Syngenta is a business that helps humanity face its toughest challenge: how to feed a rising population, sustainably. Their world class science and innovative crop solutions transform how crops are grown to enable millions of growers to make better use of available resources.
At the heart of their contribution is The Good Growth Plan, their six commitments to address critical challenges the world faces to achieve food security. Their business, and the world’s food security, depend on sustainable natural resources, healthy ecosystems and thriving rural communities. Which is why they cooperate with industry partners, governments and NGOs to support the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Their Corporate Governance is aligned with international standards and practice and helps them achieve not only their business objectives, but also helps create value to society that is demonstrated by their strong environmental and social performance.
Every day, our planet wakes with more than 200,000 additional mouths to feed and more farmland lost to erosion. Many people who produce the world‘s food are living in poverty, while biodiversity is disappearing fast. They have a plan to meet these challenges: The Good Growth Plan.
Its mission is to improve the sustainability of agriculture and their business through six commitments to be achieved by 2020.
The Good Growth Plan:
1. Make Crops More Efficient - In 1950, a hectare could feed two people. By 2030, it will have to feed five But is it possible to grow more food without using more inputs like chemicals and water, and without clearing more land for farming? They believe it’s not only possible, it’s critical if we’re going to protect our planet for the future.
2. Rescue More Farmland - Already, some 40% of existing farmland is seriously degraded, and an area large enough to feed Europe is too depleted to produce food. In fact, we lose a soccer field of farmland every second to desertification, urbanization and degradation1. Nature takes 500 years to replace just 25 millimeters of lost soil.
3. Help Biodiversity Flourish - Farming depends on biodiversity. It’s vital for pollination – more than a third of the world’s agricultural crops depend on pollination by bees and insects. We need to help farms become more productive, and farmers to protect and improve the biodiversity around their fields.
4. Empower Smallholders - Most of the world’s farmers are smallholders on less than two hectares of land. For many, the financial risks are high and the returns are low. With more than 2.5 billion people depending on agriculture for their livelihoods, it’s crucial that we help farming communities prosper.
5. Help People Stay Safe - Agriculture is the world’s second largest source of employment and one of the most dangerous. Many agricultural workers suffer occupational accidents and illness each year, caused by exposure to chemicals, working with machinery and other factors.
6. Look After Every Worker - Hours of work. Wages and benefits. Child labor. Discrimination. These are just some of the labor issues that are often part of broader socio-economic problems, particularly in rural areas with high poverty levels and little opportunity for education or employment.
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