GLOBALG.A.P. and Lidl Move Towards More Biodiversity
GLOBALG.A.P. and Lidl announce their collaboration for a new Biodiversity add-on to promote biodiversity in conventional fruit and vegetable production. The new add-on, which will be available from GLOBALG.A.P., is planned to be launched for all market participants in the first half of 2022.
A Multi-Stakeholder Project Initiated by Lidl
Lidl has brought together several project partners and international experts to develop a guideline for biodiversity criteria. Project partners include Sustainable Food Systems GmbH (SFS), the Global Nature Fund, Bioland, as well as representatives of agricultural producers and Nürtingen-Geislingen University in Germany.
About the Biodiversity Add-on
GLOBALG.A.P. offers add-ons as customized solutions for safe and sustainable agriculture; the add-ons are designed to enhance GLOBALG.A.P. certification. Based on the guideline for biodiversity, GLOBALG.A.P. will develop the Biodiversity add-on as an add-on to its Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) standard for Fruit and Vegetables. The add-on will be publicly available, so that all fruit and vegetable producers can evaluate their agricultural practices against biodiversity criteria and communicate their environmental commitment to food retailers.
Sustainability Focus Group Working on Development
The Biodiversity add-on is being developed in conjunction with GLOBALG.A.P.’s version 6 revision process, which will be completed with the launch of the new version 6 standard in 2022. The GLOBALG.A.P. multi-stakeholder Environmental Sustainability Focus Group will be involved in the development of the new add-on. This focus group compiles comprehensive, science-based criteria on farm-level environmental sustainability.
“Lidl’s initiative to promote farm-level biodiversity perfectly supports the aspirations of the GLOBALG.A.P. version 6 revision,” says Kristian Moeller, Managing Director GLOBALG.A.P. “The Biodiversity add-on will help market participants better understand how to evaluate science-based biodiversity criteria in ways which can create value for fruit and vegetable farmers.”
About GLOBALG.A.P.
GLOBALG.A.P. is a leading global certification program whose mission is to bring farmers and retailers together to produce and market safe food, to protect scarce resources, and to build a sustainable future.
Contact:
GLOBALG.A.P. c/o FoodPLUS GmbH, Leonie Fischer
fischer@globalgap.org.
About Lidl
The Lidl retail company, as part of the Schwarz retail group headquartered in Neckarsulm, is one of the leading companies in the food retail industry in Germany and Europe. Lidl is represented in 32 countries around the world and currently operates around 11,200 stores and more than 200 logistics centers and warehouses in 29 countries worldwide. Lidl currently has more than 310,000 employees. In its daily trading, Lidl assumes responsibility for people, society, and the environment. At Lidl, sustainability is a case of fulfilling its quality promise every day.
The press release can be downloaded here.