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Adapting a Global Sustainability Standard for U.S. Rice Production

USA Rice Meeting, San Antonio, Texas

December 2017

Demonstrating Leadership of U.S. Rice

Farmers in Sustainable Production

White River

Irrigation District

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FUNDERS:

PARTNERS:

START DATE:

END DATE:

WEBSITE:

U.S. Department of Agriculture NRCS; Entergy Corporation and Partner Contributions

Mid-South Rice Growers; White River Irrigation District; Winrock International and it’s America Carbon Registry; Environmental Defense Fund; Carbon Credit Solutions; University of Arkansas; Mississippi State University; Arkansas State University; Entergy Corporation and the USDA Agricultural Research Service

January 2016

December 2018

White River

Irrigation District

https://www.winrock.org/ms/winrock-sustainable-rice-initiative/?pid=18784

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Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development

Non-profit organization that works in the U.S. and around the world to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic

opportunity, and sustain natural resources

• 1985 merger of Winrock Int’l Livestock

Research & Training Center,

International Ag Development Service,

and Ag Development Council

• Rockefeller family tradition of agricultural

research and extension, yield

improvement, global food security

• Seeking ways to connect farmers to new

markets, enhance competitiveness,

maintain/increase yields

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Winrock’s Rice History via American Carbon Registry (ACR)

2009 Energy Foundation Grant

Assessment of carbon market opportunities for

rice growers in Arkansas

2011 USDA Conservation Innovation Grant

Develop a measurement, monitoring, reporting

and verification methodology to demonstrate

GHG (methane) emission reductions from rice

production in the U.S.

2015 California Air Resources Board adopts

ACR’s rice offset methodology as the first crop-

based protocol for CA regulated carbon market

2017 ACR awards U.S. rice growers the world’s first carbon offsets from

sustainable rice production: substantial water savings as well!

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Sustainability Initiative for U.S. Rice

❖2016 USDA Conservation Innovation Grant providing funding for a rice farmer-led initiative to develop and pilot a sustainability standard / certification for U.S. rice.

❖ Primary objective: to create an inclusive, voluntary process for U.S. rice growers to demonstrate environmental stewardship and global leadership through a standardized, rigorous, credible, transparent and independent standard / certification process.

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Industry Survey

Acknowledge consumers’

demand for more

sustainable products and the

value added from

communicating sustainable

sources to customers

• 22 Grower Responses

• 6 Buyer Responses

• Buyers represent 75%

of all U.S. rice

purchases

• Kellogg, Nestle,

Unilever, Anheuser

Busch & Walmart

Agree their company accepts

corporate responsibility and

works to engage with

sustainable suppliers AND

are more likely to do

business with sustainable

suppliers

have purchased

sustainable rice and plan

to in the future

33%

Have not purchased

sustainable rice b/c

they have not found a

seller of a sustainable

product

67%

only

2 of those

growers

received a

premium for

their sustainable

rice

29%of growers

91%

already engage in multiple

conservation programs on

their operation to increase

sustainability

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Activities and Progress to Date

1. Launch of the initiative and first meeting with Steering Committee

(March 2016)

2. Review of existing standards and certifications (March-June

2016)

3. Decision to adapt SRP for U.S. (June 2016)

4. Outreach to SRP (June 2016 ongoing) and USA Rice Federation

(May 2016 ongoing)

5. U.S. rice industry survey (July 2016 – Dec 2016)

6. Research and Field Engagement (July 2016-June 2017)

7. Iterative SRP adaptation and testing process (July 2016-June

2017)

8. Development of automated scoring tool (April 2017-June 2017)

9. Steering Committee meeting (July 2017)

10. Evidence requirements for assurance (July 2017 in process)

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Review of Options for the U.S.

1) Field to Market

U.S. industry and growers engaged in the platform

Not global, not farm-level and not a certification of sustainable practices, limited claims

2) Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI)

In use by some buyers

Not specific to rice as a crop and not a certification

3) Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP)

Globally recognized, relevant and robust sustainability certification specific to rice production; Buyers engaged

Does not reflect growing conditions and practices in U.S. rice production

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Sustainable Rice Platform

❖Co-convened by UNEP and IRRI

❖Focus on small holder farms in SE Asia

❖Self-reported, questionnaire format

❖Establishes essential principles for defining sustainability

❖Establishes guiding principles, action areas and performance

indicators

❖Assurance program and allowable claims in development

http://www.sustainablerice.org/Resources/#srp-standard

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Objective of Adapting the SRP for the U.S.

❖Maintain a common

platform from which U.S.

rice growers can objectively

claim the sustainability of

their production practices

as conforming to

internationally recognized

standards

❖ Include relevant U.S.

Federal and State

programs that are fully

aligned with SRP principles

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Adaptation of the SRP

❖SRP-U.S. has been developed to be fully embedded within the

Global SRP: All Guiding Principles, Activity Areas, Performance

Indicators, Questions, Scoring and Essential Performance levels

remain in place

❖To reflect U.S. production practices, six (6) new performance

indicators were added (Air Quality, Soil Quality, Habitat

Preservation, Habitat Enhancement and Carbon Sequestration)

❖Additionally, wording changes were made to reference how

practices are implemented in the U.S. in particular to align with the

USDA NRCS Conservation Practice Standard: Environmental

Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Conservation Stewardship

Program (CSP) practices

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Sustainable Rice Platform

Farm Management

Pre-planting

Water Use

Nutrient Management

Pest Management

Harvest and Post Harvest

Health and Safety

Labor

7

% 14

%

11

%

11%

11%

16

%

14

%

16

%

8 Activity Areas 12 Performance Indicators

➢Profitability

➢Yield

➢Labor Rights

➢Water Quality

➢Food Safety

➢Nutrients

➢Pesticides

➢GHG Emissions

➢Biodiversity

➢Health and Safety

➢Community

➢Child Labor

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The SRP-U.S. references 34 different EQIP practices

(called Conservation Practice Standards) in the areas of

Habitat Preservation and Enhancement, Soil Health, Pest

Management, Water Management and Nutrient

Management.Examples:

CSP 464 - Irrigation and Land Leveling

CSP 590 – Nutrient Management

CSP 595 – Integrated Pest Management

CSP 449 – Irrigation Water Management

USDA Conservation

Practice Standards

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Scoring for U.S. Pratices

The SRP is currently percentage-based out of 132 points (“Sustainable Rice” is 90%-100%). Various scoring options were considered for U.S. growers. The decision was made to maintain the core SRP points & allocate separately the U.S. practice points

❖ Allows U.S. growers to score themselves on the same system as

growers in other countries, so U.S. growers receive an SRP score and

buyers have an “apples to apples” comparison on core areas where all

growers overlap.

❖ Allows for transparency with stakeholders during the adaptation and

piloting phases and with users in interpreting scores.

❖ Avoids misalignment with SRP priorities through redistribution of points

when developing a new scoring system.

❖ Allows better visualization of incremental improvement in U.S. specific

areas by providing a larger numeric scale for these questions.

❖ More easily allows updates and additions to the U.S. specific questions

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REQUIREMENT

CATEGORY

SRP POINTS

(%)

US TOTAL POINTS

(%) US PRACTICE POINTS

Farm Management 9 (7%) 10 (6%) 1

Pre-planting 18 (14%) 30 (19%) 12

Water Use 15 (11%) 21 (13%) 6

Nutrient Manage-

ment

15 (11%) 18 (11%) 3

Pest Management 15 (11%) 21 (13%) 6

Harvest & Post-

harvest

21 (16%) 21 (13%) 0

Health & Safety 18 (14%) 20 (12%) 2

Labor 21 (16%) 21 (13%) 0

TOTAL 132 (100%) 162 (100%) 30

SRP Scoring + U.S. Practice Points

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Sustainable Rice Claims

SRP CLAIM* SRP CONDITIONS

Working toward sustainable

rice cultivation

A grower scores between 10 and 99, but does not

meet the essential performance level of one or more

requirements.

AND

A grower has increased his/her score by 10 points

compared with the previous year.

Sustainably cultivated rice A grower scores at least 90 and meets all essential

performance levels for all applicable requirements.

US-SRC CLAIM* US-SRC CONDITIONS

US-Sustainably cultivated rice

A grower meets SRP sustainably cultivated rice claim

AND

A grower scores at least 50% of U.S. practice points

in US-SRC questionare.

AND

A grower maintains or increases scores from the

previous year.

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Tracking Updates in U.S. SRP Adaptation

Black text – no change from the SRP or

no change from meaning and intent of

SRP; several questions were organized

differently for clarity

Red text - slight change in the SRP

language to reflect U.S. conditions,

practices, terminology

Blue text - new language or new U.S.

practice levels were added to an SRP

question

NEW! - Completely new question added

to account for U.S. conditions and

practices

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WATER USE

NO. IMPACT REQUIREMENT LEVEL(S) OF COMPLIANCE POINTS

17 Water

Quantity

Irrigation system

The farm irrigation system

complies with the following

applicable conditions:

The irrigation system has

sufficient internal canals and/or

pipelines for supply and

draining,

Canals and dikes are

inspected regularly and

identified leaks are repaired,

and

Water control structures are

regularly inspected and

maintained

☐ a) Compliance with all of the listed applicable conditions

(NRCS Conservation Practice Standard 449, 428,430,

436, 587 apply)

☐ b) Compliance with at least two of the listed applicable

conditions.

☐ c) Not a or b.

A (3) *

B (1)

C (0)

Example: Slight Change in SRP Language

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PRE-PLANTING

NO. IMPACT REQUIREMENT LEVEL(S) OF COMPLIANCE POINTS

12 Profitability

Yield

Leveling

Rice is cultivated on zero grade or

precision leveled land up to 0.2%

within the slope of the field.

If rice is cultivated on naturally

sloping land:

Contour levees will be used at

0.2% or less slope along with

side-inlet

Rice is row watered using pipe

planner

Contour levees will be used at

0.2% or less slope and cascade

flooding technique is used.

In case of nearly level land (<3% gradient):

☐ a) At least 75 % of rice acres are zero grade or

precision leveled

☐ b) 50-75% of rice acres are zero grade or

precision leveled

☐ c) 25-50% of rice acres are zero grade or

precision leveled

☐ d) Proof that efforts have been made to level

land (but not zero-grade or precision leveled) less

than 3 years ago

☐ e) Proof that efforts have been made to level

land ( but not zero-grade or precision leveled)

more than 3 years ago

☐ f) Land has not been leveled

In case of sloping land (>3% gradient):

☐ g) Contour and straight levees using plastic

pipe

☐ h) Rice is irrigated using row watering

techniques (pipe planner or other similar

technologies to control water flow)

☐ i) Soil Conservation Techniques are used (e.g.

contour farming, cover cropping and installation of

erosion barriers)

☐ j) No soil conservation practices are used

A (6)

B (5)

C (4)

D (3)

E (2) *

F (0)

G (5)

H (4)

I (2) *

J (0)

Example: New U.S. Practice Levels and Points

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PRE-PLANTING

NO. IMPACT REQUIREMENT LEVEL(S) OF COMPLIANCE POINTS

11

NEW!

Biodiversity

Habitat

Enhancement

Water Quality

Buffer zone/ filter strips

Growers have implemented

conservation measures to enhance

wildlife habitat, reduce soil erosion

and increase water quality.

Established or extended riparian

buffer or filter strips including

grass turn rows

Established diverse native

vegetation and controlling

invasive species in stream side

cover

☐ a) Establish one of the listed elements (left).

The following NRCS Conservation Practice

Standards and associated CSP enhancements

apply.

314 Brush Management

315 Herbaceous Weed Management

386 Field Border

390 Riparian Herbaceous Cover

393 Filter Strips

391 Riparian Forest Buffer

412 Grassed Waterway

☐ b) Establish none of the listed elements (left)

(A) 1

(B) 0

Example: New U.S. Practice Levels and Points

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New U.S. Feature:Impact Quantification

Buyers interested to make credible supply chain impact claims –

SRP has not yet addressed this for any indicators

❖U.S. SRP will include quantification of GHG and water use to allow

growers to make sustainability claims and buyers to aggregate

credible impact claims

❖For GHG emissions, the quantification will be based on a simplified

new tool based on the complex ACR carbon offset methodology,

which uses a biogechemical model (LOE and cost very high to

provide data, undertake model runs and substantiate data points as

part of the verification process)

❖For water use, the quantification approach is in development

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Rice GHG Impact Quantification

▪ Meta-analysis of available measurement and modeling data in

published and not yet published scientific literature

▪ Sensitivity analysis based on the DNDC input and output data

from the first carbon offset projects to understand what inputs

impact emissions reductions

▪ Development of regional and practice specific emissions factors

through bulk DNDC model runs (44,790!) based on combinations

of key inputs: soil type, climate conditions and management

practices in each of the rice regions

▪ The various combinations of emissions factors will be embedded

in an easy-to-use tool with minimum inputs or evidence that will

provide GHG quantification sufficiently rigorous to make a supply

chain GHG emissions reduction claim

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Development Process

Content

Limited

Piloting

Scoring

Limited

Piloting

Assurance

Limited

Piloting

Public

Comment

Period and

Broad

Piloting

SRP Revisions, Assurance

Process and U.S. Pilots

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Assurance and Claims

Definition: AssuranceA tool to verify compliance

❖ “Demonstrable evidence of

conformance with a standard

❖First-level, second-level or third-

level review of documents and

conduct physical inspection or

lab tests (ie: verification)

❖Assessment provides information

for decision on validity of and

rigor of claim

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Assurance and Claims

Self Assessed – Entities assess their own performance against the standard

• Example claim: “This entity has been self-assessed to meet X Standard”

• Does not allow for specific sustainability claims or labels

Second Party Assurance – The assessment is carried out by a party that is related to

the entity, for example, another grower via peer review, a customer, industry

association or the scheme owner.

• Example claim: “This entity has been assessed by X and found to meet Y

Standard”

• Does not allow for “third-party certified” claim; SRP will not allow use of SRP label

(proposed)

Third-party Assurance – The assessment is performed by a person or body that is

independent of the person or organization that provides the object of assurance, the

enterprise being assesses and of user interests in that object.

• Example claim: “This entity is certified to X Standard” (ie: SRP Certified

Sustainably Produced Rice)

• Allows for highest level of claim including on-package label

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Assurance and Claims

❖ Claims and Assurance are connected: The complexity and cost of an

assurance system as well as the entities that are allowed to conduct

assurance activities in the system, depend on the claims that are to be

made (on package and off-package)

❖ Neither the SRP nor the U.S. Sustainability Initiative have determined

their assurance and claims structure; Both entities are conducting pilots

in 2018 to inform the structure

❖ Based on pilots and interest of buyers for different options, U.S. growers

can select an option for assurance level including claims structure.

❖ There may (or may not) be a separate claim / label from what is allowed

for SRP for U.S. growers that meet SRP-US requirements

MOST

AWESOM

E

RICECertified

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Future Steps

1. Evidence requirements and assurance and claims

program (in process in coordination with SRP)

2. Public stakeholder consultation process (Q4 & Q1

2018)

3. Publication of Rice GHG Impact Tool for rigorous,

evidence-based quantification of GHG emissions

reductions (Q1 2018)

4. Development of water quantification methods and

tool (Q1 & Q2 2018)

5. Pilot testing of SRP + US Practices + Impacts (Q2 &

Q3 2018)

6. Overall refinements and enhancements (Q3 2018)

7. Launch of online portal for SRP + US Practices and

Impacts Scoring (Q4 2018)

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Public Comment Period

Winrock and partners invite and encourage feedback on the revision of the SRP for the U.S.

Documents are available at:

https://www.winrock.org/ms/winrock-sustainable-rice-initiative/?pid=18789

Please send comments by February 15, 2018 toSustainablerice@Winrock.org

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THANK YOUMargaret Williams

Margaret.Williams@winrock.org

/winrockinternational

@WinrockIntl

/company/Winrock-International