand from emerging economies are
combining to threaten food security across the globe,
putting farmers under more pressure than ever before.
Never has the need to ensure sustainable long-term
food production been so crucial.
Similarly, retailers selling the end product are coming
under increasing pressure from consumers to source
sustainably and reliably. They are being challenged on
issues such as carbon footprint and ethical trading;
and it’s clear that if they can’t provide the answers,
their businesses will suffer as a result.
South Africa-based consultancy Blue North has
recognised that agricultural sustainability is now a
strategic imperative, both for retailers at one end of the
supply chain, and farmers at the other—not to mention
the importers and exporters who sit in between. Blue
North was set up to assist businesses and supply
chains to overcome sustainability-related constraints
derived from consumer expectations and/or physical
scarcity of resources. The company’s approach is to
build clarity and understanding of sustainability, identify
current and future sustainability-related constraints,
and develop and implement the most appropriate
responses within operations and across supply chains.
Blue North achieves this via a combination
of sustainability strategy development and
implementation; risk identification, prioritisation
and response formulation; carbon, water and waste
lifecycle analysis; and social compliance programmes
development and implementation, as well as research
and knowledge resource development. The company
draws on the experience of a network of leading
sustainability organisations such as the WWF, Forum
for the Future and the Carbon Trust
“Agricultural sustainability is absolutely foundational.
That’s our area of focus and the space where we have
experience—and where need will continue to grow,”
comments Blue North’s co-founder David Farrell.
Blue North’s clients are predominantly big commercial
organisations—large exporters and importers of agricultural
produce who must achieve a fine balancing act in interfacing
between market demand and the realities of life for farmers, all
the while demonstrating that they are managing risk effectively.
With such conflicting forces at work within the supply chain,
introducing an end-to-end sustainability strategy will always be
a challenge, says Farrell. “For farmers or suppliers, business
life is full of pressure, and to find the mind space to really stand
back and reflect on sustainability as a subject really requires
a different level of thinking. It’s not straightforward—it’s about
challenging our very ideas about the way our modern society
works, and that’s difficult. The challenge for us is finding a way
to translate these concepts into practical programmes.”
Blue North’s first step is always to present its clients with a
very clear concept of sustainability. “We have carried out a lot of
research—almost at an academic level—to ensure that we are
confident of our concept,” says Farrell. “And then we support
that with knowledge resources—for example, we might do
work on water, soil health or biodiversity, so that we can share
those ideas with the client in order to have a comprehensive
knowledge base on different pillars of sustainability.”
Having defined its concept, Blue North then conducts a risk
assessment to identify areas of potential weakness. From this the
most appropriate responses are identified and prioritised. The
programme aims at building management focus and momentum
early on: “We find points of leverage to provide a focusing
mechanism, so we can do the important things first and deliver
improvements early on. This makes the subject a little bit more
digestible,” explains Farrell. What remains can then be translated
into a sensible, executable sustainability strategy.
As it enters the implementation phase, Blue North draws
on its extensive practical experience in rolling out large-scale
sustainability projects. Farrell’s experience with South African
exporter Colors Fruit, for example, includes work on broad-
based carbon footprinting and putting in place a large-scale
social compliance programme—all the while working with
farmers on the ground. It’s that ability, he says, to take high-
level strategy and translate it into practical programmes that
is the key strength of Blue North. “You can have a wonderful
strategy,” he says, “but it’s no use if you can’t deliver it.”
Fruitforthefuture
South African consultancy Blue North specialises in transforming agricultural supply chains, using its sound knowledge base and proven expertise to deliver practical, long-lasting improvements at ground level
One company currently benefiting from Blue North’s expertise
is Chingford Fruit, whose client is a major UK-based supermarket.
“In terms of the supply chain, Chingford are very close to
their client, so they feel the pressure to answer sustainability
challenges more keenly. And they are not just dealing with
one country’s product—they source from around the world, so
we’re talking multiple supply chains. They have retailers and
consumers on the one side who are asking questions that they
need to be able to answer effectively and with conviction related
to sustainability subjects; and
on the other side they’re dealing
with agricultural businesses from
around the world. Agricultural
production everywhere is facing
some fairly severe challenges right
now related to issues such as
water, soil and pest management;
so the challenge is to make sure
that Chingford has a sustainable
business not just two years from
now, but 20 years from now—one
where they have a secure supply
base and where their position with
their market is secure.”
Blue North’s work with Chingford
began earlier this year with a review of the company’s needs as
well as the sustainability strategy of its retailer client. “The last few
months have been very focused on building the most appropriate
strategy—one able to effectively deliver sustainability across a
complex supply chain,” Farrell explains. “Then we moved to
developing more detailed risk assessment tools which we can
use with the farmers supplying Chingford.”
Across all the supplying regions, Blue North has helped
to create what are in essence sustainability ‘study groups’,
consisting of farmers and Chingford’s suppliers. Within each
particular product group, structures and forums have been
created to facilitate meaningful discussions on how to deal with
sustainability challenges, building off the reality and experience
of the farmers who make up the supply base. These structures
also provide the forums through which the participants will
manage and report on the improvement actions
identified. Practical engagement through these
structures started in earnest in August. “This amounts
to nothing less than a large-scale change management
exercise: it is the only way to meaningfully grapple
with sustainability and deliver real improvement,” says
Farrell. “It’s going to take time: there’s no quick fix.”
In many ways, pressure from the end retailer is
crucial in helping to drive a project of this nature to
a satisfactory conclusion. “Chingford could see that if
they didn’t respond in a meaningful way to the issue of
sustainability, it was going to have a negative impact
on their relationship with the client. We didn’t need
to sell sustainability to them; they just needed some
support in developing a programme to deliver.”
Looking forward, Blue North is seeking to remain
within the agricultural sector and apply its extensive
existing experience to agri-industries including the
wine, vegetable and grain sectors. “We’re looking
at companies with large agricultural footprints, and
who have a great dependence on the ongoing health
and viability of that agricultural base—that’s where
we feel we can add the most value,” he concludes.
www.bluenorth.co.za
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output is maintained or enhanced over the long term without the depletion of the natural resources that are essential to achieving this productivity. In other words, there needs to be a shift away from non-sustainable modes of operation, towards more sustainable methods of agricultural production.
As a dedicated and significant supplier of citrus, top fruit, stone fruit and kiwi fruit. CFL must ensure it is always in a position to proactively understand
and effectively respond to the vision, values, direction, drivers and priorities that define its customer’s own strategy as it evolves and is expressed over time.
Over the course of the last year CFL has developed and is successfully driving a very clear and strong strategy with achieving sustainable supply chains as the central theme. “Our strategy has been developed in
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a manner that reflects the business’s desire to translate our customer’s aspirations and needs into a robust strategy that the company can own,” explains Willie Wood. “It is aimed at equipping CFL to become leaders in the field of global sustainable fruit supply chains.”
Within the Chingford organisation, the term sustainability is no longer a soft subject but has been encoded into its procurement policies and practices and will increasingly be shaping the make-up, characteristics and performance of its entire supply chain.
In the last 12 months CFL has heavily invested in internal expertise to support its suppliers and growers. The new sustainable horticulture team is aligned directly to its global top fruit, citrus, stone and kiwi fruit supply chains.
In many countries, Chingford’s global supply chains are already delivering advanced farming practices and showing a willingness
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to collaborate further to innovate and improve. From this platform the Chingford team is actively engaging its wider grower base to buy into the benefits of collaborative working and the implementation of industry best practice.
A fundamental feature of the strategy is appreciation for the critical role that the grower plays in determining sustainability performance, not only of the farm, but the entire supply-chain.
“Primary agriculture sits at the base of the triangle upon which the entire supply chain stands,” explains Wood. “Primary fruit production is not only the source of the physical flow of product, that binds the CFL supply
chain together, but the point with the greatest influence and impact, be it positive or negative on the key subjects across the sustainability spectrum, including soil health, biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, water,
food security, socioeconomic development of communities, greenhouse gas emissions, non-renewable energy use and ethical trade.”
CFL’s sustainable supply chain strategy
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is built on an understanding that CFL sits at the interface between a network of global fresh fruit supply chains and its customer. The role that CFL must play strategically within the total supply chain demands that Chingford’s strategy, development and implementation, reflects two realities; one that is informed by the supply side factors and the other from the strategic needs and objectives of their customer. In other words, CFL has the responsibility to not only formulate strategy in response to the market needs, but also to be informed by, and in
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turn influence, consumer strategy based on its understanding of farm level and supplier realities.
CFL’s sustainable supply chain strategy is a significant strategic undertaking, built on the understanding of the clear strategic intent of their customer, its role and responsibility within the supply chain, the need to address the challenge
of sustainability in a proactive way and the central role of the grower in achieving the desired outcomes.
CFL has already committed significant resources to the formulation of the strategy, putting in place the required internal structures and securing the initial buy-in not
Primary agriculture sits at the base of the triangle upon which the
entire supply chain stands
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Our strategy has been developed in a manner that reflects the business’s
desire to translate our customer’s aspirations and needs into a robust
strategy that the company can own
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Chingford Fruit Limited
only from suppliers and growers around the globe but also from their customer.
CFL’s contention is that, while sustainability is a complex and difficult subject, it is a subject that needs to be earnestly and urgently grappled with. By building a strategy on well considered, principles-based and a primary agriculture centric approach, CFL is confident that it is positioned to facilitate and catalyse a sincere and meaningful move towards the achievement of true sustainability for its farm base and supply chain.
Our strategy has been developed in a manner that reflects the business’s
desire to translate our customer’s aspirations and needs into a robust
strategy that the company can ownBE
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