Certification has had a huge impact in bringing sustainability to the forefront of business thinking, but it must continue to evolve to provide more value to farmers and companies and ensure that people and nature can thrive in harmony.
That's why the Rainforest Alliance launched its new Certification Program, which entered into force in July 2021. The Sustainable Agriculture Standard, along with its assurance and technology systems, are data-powered, and based on the principles of continuous improvement, risk-based assurance, contextualization, and shared responsibility. This is how we can deliver more value to the two million farmers and thousands of businesses that use Rainforest Alliance certification to drive more sustainable agricultural production and responsible supply chains.
The certification program is part of the Rainforest Alliance’s strategy to drive sustainability at scale in the sectors in which we operate through interconnected interventions supporting certification, tailored supply chain services, landscapes and communities, and advocacy.
Key priorities of our cocoa strategy are assurance, shared responsibility, supply chain transparency, and profitability and resilience.
How we have tailored the implementation and verification of standards requirements on child labor and forced labor to the risk exposure of each farm.
Our shared responsibility approach aims to distribute benefits and costs of certification more evenly between farmers and companies.
Begin your journey of certification with the Rainforest Alliance.
Find out what Ugandan coffee exporter, Kyagalanyi Coffee, had to say about the new program—from the improvements to the challenges.
After teaming up for an early implementation pilot of our strengthened certification program, both Finca Esmeralda and the Rainforest Alliance took away learnings that will contribute to a more sustainable banana sector.
Rainforest Alliance certification is carried out by our authorized certification bodies. Find an authorized certification body in your county.
SA-GL-SD-1 The glossary of the terms used in the documents of the Rainforest Alliance Certification Program. The terms that are underlined in the Standard, are covered in the Glossary. For Version 1.3, published on February 6th, 2023, please see the adapted terms below: TERM WHAT CHANGED? Average of ≥ 5 hired workers (Applicable for Small […]
The Sustainable Agriculture Standard’s Supply Chain Requirements aim to foster transparency and responsible business practices among companies from farm to shelf.
The Farm Requirements of our new Sustainable Agriculture Standard are designed to help farmers protect the landscapes where they live and work, while offering an enhanced framework to improve their livelihoods and advance the human rights of rural people.
SA-S-SD-19 This annex includes additional binding content related to the implementation of the Requirements in Chapter 1 of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard: Management. This document includes: Collecting Geolocation Data (Previous Annex S17) (Related to requirements 1.2.12 and 1.2.13) When the Standards V1.3 was published on February 6th 2023, the content of this document remained unchanged.
SA-S-SD-20 This annex includes additional binding content related to the implementation of the Requirements in Chapter 2 of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard: Traceability. This document includes: Traceability (Previous Annex S06) (Related to requirements 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3) The new version (v1.2) was published in order to add that mass balance is now permitted for cashews […]
SA-S-SD-21 This annex includes additional binding content related to the implementation of the Requirements in Chapter 3 of the Sustainable Agriculture Standard: Shared Responsibility. This document includes: Shared Responsibility (Previous Annex S14) (Related to requirements 3.2 and 3.3) This updated version of Annex Chapter 3 was published in order to clarify that for bananas and […]