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UTZ, formerly called UTZ Certified, is a program and a label for sustainable farming. The organization was founded as a non-profit in the Netherlands in 2002. The UTZ label is featured on more than 10,000 product packages in over 116 countries. In 2014, UTZ was reported to be the largest program for sustainable farming of coffee and cocoa in the world. The UTZ program addresses
agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...
practices, social and living conditions, farm management, and the environment. In January 2018, UTZ officially merged with the
Rainforest Alliance The Rainforest Alliance is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) with staff in more than 20 countries and operations in more than 70 countries. It was founded in 1987 by Daniel Katz, an American environmental activist, who serves ...
in response to the increasing challenges of
deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...
,
climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
, systemic poverty, and
social inequity Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through Norm (social), norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It posses and cr ...
.


History

UTZ was launched in 2002 as , meaning 'Good Coffee' in the
Mayan language Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...
Quiché. It was founded by Nick Bocklandt, a Belgian-Guatemalan coffee grower, and Ward de Groote, a Dutch coffee roaster, with the goal of implementing sustainability on a large scale in the worldwide market. The
Solidaridad The Solidaridad Network is an international civil society organisation founded in 1969. Its main objective is facilitating the development of socially responsible, ecologically sound and profitable supply chains. It operates through eight regio ...
Network was another co-initiator of UTZ and assisted UTZ in becoming a global standard through financial support and field implementation. On 7 March 2007, the Utz Kapeh Foundation officially changed its name and logo to UTZ Certified and, on 1 January 2016, shortened their name to UTZ, meaning 'Good' in the Mayan language Quiché. In June 2017, the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ announced the intention to merge, and in January 2018, the merger was legally closed and completed. The merged organization goes by the name Rainforest Alliance. The two organizations' certification programs run in parallel but from July 2021 a new certification program based on the 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard will be in place. Transition rules will allow holders with certification under the 2015 UTZ Certification Program to progress to be certified under the new program.


Products


Coffee

UTZ is the second largest sustainability program in the world for
coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...
, after 4C (The Common Code for the Coffee Community). 870,102 metric tonnes of coffee was UTZ certified in 2016.


Cocoa

On 10 October 2007, the Cocoa Program was launched. UTZ cooperated with
Ahold Koninklijke Ahold N.V. was a Dutch multinational retail company based in Zaandam, Netherlands. It merged with Belgium-based Delhaize Group in 2016 to form Ahold Delhaize. History Growth in the Netherlands The company started in 1887, when A ...
,
Cargill Cargill, Incorporated, is a privately held American global food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865, it is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in ter ...
, Heinz
Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...
,
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
,
Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...
, and
ECOM Agroindustrial ECOM Agroindustrial is a global commodity trading and processing company based in Switzerland. The company specializes mainly in coffee, cocoa and cotton. ECOM has more than 40 offices located in over 35 countries all around the world. It is the lar ...
to set up a new certification and traceability system for sustainable cocoa.
Solidaridad The Solidaridad Network is an international civil society organisation founded in 1969. Its main objective is facilitating the development of socially responsible, ecologically sound and profitable supply chains. It operates through eight regio ...
and
Oxfam Novib Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford C ...
also supported the initiative from the beginning. In 2009 the first UTZ cocoa products reached the market. As of 2014, UTZ became the largest sustainability program for cocoa in the world, and over 336,300 cocoa farmers from 16 countries were affiliated with UTZ. In 2012, 13% of the cocoa produced in the world was UTZ (535,000 T, out of global production of 2,889,000 T). By 2017, Utz was certifying "1.5 million tons of cocoa, or about two-thirds of the world's supply of certified cocoa." In 2019, "significant problems" had emerged with respect to with four of the auditing organizations working in the
Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
.


Tea

The UTZ program for
tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...
and
rooibos Rooibos ( ; , meaning "red bush"), or ''Aspalathus linearis'', is a broom (shrub), broom-like member of the plant family Fabaceae that grows in South Africa's fynbos biome. The leaves are used to make a herbal tea that is called rooibos (esp ...
was launched in 2007.


Hazelnuts

UTZ launched its hazelnut program in 2014 to explore the possibilities for sustainability in this sector as well. The program was originally piloted in
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, but since then it has gone global and expanded to
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
,
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
, and other countries.


Code of Conduct


Summary

The UTZ certification program is based on the UTZ Code of Conduct: a set of social and environmental criteria for responsible growing practices and efficient farm management. Coffee, cocoa and tea producers who are UTZ certified comply with this code. The Code of Conduct version 2014 is based on the international
ILO Conventions The list of International Labour Organization Conventions contains 190 codifications of world wide labour standards. International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions are developed through tripartite negotiations between member state represe ...
and the expertise of many stakeholders, including the farmers who use it. The Code has been developed in a broad stakeholder process and therefore widely accepted. A core code is applicable to all farmers, and there are also additional requirements in product specific modules for coffee, cocoa and tea. The certification system is based on a model of
continuous improvement A continual improvement process, also often called a continuous improvement process (abbreviated as CIP or CI), is an ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes. These efforts can seek "incremental" improvement over time or "breakth ...
. Producers have to comply with core safety and quality standards from year one. Additional control points are added in the following years.


Categories

The criteria of the UTZ Code of Conduct fall into four categories:


Farm management

*Measures to optimize the yield *Internal Management System for groups, with responsibilities including: **Arranging annual internal inspections *Record keeping *Risk assessments *Training and awareness raising *Recording of volumes in the UTZ traceability system


Farming practices

*Choice of suitable planting variety *Farm maintenance *Soil fertility management *Diversification of production, to support ecological diversity and economic resilience *
Integrated pest management Integrated pest management (IPM), also known as integrated pest control (IPC) is a broad-based approach that integrates both chemical and non-chemical practices for economic control of pests. IPM aims to suppress pest populations below the econ ...
*Responsible and appropriate choice and use of
agro-chemical An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of ''agricultural chemical'', is a chemical product used in industrial agriculture. Agrichemical refers to biocides ( pesticides including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and nematicides) an ...
s and
fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
s, and records of application *Irrigation *Product handling during and after the harvest


Social and living conditions

*Application of national laws and
ILO conventions The list of International Labour Organization Conventions contains 190 codifications of world wide labour standards. International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions are developed through tripartite negotiations between member state represe ...
regarding wages and working hours, including the
living wage A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. This is not the same as a subsistence wage, which refers to a biological minimum, or a solidarity wage, which refers to a minimum wage tracking labor ...
concept for individual farms *No forced labor or
child labour Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...
*Freedom of association and collective bargaining *Safe and healthy working conditions, including: **Protective clothing for work with chemicals **Safety training of workers in their own language *Gender equality *No discrimination *Freedom of cultural expression *Access to education for children *Access to decent housing, clean drinking water, and
health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...
for workers and their families


Environment

*Efficient use of water and energy *Waste management *Promotion of ecological diversity *Protection of nature *No
deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...
of
primary forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...
s *Respect for protected areas *Protection of endangered species *Reduction and prevention of
soil erosion Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, and ...
*Measures to adapt to climate change


Product-Specific modules


Coffee

*Correct fermentation and handling of coffee after harvest *Treatment of waste water from processing


Cocoa

*Use of shade trees *Correct drying and fermentation


Tea

*Harvest carried out at the appropriate time *Correct handling of harvested leaves *Quality control *Energy and waste water management


Rooibos

*Crop rotation *Harvest carried out at the appropriate time *Correct post-harvest handling *Bush fire prevention *Identification and protection of wild rooibos areas


Chain of custody

To enhance the guarantee that a consumer product with an UTZ logo does indeed credibly link to an UTZ certified producer, the UTZ program contains
chain of custody Chain of custody (CoC), in legal contexts, is the chronological documentation or paper trail that records the sequence of custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of materials, including physical or electronic evidence. Of particula ...
requirements. This is a set of chain-wide administrative, logistical and technical requirements for
traceability Traceability is the capability to trace something. In some cases, it is interpreted as the ability to verify the history, location, or application of an item by means of documented recorded identification. Other common definitions include the capab ...
. These requirements include criteria for separation of UTZ-certified products and conventional non-UTZ-certified products, and keeping records of direct suppliers and buyers.


Traceability

UTZ certified coffee, cocoa and tea is traceable through the supply chain, as UTZ uses a web-based
traceability Traceability is the capability to trace something. In some cases, it is interpreted as the ability to verify the history, location, or application of an item by means of documented recorded identification. Other common definitions include the capab ...
system. When an UTZ certified producer sells their products (e.g. coffee, cocoa, tea) to a registered UTZ buyer, the product is announced in the UTZ web-based system. By doing so the seller announces when they are shipping what amount to whom. The buyer then gets notified and needs to confirm this in the traceability system. UTZ assigns a unique tracking number to this lot. At the end of the supply chain, the end product manufacturer uses the unique tracking number to know their product credibly links to a certified source. Some brands use this unique tracking system to make the product traceable for their consumers.


Traceability Services

UTZ has developed, implemented and is currently managing the traceability system for the
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was established in 2004 with the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable palm oil products through global standards and multistakeholder governance. The seat of the association is i ...
. This system was launched in December 2008.


Certification

Independent, third party auditors make annual inspections to ensure coffee producers comply with the Code of Conduct.


Certification body

A
certification body Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply ''certification'' or ''qualification'', is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task. Not all certifications ...
(CB) is an independent, third-party certifier. When approved by UTZ Certified, these organizations conduct annual certification inspections of coffee, cocoa and tea producers to determine whether they comply with the UTZ Certified Code of Conduct and Chain of Custody requirements.


Trained agronomists

An UTZ-trained
agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...
is a technical consultant specifically trained in assisting producers to comply with the UTZ Code of Conduct. Trained agronomists can advise on practical implementation of elements of the Code and give directions on improvement of efficiency in farm management.


Impact

In 2014, UTZ published its first impact report. This brought together 24 external studies and data collected by UTZ. It stated that UTZ cocoa, coffee and tea farms generate higher yields and better quality crops than conventional farms, and being trained in the UTZ Code of Conduct helps farmers to improve their knowledge and adopt sustainable farming practices. There are no independent scientific studies that prove positive effects of UTZ.


Pricing

Coffee, cocoa and tea with an UTZ certification has added value in the sense that it assures buyers that it has been produced according to an internationally recognized standard for responsible production, i.e. according to the UTZ Code of Conduct. The price for UTZ certified coffee is determined in the negotiation process between buyer and seller. UTZ does not interfere in price negotiations. In contrast to
fair trade Fair trade is an arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The fair trade movement combines the payment of higher prices to exporters with improved social and enviro ...
, no minimum purchase price is set. Instead, the focus on good agricultural practices in the UTZ program is intended to enable farmers to increase the quantity and quality of their yield, and thus to increase their income.


Criticism

UTZ certification, like the
Rainforest Alliance The Rainforest Alliance is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) with staff in more than 20 countries and operations in more than 70 countries. It was founded in 1987 by Daniel Katz, an American environmental activist, who serves ...
coffee certification program, has been criticized because it offers producers no minimum or guaranteed price for their crop. Some consider UTZ certified producer organizations to be vulnerable to the volatility of the coffee market. Michael Conroy, an independent consultant on certification for sustainable development, criticized UTZ in his 2007 book ''Branded!'': "the environmental standards of UTZ Certified are far weaker than those of either Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance". UTZ's standards, for example, explicitly announces that
genetically modified Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the gene ...
coffee plants, though not at present available, would be allowable so long as farmers obey local regulations on their use. Any kind of chemical fertilizer may be used as long as an external, technically qualified advisor has determined the quantity of fertilizer to be used. No chemical
pesticide Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...
s or fungicides banned in the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, the U.S., or
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
may be used, but any that are acceptable in those three markets are acceptable on coffee farms if they are applied "according to the label".Conroy, ''Branded!'', p 252. In July 2012, German magazine ''Ökotest'' published an article labeling UTZ, among others, as unfair, due to a lack of pre-financing and guaranteed minimum purchase prices. In response UTZ stated that the foundation does not consider its standards fair trade, nor that it claims that they are, while maintaining that its standards contribute positively to sustainable development of tropical farming communities. In October 2019, the ''Washington Post'' reported that UTZ certified cocoa farms were actually more likely to employ child labor than farms without the certification. Additionally, a spokesperson confirmed reports that more than 4,900 UTZ-certified farms were illegally located within national forests. UTZ identified four independent auditing firms it contracts with as the source of most of the flawed certifications.


See also

*
Fair trade Fair trade is an arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The fair trade movement combines the payment of higher prices to exporters with improved social and enviro ...
*
Ethical consumerism Ethical consumerism (alternatively called ethical consumption, ethical purchasing, moral purchasing, ethical sourcing, or ethical shopping and also associated with sustainable and green consumerism) is a type of consumer activism based on the conc ...
*
Harkin–Engel Protocol The Harkin–Engel Protocol, sometimes referred to as the Cocoa Protocol, is an international agreement aimed at ending the worst forms of child labor (according to the International Labour Organization's Convention 182) and forced labor (acc ...
*
International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM - Organics International) is the worldwide umbrella organization for the organic agriculture movement, which represents close to 800 affiliates in 117 countries. It declares i ...


References


External links

*{{Official website, https://utz.org/
2020 Rainforest Alliance Certification ProgramUTZ Certified Logo
Agricultural organisations based in the Netherlands Coffee organizations Forest certification Product certification 2002 establishments in the Netherlands Companies established in 2002 Coffee in Europe