February 14, 2022

 

Report finds suppliers of Brazilian soybeans to Norway's salmon able to maintain deforestation-free supply chain

 
 

A new independent report states that the suppliers of Brazilian soybean to Norwegian salmon have accomplished their goal for a deforestation- and conversion-free supply chain.

 

One year earlier, the salmon industry announced that their suppliers in Brazil had decided to become 100% deforestation and conversion-free. WWF and the Rainforest Foundation said this was a benchmark to inspire other global animal protein sectors as well as realising a desire for a robust and independent system to ensure that the companies fulfilled the obligations.

 

The Rainforest Foundation said the Norwegian salmon industry sets an important example.

 

"It is great news that Brazilian soy producers, for the very first time, are confirmed to be fully deforestation- and conversion-free in all their operations", said Nils Hermann Ranum, head of drivers of deforestation programme at Rainforest Foundation Norway.

 

"Demanding that suppliers are fully deforestation-free is necessary to stop ongoing deforestation in Brazil. Private sector companies have a responsibility to avoid contributing to deforestation and environmental damage, and the Norwegian salmon industry and their suppliers set an important example that other food producers must follow."

 

International certification foundation ProTerra established a monitoring and verification method to verify that no farmer that had removed any forest would be allowed to sell soy to suppliers.

 

To demonstrate the effectiveness of the system, contracts and names from public lists of social and environmental liabilities were randomly selected and checked against names in a company soy receiving report. Using satellite techniques and embargo lists, the newly published audit report confirms that the soy supply chain has become deforestation- and conversion-free.

 

The audit report also checked that the farmers did not have any work related to slavery or illegal labour and that there was no agriculture overlaps with indigenous lands.

 

"This proves that we can do more to protect the environment by working with our partners in Brazil, than walking away and just boycott soy", said Leif Kjetil Skjæveland on behalf of Norwegian fish feed producers.

 

"Norwegian fish feed producers were punching above our weight here. Even combined, we are not a big player in the Brazilian soy market, but our combined effort made a complete value chain become 100% deforestation and conversion-free. Now we need to show them our support to make this important effort continue."

 

There are three companies that deliver soy to the Norwegian salmon industry. Two of them, Caramuru and CJ Selecta, have undergone the audits. The third company, Cervejaria Petropolis-Imcopa, is in a corporate change and a separate audit is currently conducted for them.

 

Independent auditors tested the robustness and effectiveness of the system by checking a sample of 50 names randomly chosen from the public lists of suppliers that incurred in social and/or environmental liabilities. This list was compared with the list of soy suppliers in the systems. No relationship or conflict was found between the names of soybean suppliers and those randomly selected to the consulted public lists.

 

There was no non-conformity observed by the auditor, only improvement opportunities verified for each company, which do not impact the system's efficiency and were already being worked on by the audited companies.

 

- Skretting