Impact-Driven Approach to Sustainability in the Flowers and Ornamentals Industry

Targeting sustainability through impact-driven farming.

What is the Impact-Driven Approach to Sustainability?
The Impact-Driven Approach to Sustainability (IDA) is a system to help flower and ornamentals farms to collect, process, and store their environmental sustainability data. It is in line with Floriculture Sustainability Initiative requirements regarding digital registration for environmental metrics.

How does it work…

…within the GLOBALG.A.P. system?
GLOBALG.A.P. offers different pathways to the Impact-Driven Approach to Sustainability. They are to be used in combination with a farm management system:
•    The IDA module: may be used without further farm assurance (pathway 1). It may be used as a stepping stone to progress to pathway 2 or 3.  
•    The IDA add-on: may be used with localg.a.p. Primary Farm Assurance standard v5 (pathway 2) or with the GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) standard for Flowers and Ornamentals v5.2 (or benchmarked equivalent) (pathway 3).
 
…as a digital recordkeeping system? 
Your data on input consumption (specifically plant protection products, fertilizers - nitrogen and phosphorus -, water, energy) is collected via a compatible farm management system of your choice, sent to GLOBALG.A.P. for processing, then returned to you in the form of historical trends graphs and progress reports. 
All data that the FMS shares with GLOBALG.A.P. is treated confidentially and shared only back to individual producers in agglomerated and anonymized form.

Why should I use the GLOBALG.A.P. Impact-Driven Approach?

Due to consumer demand, retailers are putting more and more of a focus on sustainability. By using the IDA module or add-on, you have a transparent way of demonstrating that you are striving to improve the sustainability of your farm – without sharing your data or being ranking against others. Using the GLOBALG.A.P. IDA means you are fulfilling the Environmental Criteria for the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative and Royal FloraHolland requirements for environmental registration. You are therefore ready for the future of farming.

Why else?
Not only will you be compliant with market requirements, you will also gain helpful insights which can help you to streamline your production over time. Through your farm management system, you will receive personalized trend graphs and progress reports which will tell you how you compare with similar, anonymous producers in terms of input consumption. This information can help you to increase awareness and control of your environmental performance and improve it over time.

How do I get started? 

First, you must decide which IDA combination you require. To help you with this we have developed a handy decision tree.

 

IDA

Now you have decided which form of IDA is right for you (blue, orange, pink), follow the path of your chosen color:
What is a farm management system (FMS) and why do I need one?

Farm management systems are a type of software for managing farm operations and production activities. Their usage will become ever-more prevalent as smart farming becomes more widespread in the future. The earlier you start using such a system, the earlier you can reap the benefits.
All users of the GLOBALG.A.P. Impact-Driven Approach must use an FMS, since the data is fed to GLOBALG.A.P. via the FMS (you will establish a confidentiality agreement with the FMS).
You must be sure to choose an FMS which is compatible with the IDA add-on. Current providers are listed here.

How much does it cost?

 The registration costs of the IDA add-on or module are as follows: 

 

Impact-Driven Approach Add-on Cost
(license fee paid to CB together with audit costs)

Covered/Non-covered

< 0,5

€50

> 0.5 - < 2

€75

> 2 - < 5

€100

> 5 - < 15

€150

> 15 - < 100

€175

> 100 

€200
 

Please bear in mind that your overall costs will depend on whether or not you already have GLOBALG.A.P. IFA, PFA, or a benchmarked equivalent, and on your choice of certification body. You will also need to factor in the costs of a farm management system if you are not already using one.