Water challenges and how to tackle them with the GLOBALG.A.P. SPRING add-on

Water-related risks in primary agriculture are receiving increased attention from consumers, the media, and NGOs – especially in the context of the rising frequency of extreme weather events. Droughts and water scarcity in water-sensitive regions such as southern Spain, food security, and food safety are deeply interconnected. The food sector must therefore take action and demonstrate responsible water management at the primary production level in agriculture. 

Our solution, the Sustainable Program for Irrigation and Groundwater Use (SPRING), is a farm-level add-on that helps producers, retailers, and traders demonstrate their commitment to responsible and sustainable water management. 

SPRING includes legal compliance requirements related to water sources and withdrawal volumes, as well as a variety of principles and criteria to assess and optimize sustainable water management on farms.  

Stricter principles and criteria for responsible water management in the new SPRING version  

The revised and improved version 2 of SPRING will be launched at the end of July 2023. This update will increase the add-on’s focus on the assessment of water risks, the assessment of legal compliance, the management and use of water resources, as well as on the protection of water sources through responsible and sustainable water management.  

SPRING was developed by the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat in close collaboration with producers, technicians, certification bodies, and NGOs. 

Facts and figures about SPRING in the water-sensitive region of southern Spain  

Globally, the number of producers using SPRING has nearly quadrupled in recent years, rising from 2,185 to 8,051 in the period from December 2021 to April 2023, and the number is growing.  

In Europe, the water-sensitive Huelva region of southern Spain is at the focus of water management, especially in strawberry production that is characteristic for this region. There are currently 672* producers in Spain with strawberry production processes certified to the GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) standard. More than 93%, namely 630,* of them are located in Huelva. 

385* of the 630 producers in Huelva who are certified to IFA are also committing themselves to responsible water management by having their strawberry production processes assessed against SPRING. This means that more than 61% of them are actively striving – in addition to achieving certification to IFA – to use water responsibly and trust the strict criteria of our SPRING add-on in this water-sensitive region.  

Certification processes and complaint handling 

The certification process differs for producer groups – who have their own internal systems for assessing compliance with standards and add-ons within the group – and individual producers. For producer groups, a representative sample of the group’s members is audited during the external audit by a certification body. The producer group itself is required to conduct an internal audit of all its members and to have internal documentation to demonstrate that they are compliant with the standard or add-on. If one producer group member fails to obtain the required level of compliance, the whole group may lose its letter of conformance. For individual producers, sampling is not possible – all of them are audited.  

If a producer becomes the subject of a complaint, the case will be investigated. Depending on the nature and extent of the grounds for the complaint, the producer will either be given time to take corrective action or have their letter of conformance suspended or cancelled.  

Limitations of voluntary certification schemes 

Neither participation in a voluntary certification scheme nor the investigation of complaints are aimed at determining whether a producer is conducting an illegal business or has committed a crime. Such situations are (legally speaking) outside the scope of all voluntary certification schemes. Criminal matters are reserved for the police and the courts. Nonetheless, the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat strongly condemns any actions contrary to the law, such as illegal water withdrawals, especially if they are connected with criminal actions of
any kind. 

*figures as of 31 May 2023