31st May 2024

Bonsucro Global Week 2024, in Mexico, was our biggest and most diverse conference to date, with 250 participants from more than 30 countries. As always, attendees represented the entire sugarcane supply chain, but also civil society, certification bodies, training providers and research bodies.

As a global community, representing many contexts, challenges, and voices, getting together was a unique – and essential – opportunity to hear a variety of perspectives and learn from each other.

The Mexican context

The event took place in Cuernavaca, Morelos state, a location that has a rich history and offers the country’s best sugarcane quality. It was an important place for the Mexican agrarian revolution in the 1910-20s, which facilitated land ownership by smallholder farmers.

Amid the heatwave currently happening in Mexico, several representatives of the national industry highlighted the severe environmental challenges faced in the country, like droughts and extreme heat.

We heard about the ways producers are responding, for instance by implementing more efficient uses of water, reducing chemical fertilisers and enforcing stronger health and safety measures. “Sustainable agricultural practices help us maintain our production but also stay competitive. We can’t change our practices overnight so we must go step-by-step,” said José Américo Saviñón Sánchez.

As explained by Dr Luis Ramiro Garcia, of the National Committee for Sugarcane, production is on a downward trend due to the climatic conditions. Collaboration, innovation and the implementation of practices that increase efficiency are key to mitigating those challenges and building resilience. This is where certification plays an important role.

The crucial role of communicating for change

The importance of communication as a collective effort echoed throughout the themes we explored. As a sector, we need to get to know each other better, across the supply chain and across geographies.

As a global community, Bonsucro offers a unique platform to share successes and challenges and learn from each other.

This year’s agenda included stories from the field, giving certified producers the floor to share their journeys. For instance, Fabio Soldera shared some of the challenges faced by Canaoeste, such as the need to create change in habits and culture among rural workers to embed  sustainable practices. Their story is an important reminder of how we need to listen to farmers, and can’t expect change to happen overnight.

This point was also echoed in the breakout session exploring our Smallholder roadmap. Smallholder farmers are the root of the sugarcane supply chain and require appropriate support. With contexts varying considerably between countries, and even regions, we can’t adopt a one-size-fits-all approach. As we develop our Smallholder Roadmap and the Production Standard for Smallholder Farmers, we need to understand these differences to ensure our approach is realistic and inclusive.

The finance sector can help here. Rafael Kalaki told us about Socicana’s Green Rural Credit, in cooperation with Sicoob Coopercredi. The programme offers better interest rates based on farmers’ level of sustainability, helping farmers to increase their revenues and reduce costs for their working capital. The discussion that followed highlighted the importance of educating major commercial banks’ sustainability teams about Bonsucro and  on empowering producers to advocate for more support from the finance sector.

To foster further experience sharing, we held a Members’ Town Hall, offering our members the chance to openly talk with our Board and Members’ Council about their priorities and challenges. The highly positive feedback reiterated the need for such a space.

Beyond experiences and stories, communication also provides valuable data. This was one of the takeaways from the session ‘Embracing innovation’, exploring the role of technology in advancing sustainable practices in sugarcane, which showed strong appetite for open-source data sharing.

“It is clear that each actor in the value chain needs to join the conversation and contribute; complementarity is key to success.” María Canchola, Verité

Accelerating environmental and climate action

As companies look for more ways to decarbonise their operations and minimise their environmental impact, we saw strong interest in our  ClimateCane Tracker. Sixty people joined our workshop to explore the tool and how it could help them set greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets in line with science. We see a lot of potential in the tool, especially since GHG accounting is now mandatory for end-users.

In a separate breakout session, we explored what is meant by the term regenerative agriculture. Robyn Cooper presented SAI Platform’s framework, indicating the main thematic areas and indicators of regenerative agriculture. Bonsucro will be working with this framework in the coming months to test its applicability to the sugarcane sector and how it can help guide members in their regenerative agriculture efforts.

There’s a strong link between regenerative agriculture practices and climate mitigation, as pointed out by Thiago Fraga of Yara. We heard firsthand experience from Australian independent farmer, Robert Quirk, on his use of regenerative practices on his farm in Australia.

During our field trip at Biofabrica Siglo XXI, one of the leading agro-biotechnological companies in Mexico, we learned all about soils and biofertilisers. Sugarcane growers who have applied their product have seen 30% to 40% higher yields, compared to those who used chemical fertilisers. It was inspiring to see how the biofertilisers work in different plants, and learn about their impact on carbon sequestration through Biofabrica’s current project, supported by the Bonsucro Impact Fund.

Supporting people on the ground

The field trip also offered a practical opportunity to step into the shoes of cane workers, thanks to Proforest who offered participants to try out PPE equipment used for sugarcane cutting.

“It was eye-opening to try on PPE needed by sugarcane cutters and to attempt to comprehend the conditions under which they work.” Karen Thivya Lourdes, Nestlé

Challenges around labour conditions and human rights still exist in the sector. In a session about human rights due diligence, we questioned the current state of the value chain and what going beyond due diligence could look like. Again, the solutions put forward reiterated the role of collaboration and communication:

1. Working proactively and comprehensively to address root causes (looking at impacts and potential solutions from different areas, e.g. health, education, labour rights, livelihoods).
2. Raising awareness of human rights and due diligence systems throughout supply chains, including tier 2 and 3 suppliers, and explaining the role of companies in respecting human rights and influencing partners.
3. Amplifying workers’ voices in democratic and inclusive ways, helping to build trust across NGOs, private companies and government.

A major point that sparked was the vital role of collaboration to scale up human rights programmes.

“If products are not sustainably produced, we won’t have them. It’s the right thing to do. We should make sure people in the fields are safe,” said Sasha-Monique Elvik, Vinmonopolet

Thank you for a successful Bonsucro Week

We’d like to thank everyone who participated in this year’s Bonsucro Global Week for making it a success. Thanks to the speakers and moderators for sharing your perspectives and facilitating such insightful and thought-provoking discussions.

“An exceptional platform to learn, be inspired, and connect with industry leaders who share a commitment to sustainability” Darlin Mejía, Grupo Pantaleon

“We had the opportunity to discover amazing projects in technology, innovation, and development, and make connections with key players in the sector.” Nathalia Granada Del Castillo, HSEQ

“Thank you for these spaces that encourage collaborative learning, the exchange of experiences and the creation of strategic alliances.” Maria M. Maldonado, Grupo Manuelita

We extend our gratitude to the event sponsors Yara, Proforest, Pantaleon, Biofabrica Siglo XXI, Syngenta, Flor de Caña, Water-to-Go, and to our media partners, ATAM, Chinimandi and SugarAsia.