Farm assurance as a service
Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform
FoodPLUS GmbH has supported the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform in managing verification bodies for the organization’s Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) tool, as well as through the development of a GLOBALG.A.P. Farm Sustainability Assessment (GGFSA) add-on that reduces audit duplication in the supply chain.
Accelerating sustainability in global agriculture
What is the SAI Platform?
The SAI Platform is a global food and drink value chain initiative that aims to harness the collaborative power of its members to accelerate the widespread adoption of sustainable agriculture practices and the transformation to sustainable food systems. One of the ways that the SAI Platform is achieving this is through the development of the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) tool. The FSA enables food and drink businesses to assess, improve, and validate on-farm sustainability in their supply chains.
How does FoodPLUS GmbH support the SAI Platform?
FoodPLUS GmbH supports the SAI Platform in two key areas. Firstly, a streamlined verification body (VB) approval process was developed in 2019 that incorporates the “FSA Requirements for Verification Bodies and Auditors”. FoodPLUS GmbH carries out the VB evaluation and presents the results to the SAI Platform for a final acceptance decision.
VBs approved by the SAI Platform for the Farm Sustainability Assessment appear in the public list of GLOBALG.A.P. approved VBs, and the assessment status of producers who have undergone an FSA verification audit can also be viewed in the GLOBALG.A.P. database for increased transparency in the market.
GLOBALG.A.P. Farm Sustainability Assessment add-on
The second part of the collaboration is the development of a GLOBALG.A.P. Farm Sustainability Assessment add-on (GGFSA).
The GGFSA add-on enables producers to combine a Farm Sustainability Assessment from the SAI Platform with a GLOBALG.A.P. standard for plants in a single audit.
Applicable to the Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) or Crops for Processing (CfP) standards, this combined approach encourages producers to claim an FSA level when achieving their GLOBALG.A.P. certification and embraces the common goal of promoting safer, more sustainable farming worldwide.
SAI Platform documents
V3.0 – For all new audits and certification cycles
FSA Guidance for Third-party Verification of Farm Management Group Claims
FSA Guidance for Third-party Verification of Stand-Alone Farm Claims
V2.1 – For reference only – All FSA audits must now be carried out to v3.0
FSA Third Party Verification Audit Guide for Farm Management Groups
FSA Third Party Verification Audit Guide for Stand-Alone Farms
Further FSA documents
How is certification status verified?
Every FSA-verified supply chain stakeholder (producer, manufacturer, trader, etc.) registered in the GLOBALG.A.P. database is assigned a 13-digit GLOBALG.A.P. identification number (a GLOBALG.A.P. Number (GGN)). This number allows real-time verification of assessment status in the GLOBALG.A.P. IT systems, upholding our rigorous transparency requirements throughout the supply chain.
Choose a VB to conduct your assessment
To locate a GLOBALG.A.P. approved VB that can conduct your assessment, view the list on our VB web page.
Contact us
For questions about farm assurance as a service, please contact us at customer_support @globalgap.org.
For questions about SAI Platform and the FSA tool, please contact fsatool@saiplatform.org.