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Strategic partnership for customized sustainability assessments in the food sector

Media release

Members of FiBL, HAFL and SFS are gathered around a table, two people are sitting at the table and signing a contract.

Signing of the contract. From left to right: Jan Grenz, Lecturer Sustainability/Coordinator RISE HAFL, Matthias Stolze, Head of Department Socio-economics FiBL, Urs Niggli, Director of FiBL, Urs Scheidegger, Head of Deaprtment Master Studies HAFL, Magdalena Schindler Stokar, Director of HAFL, Moritz Teriete, General Manager of SFS. (Photo: BFH-HAFL)

Members of FiBL, HAFL and SFS are standing in front of a wall at the School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences.

FiBL, HAFL and SFS work together for the advancement of sustainability assessments. (Photo: BFH-HAFL)

Tailored sustainability solutions from a single source - a new offer for customers in the agricultural and food industries. With this goal, the School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL and the Sustainable Food Systems GmbH SFS have formed a strategic partnership.

(Frick, 22.01.2016) The successful cooperation over several years between HAFL and FiBL was expanded into a strategic partnership and extended by including the SFS as a partner. The aim is to jointly advance the research and development of practical tools for sustainability analyses and to strengthen knowledge creation and transfer between research and practice.

Who benefits from the new offer?

  • Farmers and food companies receive an objective assessment of their own sustainability performance, which they can efficiently optimize and communicate.
  • Associations, governmental bodies and other interested parties receive a reliable appraisal of the sustainability of agricultural value chains. They can then compare enterprises, companies and production systems and provide them with targeted advice and support measures.

Through this collaboration, actors of the agri-food industry will benefit from the longstanding expertise of all three partners and from their optimally coordinated instruments and methods for sustainability assessment. HAFL contributes to the partnership with its instrument RISE, which has been used in agricultural advisory services with great success since the 90s. FiBL and the SFS bring the assessment method SMART, which has been successfully tested on the market over the past two years. The joint competences of the three partners enable provision of a range of services: from research and development; and individual analysis and consulting; through to external assessment and communication of sustainability performance.

Further information

Contacts

  • Dr. Jan Grenz, Project Manager RISE, Bern University of Applied Sciences, School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL, Tel. +41 (0)31 910 21 99, Dr. Christian Schader, FiBL Switzerland, Coordinator sustainability

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