From field to food: building sustainable agricultural supply chains with ISCC PLUS
Agriculture is at the beginning of the most essential value chains in our daily lives, with food and feed coming to mind first. When combined with agricultural raw materials used for bioenergy and bio-based materials, it forms the foundation for a wide range of products indispensable to life.
At ISCC, we certify sustainable and transparent global supply chains in many different sectors. Whether it is crop production for biofuels or bio-based packaging, natural rubber for tyre manufacturing, or olive oil for your salad, and tomatoes for your pasta sauce, many ISCC-certified value chains share a common starting point: the farm and plantation level.
This article marks the start of a new series exploring the role of ISCC PLUS in enabling sustainable and traceable food and feed supply chains.
Agriculture as the foundation of ISCC-certified supply chains
Across our certification schemes, agricultural raw materials represent a significant share of certified inputs. Each year, approximately 54 million tonnes of crops enter ISCC-certified value chains, underlining our system’s central role in enabling sustainable crop production.
This highlights a simple but critical point: if sustainability is not ensured at the origin, it cannot be credibly claimed further downstream.
What gets certified at the farm and plantation level
At its core, ISCC certification in agriculture focuses on the sustainable production of crops. The requirements form a comprehensive framework that addresses environmental, social, and economic aspects of agricultural production.
A key pillar of this framework is ISCC Principle 1, which sets strict requirements on land use. It ensures that certified biomass is not produced on land with high biodiversity value or high carbon stock, safeguarding forests, wetlands, and other sensitive ecosystems. It further establishes a 2008 cut-off date for deforestation and land use change for agricultural production.
Building on this foundation, ISCC Principles 2–6 cover a broader range of sustainability aspects. These include good agricultural and management practices, protection of soil, water and air, safe working conditions, respect for human and labour rights, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
Together, these principles establish a holistic approach to sustainable agriculture that recognises the close interconnection of environmental, social and economic factors. By applying these requirements at the farm and plantation levels, farmers lay the foundation for credible sustainability claims that can be carried through the entire supply chain.
ISCC PLUS for food and feed
Building on our long-standing experience in certifying sustainable agricultural supply chains, we are expanding our activities in the food and feed sector through ISCC PLUS.
ISCC PLUS enables traceable, transparent sourcing of agricultural raw materials, ensuring that sustainability characteristics are verified from the field to the finished product. All agricultural crops, including oilseed crops, grains, vegetables, nuts, and herbs, fall under the scope. The certification also applies to a wide range of end products, from fresh produce and processed foods to animal feed and ingredients for pet food.
For companies operating in food and feed markets, ISCC PLUS provides a robust and flexible framework to support sustainable agricultural practices, meet increasing expectations on transparency and due diligence, and support credible communication of sustainability efforts.
Strengthening the system through stakeholder dialogue
The development of ISCC PLUS for food and feed does not happen in isolation. It requires continuous dialogue with stakeholders across the value chain. For the agriculture sector, this was reflected in our inaugural Stakeholder Meeting – Agri-Food and Feed, which, on 28 April, brought together participants from industry, policy, and certification.
Evolving principles through collaboration: Take part in our review and working group
As sustainability expectations continue to evolve, so too must the frameworks that support them. Our stakeholder meeting also marked the launch of an open review process for ISCC Principles 2–6 and the introduction of a dedicated working group to further develop, clarify, and simplify these requirements, while ensuring practical applicability and strengthening system integrity. Would you like to take part?
From farm to value chain: enabling traceability and trust with ISCC PLUS
Sustainable supply chains are only as strong as their starting point. By certifying agricultural production, we ensure that sustainability is embedded where it matters most – at the origin of raw materials.
Once agricultural raw materials enter the supply chain, their sustainability characteristics must be preserved and verifiable at every stage. This is where traceability requirements, chain-of-custody approaches, and environmental claims around consumer products come into play. In food and feed value chains, where agricultural raw materials are not only the starting point but also directly linked to consumer expectations around sourcing, safety, and transparency, this is particularly relevant.
In the following articles in this series, we will explore ISCC PLUS-certified food and feed supply chains in more detail, focusing on the perspectives of our actual System Users – from processing and sourcing to market application and the communication of sustainability efforts.
