70% of the world’s freshwater resources are used for agriculture. As pressure on this limited resource grows, agricultural supply chains will depend on a sustainable approach to water management. As a result, food system stakeholders are now expected to provide evidence documenting their efforts to manage water risks and promote sustainable practices.
SPRING is a farm-level add-on which helps producers, retailers, and traders demonstrate their commitment to sustainable water management and can be implemented together with the GLOBALG.A.P. IFA standard for Crops. SPRING incorporates a wide range of criteria to assess sustainable water management on the farm. These include:
- Legal conformity of water sources and extraction rates
- Monitoring of water consumption
- Impact of producers on sustainable watershed management
- Best practices in water management
- Protection of water sources
- Measures to demonstrate continuous improvement of water management
Producers who successfully implement the SPRING add-on receive a certificate of conformity, which is also visible in the GLOBALG.A.P. database. Authorized supply chain stakeholders can also access the full audit report as a "SPRING observer" via the GLOBALG.A.P. database.
The SPRING add-on was originally developed by the Swiss retailer Coop in 2016 in collaboration with GLOBALG.A.P. The ownership of the standard was officially transferred to GLOBALG.A.P. in July 2019
Legal conformity of water sources and extraction rates
Monitoring of water consumption
Impact of producers on sustainable watershed management
Best practices in water management
Protection of water sources
Measures to demonstrate continuous improvement of water management
Certification Options:
- Option 1 – Individual producer without qms
- Option 1 – Individual producer with a qms and
- Option 2 - Group
EUROCERT certificates are accepted and recognized by supermarket chains in European Market.
EUROCERT offers the option of simultaneous inspection for more than one standards/protocols to reduce costs.
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