News

PepsiCo’s Sustainable Farming Program Achieves Silver Level Equivalence in the USA with Farm Sustainability Assessment

18th May 2020

The Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI Platform) is pleased to announce the outcome of a benchmarking effort between PepsiCo’s Sustainable Farming Program (SFP) and SAI Platform’s Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) tool. PepsiCo’s SFP has reached Silver level equivalence to FSA Version 2.1 in the United States, in combination with U.S. Federal legislation.

This means that for any farm in the U.S. using PepsiCo’s SFP, the crops that they grow can also be recognised at FSA silver level and count towards any other FSA users sustainable sourcing targets and vice versa. Moreover, by-products derived from a supply chain that were successfully SFP certified can now also be sold as FSA equivalent.

This represents a significant milestone in our partnership with SAI Platform, demonstrating an alignment of principles of sustainable sourcing, and a continued commitment to engage with our suppliers and growers in a way that adds value to their business and avoids duplication of efforts,” says Rob Meyers, PepsiCo’s Senior Director of Global Sustainability. 

SAI Platform created the FSA in 2014 as a tool to assess the level of on-farm sustainability and to benchmark existing standards. The benchmarking process involves scoring against 112 questions as well as a consistency check by a SAI Platform-approved independent expert.

We congratulate PepsiCo on the successful completion of the benchmarking process,” said Joe Rushton, FSA Manager at SAI Platform. “This reflects PepsiCo’s commitment to promoting industry wide adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices and the need to come together as an industry.”

Agriculture is both the foundation of the food system and the root of PepsiCo’s business. To make their foods and beverages, PepsiCo uses more than 25 crops sourced across 60 countries, and supports over 100,000 jobs in and throughout the company’s agricultural supply chain. This scale and reach mean the standards and practices that PepsiCo employs and promotes can influence the environmental, social and economic impact of agriculture around the world.

Implemented across 38 countries, PepsiCo’s Sustainable Farming Program has provided over 40,000 farmers around the world with training and resources to help them on the path to greater productivity, resiliency and sustainability. The SFP is based on self-assessment, capacity building and verification. PepsiCo is working with farmers around the world to provide training for on-field agronomy, resource-efficient use of fertilizers and irrigation, plant protection techniques, workers’ rights and other issues.

To learn more about the ways in which PepsiCo is helping to advance farming practices around the world and the policies that govern the company’s role in this global supply chain, visit PepsiCo’s website.

To learn more about the results of the benchmarking, users can access scoring for benchmarked standards under “Benchmark Equivalency Overview” on the FSA Resource Centre.