March 09, 2021
Yara joins global leaders committed to helping grow and advance sustainable agriculture practices.
Oslo, 18 February 2021: As the primary global food value chain initiative for sustainable agriculture, the SAI Platform has more than 100 members representing different parts of the value chain. Members include cooperatives, traders, retailers, processors and brand companies that address all dimensions of global sustainable agriculture.
SAI Platform was created in 2002 by the food industry to actively promote the worldwide development of sustainable agriculture, involving different stakeholders of the food chain. In defining a criteria for sustainable agriculture, SAI Platform supports agricultural practices and agricultural production systems that promote the efficient production of safe, high quality agricultural products. These efforts protect and improve the natural environment, the social and economic conditions of farmers, their employees and local communities, and safeguard the health and welfare of all farmed species.
Björn Theijs, VP Food Chain at Yara explains: “Joining the SAI Platform comes at a key moment for Yara as the increased sustainability focus from consumers, food companies and authorities everywhere adds momentum to Yara’s mission and vision.” In addition to contributing to feeding the world, we are tackling a major threat to our planet, together with key partners who share the same ambitions, all while keeping the farmer as the key link in the chain: As a farmer centric company Yara has learned over 115 years of business, that the crop has specific needs but the farmer may have others, particularly in regards to finance and capital. We have worked to find the best compromise between both with the consistent objective to move farmers practices towards more sustainably efficient practice and help deliver on our mission to “responsibly feed the world”
In order to deliver on the second part of our mission to “protect the planet”, the next step in our evolution is strengthening the environmental element of our offerings and recommendations at farm level in close collaboration with our food chain partners. Working on the environmental sustainability of food production is a natural next step for us. Naturally, this has led us to embark on discussions and partnerships across the food value chain, from local off takers to well-known global brands. The drive for climate neutral food is not just a vision for the future, it is happening right now as a response from companies to the Paris agreement. The awareness about externalities in food production is growing. While awareness is growing, it is still sometimes challenging for farmers to change their practices towards improved environmentally performance without financial support and this is a key challenge we are working on currently at Yara. By being part of SAI Platform, we can drive and scale our responses and solutions at a global level, to ensure that sustainable agriculture establishes itself as a way to tackle these challenges together.
About Yara
Yara grows knowledge to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. Supporting our vision of a world without hunger, we pursue a strategy of sustainable value growth, promoting climate-friendly and high-yielding crop nutrition solutions for the world’s farming community and food industry.
Yara’s ambition is to be the Crop Nutrition Company for the Future. We are committed to creating value for our customers, shareholders and society at large, as we work to develop a more sustainable food value chain. To achieve our ambition, we have taken the lead in developing digital farming tools for precision farming, and work closely with partners throughout the food value chain to improve the efficiency and sustainability of agriculture and food production.
Founded in 1905 to solve the emerging famine in Europe, Yara has established a unique position as the industry’s only global crop nutrition company. With our integrated business model and a worldwide presence of around 16,000 employees and operations in over 60 countries, we offer a proven track record of responsible and reliable returns. In 2020, Yara reported revenues of USD 11.7 billion.
About SAI Platform
Founded in 2002, the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI Platform) is a global not-for-profit organisation transforming the food and drink industry to source and produce more sustainably.
With over 100 members, from companies and organisations in the food and drink industry, we are at the forefront in pioneering sustainable agriculture around the world. We enable our members to share expertise, create solutions to common challenges and promote sustainable agriculture in a pre-competitive environment. By developing tools and principles we are creating secure and resilient agricultural supply chains. Our current focus is on beef, dairy and crops. Our innovative and industry-focused tools, the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA), Spotlight and the Sustainable Dairy Partnership (SDP), lead the way to effective sustainable practices while delivering value to our members, farmers, their communities and consumers.
