This podcast was originally published by Innovation Forum here.
In this podcast, Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh speaks to IDH’s Matthew Spencer, Proforest’s Ruth Nussbaum and Conservation International’s John Buchanan to discuss the landscape approach collaborative platform SourceUp that links global sourcing companies with grower communities.
SourceUp is a new platform for supply chain sustainability management, that aims to connect landscapes with global commodity markets and their buyers. It also makes it easier for companies who want to act in production landscapes and easier for producers in those communities to connect to markets and for greater collaboration.
Support for SourceUp comes from Proforest and Conservation International, plus there are 20 registered buyers already on the platform, such as Unilever and PepsiCo sourcing from these landscapes. These are not just IDH landscapes but can be from any organisation, whether it’s local or international.
IDH focus on trying to transform business models in the commodities sector, food commodities principally, and started off with a value chain approach to thinking about how to improve distribution and make it work better for smallholder farmers. Landscapes is an evolution of that as it allows for testing and innovation on the ground and finding local partners.
Stakeholders in producing regions can use SourceUp to build coalitions for sustainable development at the landscape level (Compacts) and a compact is an agreement between 3 parties in producing regions: farmers; sourcing companies; and government. The compact must agree to a plan, such as what is their forest protection objectives in that landscape, what their inclusion objectives are such as improved income for farmers, and strong focus on productivity. Protection, production and inclusion are part of the plan that is governed by the 3 parties and they ultimately decide what success looks like.