Bunge launched a new initiative to share best practices with grain dealers about traceability and monitoring of soybean crops linked to its indirect supply chain in the Cerrado region. Dubbed Bunge Sustainable Partnership, the program will help partners implement supply chain verification systems, including satellite and farm-scale images. Dealers can adopt independent imaging services or use Bunge's geospatial monitoring structure at no cost. The initiative is part of Bunge's global non-deforestation policy with a public and voluntary commitment to reaching deforestation-free value chains worldwide by 2025.
Bunge already has 100% traceability to the farm for its direct purchases and in the Brazilian Cerrado region alone, the company monitors more than 8,000 farms, reaching a total of 11.6 million hectares (28.6 million acres), which accounts for 96% of the soybeans purchased directly in this region. With the engagement of grain dealers through the Bunge Sustainable Partnership, the company expects to reach 100% of traceability and monitoring of its indirect purchases in the next four years. Bunge currently traces and monitors approximately 30% of its indirect purchases.
“We recognize the important role we can play in our industry. This unprecedented initiative is a way for Bunge to share with its supply chain the best practices we use to build value chains that are traceable and verifiable. We value our partnership with dealers and producers to make our supply chains increasingly productive and sustainable and we believe that solutions at-scale and with long-term impacts are only possible when all partners in the value chain, from farmers to customers, are involved and engaged,” said Rob Coviello, Bunge’s Chief Sustainability officer and Government Affairs.
The company will share its experience, methodologies and tools with partner dealers interested in implementing or improving the social and environmental evaluation of their suppliers. For monitoring, which involves verifying soybean crops by satellite images, dealers may choose to contract their own systems or use Bunge's structure free of charge. The pilot program is being carried out in partnership with Agrícola Alvorada, and data from the properties the dealer buys soybeans from have already been included in Bunge's satellite monitoring cycle for this year.
