Sustainability standards in the food industry play a key role in the Del Campo al Plato project. The majority of pineapples and bananas imported into Germany and Europe are qualified according to the current sustainability certifications: Organic, Demeter, Fair Trade, Global Gap, Naturland, Rainforest Alliance or Sustainably Grown – to name the most important.

The adaptation of the criteria of the standards with regard to biological diversity thus provides an important lever for implementing measures on farms and having a positive effect on the conservation of biological diversity.

In the project, the del Campo al Plato team evaluated 15 national and international sustainability standards in the pineapple and banana sector with regard to biodiversity criteria. The result of this evaluation can be found in the Baseline Report.

Recommendations were derived from this evaluation and defined with representatives of both sectors at international level, in Germany, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Recommendations on which further criteria for food standards and purchasing guidelines of food retailers are necessary to anchor biodiversity in the supply chain can be found in the publication Recommendations.

We would like to thank all farmers, standard and company representatives involved in this process for their good cooperation. We are in close contact with the industry on the possibilities of including the recommendations in the criteria catalogues of the companies’ standards and procurement guidelines.