RTRS - Did you know that the RTRS…

Did you know that the RTRS…

At the General Assembly in June of this year, the members of the RTRS approved version 1.0 of the RTRS Standard

At the beginning of 2011 RTRS soy will be available for the market place, RTRS certified.

Grew with 27 new members in 2010.

The RTRS now counts with 141 members in 20 different countries, including important retailers in Europe and the number one soy importer of China.

The RTRS officially registered as an Association in November of 2006. Click here to see the roadmap it has and continues to follow.

The RTRS achieved a broad producer representation in the main South American soy producing countries Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

After field trials in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and India, in 2010 the RTRS is preparing national interpretations and field trials in Bolivia and China.

In August 2010 the RTRS is launching RTRS Standard implementation training programs for producers, in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and other countries.

During the second semester of 2010 the following mechanisms will be finalized and put in place:

- Certification system available for producers to implement the RTRS Standard at company level
- A mechanism for the Chain of Custody with the different options.
  For the physical flow of soy: Mass Balance site level and Segregation.
  For non-physical flow: a Certification Trade Platform will be created (comparable with Book & Claim of the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil, through which certificates are being sold and bought on a virtual platform).

The RFA did a benchmarking of the revised RTRS Principles and Criteria against the RTFO Sustainability Meta-Standard and based on this benchmark, RTRS meets its environmental qualifying standard level. RTRS also meets the full social Meta-Standard, being the first benchmarked standard to achieve that.

The Dutch supermarkets choose for responsible soy: The Dutch Food Retail Association – CBL – has launched the 'CBL-Action plan on Responsible Soy.’ For the production of own brand meat, dairy products and eggs only responsible soy must be used.

The most important five global traders ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, and Wilmar International are now RTRS members.

10% of the RTRS membership is from the Biofuels sector.

In order to obtain recognition from the European Commission for the EU-RED (Directive of Renewable Energies), the RTRS will submit its application in the first round, once the Commission begins the process of evaluation of voluntary standards. For that objective, the RTRS Biofuels Working Group developed an EU-RED add-on. The add-on contains all requirements of the directive, and will be optional for those farmers that produce soy for biofuels to be exported to one of the European Union member states.

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What is the RTRS Standard?

The RTRS Standard is a set of principles, criteria (P&C) and indicators that regulates the process of responsible soy production. It involves social and environmental aspects as well as responsible relations with local communities and best agricultural practices. The scope of the RTRS Standard for Responsible Soy Production was approved last June.