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Newsletter
In our monthly newsletter, we provide information on events, studies and news relating to sustainable agricultural supply chains. Subscribe to our newsletter and browse through previous issues here.
They have been on the shelves for weeks: gingerbread, dominoes, Santas. Chocolate products are booming again in the run-up to Christmas - a stretchable period for retailers from September to December. A new SWISSCO study shows what cocoa farming families gain (or don't gain) from this increased interest in chocolate. You can read about cocoa, soy, palm oil, EUDR and much more in this SASI newsletter.
We wish you happy and peaceful, relaxing and sweet holidays - with the products for whose fair and sustainable supply chains we have been working together all year.
We have exciting news: In mid-October 2024, INA became SASI. SASI stands for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains Initiative and in the new initiative we are pooling our expertise with two other GIZ projects - the AgriChains Global Project and the Fund for the Promotion of Innovation in Agriculture and Food Sector (i4Ag). SASI will continue to expand our range of services on agricultural supply chains and on important cross-cutting issues such as deforestation, regulation, gender equality, living income and digitalisation as well as on commodities in global agricultural supply chains. You are also welcome to take a look at our new SASI website, which provides a good overview of our work.
As usual, we offer you a wide range of information on global agricultural supply chains. We are taking the liberty of sending you this newsletter under a new name, as we know from your registration for the INA newsletter that you are interested in these topics.
We look forward to welcoming you as friends of the Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains Initiative (SASI).
Dear friends of the Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains,
Autumn is here - on our cover and at INA. We report on projects, reports and exhibitions on global agricultural supply chains in a colourful and varied way: from the role of the retail trade, INATrace as an app, coffee innovations and palm oil progress to an exhibition tip.
We hope you enjoy reading this issue,
Your Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains (INA)
Dear friends of the Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains,
It's not just late summer, but also the final instalment of our podcast. In this newsletter, we report on the final episode of ‘From the field to the shelf’. We also plan the next INA lunchbreak after the summer break, provide news for mountain bikers and lots more information and dates.
We hope you enjoy reading this issue,
Your Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains (INA)
Dear friends of the Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains,
Summertime is also harvest time. In the garden at home or on the balcony, you can see how much work goes into growing food. In this newsletter, we show that there is much more to global agricultural supply chains. Among other things, you can read about digitalization and interoperability, the transformation of food systems, a review of EURO2024 and funding opportunities for projects in agricultural supply chains.
We wish you a relaxing summer and lots of fun with your own small agricultural supply chains from your garden or balcony patch,
Your Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains (INA)
Dear friends of the Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains,
In Germany, it's all about football on the green grass. In other regions of the world, the soil is much less green than in the EURO2024 stadiums: this month's podcast deals with drought and desertification, the consequences of which are causing major problems in agriculture. We also provide information on projects for deforestation-free supply chains, BLE's participation in our lunch break, a toolbox for youth employment, a new book that you can take with you on vacation - and a bit of football along the way.
As always, we hope you enjoy reading,
Your Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains (INA)
Dear friends of the Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains,
It's summer! We have barbecues, picnics, sit in the garden with friends − we're simply outside. Many play frisbee and soccer outdoors or work on their fitness. Others have caught soccer fever and are going to public viewing events. This is because the European Men's Football Championship is taking place in Germany this year.
INA and its partners are looking at soccer and sport from a different perspective: we are asking how sustainable sport already is in Germany and what more can be done. A varied program of events, lectures and content-related contributions will explore this question. The "Football for Sustainability Summit" in July 2024 will be a highlight for German development cooperation. The "Sport for Development" (S4D) initiative will also be holding human rights education training sessions in Germany in the run-up to the soccer summer in order to promote a change of perspective among fans.
And "Vom Feld in den Fanshop" is featured in several media outlets, including Sky, the Frankfurter Rundschau and the DFL magazine. This project shows how sustainable supply chains for organic cotton are possible, from cultivation in India to the club shops of German soccer clubs.
We hope you enjoy the matches and hope for a fair and peaceful tournament,
Your team from the Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains
Go to the Special Newsletter Sport for development in the soccer summer
Dear friends of the Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains,
you can see rice on this month's cover. The white grain is one of the most important staple foods in Africa. During the study trip that we undertook to Ghana with 17 students from four universities, the participants saw rice not only on their plates, but also in cultivation in the Volta region. We report on this trip to the beginning of agricultural supply chains.
Furthermore, we talk about palm oil, cocoa and coffee, data standards and much more – and, of course, soccer in view of the upcoming European Championships.
We hope you enjoy reading and wish you a good start to June,
Your Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains (INA)
Dear friends of the Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains,
True to the saying "April does what it wants", the past month has seen many changes in the weather, some of them exceptionally severe and probably exacerbated by climate change. Find out how artificial intelligence can help combat climate change in our new podcast episode. Our INA cocoa experts have also worked with ALICO partner organizations to develop the CHIS methodology, which measures household incomes in the cocoa sector and the gap to a living income. We have also been working on supplementing the INA website in the area of gender equality.
Our April 2024 newsletter will deal with these and other topics.
We hope you enjoy reading it again and wish you a good start to May,
Your Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains (INA)
Dear Friends of the Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains,
the past month has seen many events and decisions. For example, after a long decision-making process, the EU member states agreed on a common EU supply chain law (CSDDD) – albeit with many compromises. International Women's Day was also celebrated. On this occasion, attention was drawn to the position and importance of women in agriculture, among other things.
This newsletter deals with these and other topics.
We hope you enjoy reading it and wish you a relaxing Easter period,
The Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains (INA)
Dear friends of the Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains,
Working together to achieve greater sustainability in global agricultural supply chains and improve the living conditions of smallholder farmers - that is INA's vision. To achieve this goal, compliance with human rights is essential, especially at the beginning of global supply chains. Since the introduction of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) and the EU Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR), companies in the processing, wholesale and retail sectors have been held accountable for their supply chains. To implement these laws, digital traceability systems are required that enable stakeholders in agricultural supply chains to transparently visualise the flow of goods as well as data on production, the exact location of the fields, quality and further processing. The entire journey of the product can thus be tracked from the country of production to import into the EU.
To ensure that farms and other actors in the supply chain do not have to collect and store data multiple times for different traceability systems, it is important to work on the interoperability of traceability solutions. Digital tools should use a uniform data standard to ensure a smooth flow of data. Without such a data standard, software providers would have to programme individual interfaces each time, and producing farmers would have to enter all data multiple times. In this context, it is crucial that producers remain in possession of their data and can use it, for example to access financial services. The importance of data sovereignty, particularly for actors at the beginning of the supply chain, is also emphasised in the BMZ study "Data sovereignty in agricultural value chains" published in August 2022.
With this special newsletter, we would like to provide an overview of the role of traceability systems and transparency in the context of existing due diligence laws, particularly regarding the impact on producers at the beginning of the supply chain. We offer references to further information, scientific studies, and videos to introduce a topic that is essential for the design of sustainable supply chains.
We wish you an inspiring read!
Your initiative for sustainable agricultural supply chains (INA)
Dear Friends of the Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains,
With colorful blossoms, spring is approaching. In this newsletter, we also offer you a colorful bouquet of information and hope that you can use it in your work for more sustainability in global agricultural supply chains.
As our next newsletter will be released shortly before Easter, and with the first Easter sweets already on the shelves, we would like to give you a nudge to purchase fair-traded and ecologically sustainable Easter bunnies, chocolate eggs, and flowers. By doing so, you not only bring joy to yourself and your loved ones but also support small farming families at the beginning of the supply chain.
But for now, enjoy reading this newsletter,
The Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains (INA)
Dear Friends of the Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains,
the new year is still young, but it has already got off to an eventful start. Visitors to the trade fair ‘Green Week’ were able to gain an overview of the most important topics in the field of agriculture. Numerous exciting presentations and discussions also took place at the BMZ stand. In addition, a coffee agreement was signed during the Green Week, which is intended to pave the way for a transformation of the coffee sector.
With the new year, our Lunchbreak also entered a new round. This time, the focus was on sustainability along spice supply chains, as illustrated by our cover picture. You will also find many other interesting topics and events in this issue of our newsletter.
Once again, we hope you enjoy reading this issue!
The Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains (INA)