Regenerative agriculture is gaining momentum across the consumer goods industry. As these projects develop, a wealth of auditing, monitoring and certification programmes  and monitoring tools have emerged that validate and demonstrate on-farm progress. For consumer goods companies, sifting through these programmes can drain valuable time and resources.

To bring more clarity to these options, the Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI), in collaboration with Peterson Solutions, is developing a voluntary baseline criteria for regenerative agriculture auditing, monitoring and certification programmes. 

The initiative aims to build a common reference baseline that reflects different regional agro-ecological contexts. Grounding this voluntary baseline criteria in real-world farming ensures that sustainability claims are both realistic and verifiable.

Driven by industry insights

The regenerative agriculture criteria are not being built in a vacuum but are shaped by extensive research and broad stakeholder engagement across the industry. Since the launch of the project the team has: 

• Analysed 20+ existing regenerative agriculture programmes and voluntary standards to evaluate improvements, outcomes, and field approaches,
• Gathered direct insights through 15+ interviews with CGF member companies as well as relevant standard owners to identify common ground, 
• Deployed a targeted industry survey to capture diverse perspectives from across the agri-food value chain.

The SSCI member companies based their work on  the definition of regenerative agriculture established by a key CGF member, the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA):

“A holistic farming approach that aims to restore and enhance the natural resilience of agroecosystems while supporting the long-term health and viability of agricultural businesses and communities. The foundation of this farming system is the integrated management of soil health, biodiversity, water resources, human health and climate. ”

Why this matters to your business

If your company manages or sources from agricultural supply chains, this voluntary tool can inform your corporate sourcing decisions and support long-term supply chain resilience. 

Call to action: we need your input

We invite you to share your corporate perspective to ensure these final voluntary baseline criteria on regenerative-agricaulture are robust, practical, and operationally viable for global businesses.

Reach out directly to the SSCI team to share feedback, ask questions, or participate in the final alignment discussions.