Sustainability
Commitments with a number against each.
A target without a baseline and a current figure is marketing. These are measured annually, published, and audited alongside our certifications.
Where we actually are
Current position, not aspiration
26%
Water reduction achieved
against 2021 baseline; target 40% by 2028
780ha
Under drip irrigation
of 1,240 ha total
3.6%
Mean soil organic matter
estate plots, 2025 measurement
340
Smallholder partners
on three-year agreements
Three commitments
What we have committed to, and by when
Each has a target date. We publish the current figure annually whether or not it flatters us.
Water: 40% reduction by 2028
Currently 26% below our 2021 baseline through closed-loop washing and drip irrigation on 780 of 1,240 hectares.
Soil: organic matter above 3.5%
Cover cropping and pulp composting across all estate plots. Measured annually per plot and published in the impact report.
Growers: above-market floor price
340 smallholder partners on multi-year agreements with a floor price 12% above the regional average, paid within 7 days.
The floor price
What the grower commitment actually costs
We pay 340 smallholder partners a floor price 12% above the regional average, within seven days, on agreements that run three years.
When the market sits above our floor, the commitment costs nothing and we pay the market. That is most years. In 2023 the market fell below the floor for nine months and the commitment cost roughly 4% of divisional gross margin.
In 2024, when supply was short and competitors could not fill containers, none of our 340 partners sold elsewhere. A floor price that can be withdrawn when it becomes expensive is not a floor price — the three-year term is the entire asset.
- Floor price 12% above regional average, published
- Payment within 7 days of intake
- Three-year agreements, renewed on the same terms
- Cost in 2023: approximately 4% of divisional gross margin
Where we are behind
Two things we have not solved
A sustainability page that reports only progress is not reporting.
Packaging is still largely virgin material
Jute and GrainPro liners are not recycled content, and the alternatives we have tested do not hold moisture specification across a six-week sea transit. We have no credible date for changing this and will not invent one.
Scope 3 emissions are estimated, not measured
Freight emissions are modelled from shipping-line averages rather than measured per container. We are working with two carriers on actual figures, but today the number in our report is an estimate and it is labelled as one.
Next step
Ask us for the numbers behind any of this.
Including the two we are behind on. We would rather have that conversation before you buy than after your own ESG team asks.
We reply within 1 business day, with the data rather than a brochure.