We’re excited to let you know that, with considerable support and input from Bonsucro members and key stakeholders, the Bonsucro Production Standard and Calculator for Smallholder Farmers are in the final stages of development.

The new Standard & Calculator have been designed with the smallholder context in mind to ensure that smallholders around the world are able to contribute to the sustainable production of sugarcane.

The second round of public consultation closed with over 120 individual comments from all over the world, and three on-farm pilots with certification bodies were also held. The documents are now being reviewed by the Smallholder Steering Committee, the Technical Advisory Board and the Board of Directors.

Key features of the Smallholder Standard:

• Farm Diary with allowances for local application and a stepwise approach to data collection for non-core indicators (Performance-based)
• New principle on the organisation of farmers, designed to allow mills or farm groups to support smallholder farmers effectively and credibly
• Reframing of indicators for the smallholder context (applicability to a farmer or waged workers, focus on topics in the environmental impact and management plan, and more)