News

Annual Report 2020 – Safeguarding agricultural resilience for the future

18th May 2021

SAI Platform’s Annual Report 2020 is now online. The report reviews operations and performance while reflecting on the important issue of safeguarding agricultural resilience for the future.

The impact of COVID-19 has been a stress test of agricultural resilience. However, despite the impact of the virus on the food and drink industry, the big issues, such as climate change, biodiversity loss and food security, have not gone away. It is here that SAI Platform plays such an important role, to help build this resilience through leadership, collaborative action among members and industry solutions driving on-farm sustainable practices and continuous improvement. 

“Things are moving forwards at SAI Platform and we will continue to prove ourselves as we support our members to manage the complexity of a transformational change.” 


Robert Erhard, President, SAI Platform

2020 welcomed a new President and Executive Committee as well as 16 new members, bringing the membership to a total of 126. For the first time, membership opened to farm input providers and a more holistic approach for the agriculture industry to better understand the practical realities of farming and the challenges farmers face.

This year’s report focused on members’ experiences and insights over 2020. In a feature interview, industry experts Ulrike Sapiro, Shazia Hussenbux and Hans Jöhr came together online to discuss the meaning of agricultural resilience for the future. Close up interviews with working group chairs, Brian Nash and Martina Henry (Crops Working Group), Hansel New (Dairy Working Group) and industry solution chairs Claire Donoghue (ERBS), Autumn Fox (SDP) and Athanasios Mandis (FSA) reviewed ongoing developments within each of their focus areas and an insight into how the agriculture industry responded to the critical test of a global pandemic. 

SAI Platform has seen a continued, and perhaps even stronger, commitment to sustainability during an unpredictable and uncertain year. The 2020 Annual Report highlights how through member-led collaboration, industry solutions, webinars and projects we are continuing to deliver good progress and value for our members.