To promote continuous improvement, in addition to visits and audits, we also provide awareness and training to our suppliers. These are tools to exchange knowledge, which are essential in sharing and defining best practices, common goals and identifying opportunities for product and process improvement. The better our suppliers perform, the better our Companies can meet their sustainability challenges, particularly in supply chain related targets such as scope 3 emission reduction goals.
In 2024, several training and awareness-raising sessions were held, focusing on a wide range of sustainability-related topics. These included food safety and defence, animal welfare (including aquaculture fish), social and environmental topics in the supply chain, environmental and social audits, carbon footprints throughout the value chain (scope 3 emissions), packaging ecodesign principles, responsible use of pesticides, tackling deforestation and the related European regulation, water management and both sustainable and regenerative agriculture.
More than 2,000 representatives from perishables and Private Brand suppliers participated in these sessions in Portugal, Poland and Colombia.
Promoting sustainable agriculture practices among suppliers
Sustainable agriculture production contributes to reduce impacts in areas such as soil pollution and to preserve ecosystem services, such as those provided by pollinators. At the same time, these practices increase the resilience of production systems, ensuring their economic viability and social development.
This is why we developed the Sustainable Agriculture Handbook for our fruit, vegetable and flower suppliers in Portugal. The handbook lists opportunities for improvement in strategic areas such as land use, biodiversity preservation, water and energy efficiency, and the proper use of fertilisers and phytopharmaceuticals. It is also designed to help producers calculate the sustainability index of their farms. In addition, we also provide training for farms that are part of the programme, aligning the methodology used in the handbook with the objectives of the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy.
In 2024, we applied the principles of the handbook to 15 new farms in Portugal and reassessed 13 already participating in the project, totalling 28 farms evaluated during the year. The average sustainability index for these new farms was 3.65 (on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is the maximum score). During the 2024-2026 period we aim to evaluate at least 60 farms in Portugal.
Re-assessments are usually carried out every two years and, in general, the indicators with the best scores (above 4) are those related to waste management, agricultural practices and soil management. The indicators with the greatest opportunities for improvement are those related to energy consumption.
Since the beginning of the application of the project in 2016, more than 200 farms from 100 suppliers have been integrated. Suppliers, with at least one farm participating in the project, represent 67% of the volume of fruits, vegetables and flowers purchased by our Companies in Portugal.