Rainforest Alliance certification consulting to meet the requirements your buyers check, from the farm to the final pack.

What it is

What is Rainforest Alliance certification and what is it used for?

Rainforest Alliance certification shows that a farm, or a company handling the crop after the farm gate, has been audited against the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard. The standard is owned and maintained by Rainforest Alliance and comes in two parts: the Farm Requirements, for the people who grow the crop, and the Supply Chain Requirements, for the traders, processors, manufacturers and brands that purchase, transform or label it.

Buyers use the certificate as evidence behind a sustainability claim on the product and as one input to their sourcing due diligence. For a producer, the real value lies underneath: a farm that knows where every lot came from, pays and treats its workers properly, farms with fewer harmful inputs and protects the land around it is a stronger supplier, certificate or not.

Current edition. The scheme runs on the 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard, maintained in numbered versions. Rainforest Alliance has published version 1.4 of the standard together with a policy for its phased implementation, so which version applies to your next audit depends on that policy and your audit date. Confirm the applicable version and timing with your certification body before you plan the work.

Who it is for

Who needs Rainforest Alliance certification?

The certificate follows the crop. Farms need it to sell certified product; companies further along the chain need their own certificate to keep the claim alive when they take the product on. Organisations come to Sterling from four starting points:

• An exporter or brand wants certified volume from you. Your buyer has committed to certified sourcing and needs your farm inside the scheme before its next contract season.
• A tender or retail programme names the scheme. Retailers, food service operators and manufacturers write Rainforest Alliance into supplier specifications; clarify the product, sites and certificate type they expect before you invest.
• Regulation is tightening around your supply chain. Deforestation and due diligence rules in your customers' markets are pushing them to ask for traceable, audited origin. Certification helps them; it does not replace their own legal obligations.
• Your group company or parent has a sourcing policy. A parent committed to responsible sourcing asks every processing site or subsidiary to hold a supply chain certificate and report certified volumes accurately.

The benefit comes from practices that change on the farm and records that hold up. The certificate confirms that work; it does not do it.

Requirements

What are the main Rainforest Alliance requirements?

The Farm Requirements are organised in six chapters, each supported by an annex; supply chain companies work to their own set of requirements focused on traceability, sourcing and claims. The list below is a plain-language map at chapter level; your practices are checked against the applicable version and annexes during the programme, requirement by requirement.

• Chapter 1 Management: run the certificate as a managed system, with clear responsibilities, an assessment of risks, a plan to address them and regular internal checks.
• Chapter 2 Traceability: know how much certified product each farm produced and sold, keep it identifiable and record every transaction so volumes reconcile.
• Chapter 3 Income and shared responsibility: understand costs and income, and receive and use the payments buyers make to certified producers as the scheme sets out.
• Chapter 4 Farming: grow, protect and harvest the crop with good agricultural practice and careful, well-controlled use of agrochemicals.
• Chapter 5 Social: respect human and labour rights, including wages, working conditions, health and safety, and how the farm finds and remedies abuse.
• Chapter 6 Environment: protect forests and natural ecosystems, conserve water and soil, reduce pollution and look after wildlife on and around the farm.

Certification process

How do you get Rainforest Alliance certified?

Implement first; the certification body audits afterwards. Rainforest Alliance sets the rules, the authorised certification body plans the audit and makes the decision, and Sterling helps your organisation get ready and stay ready. Keeping those roles apart is what makes the certificate credible to your buyer.

1. 01
   Confirm the certificate you need.Farm or supply chain, the crops, the sites and producers in scope, and what your buyer asked for, read against Rainforest Alliance's farmer and company guides.
2. 02
   Gap analysis: compare current practice with the requirements.Each applicable requirement checked in the field and in the records, with actions, owners, dates and the investment needed.
3. 03
   Register, implement and record.Registration on the Rainforest Alliance Certification Platform, practices changed where they fall short, people trained and traceability data kept from the first transaction.
4. 04
   Inspect internally and close the gaps.An internal inspection or self-assessment against every applicable requirement, followed by corrections closed with evidence before the auditor arrives.
5. 05
   Complete the certification audit and keep the certificate.The authorised certification body audits under the scheme's certification and auditing rules and decides; later audits then follow the cycle those rules set.

Check the route before you sign. Look up the proposed certification body on Rainforest Alliance's list of authorised certification bodies, confirm it covers your country, crop and certificate type, and ask how its audit will be planned. Walk away from any offer of a certificate without an audit of your farm or site. The certification buyer's checklist

Cost

How much does Rainforest Alliance certification cost?

The cost depends far more on the farm or supply chain than on the standard. A single estate with good records and a willing workforce is a different programme from a supply base with many producers, mixed crops and no traceability yet. What we fix in advance is the scope and the fee.

Timeline

How long does Rainforest Alliance certification take?

Plan in seasons, not weeks. The farm has to run under the new practices long enough to produce records, and changes to worker conditions, agrochemical storage or conservation areas take time and money. As an estimate, a farm preparing for its first audit typically needs six to twelve months; a supply chain company with sound purchasing records is usually quicker.

If a buyer has given you a date, tell us at the start. We will say plainly what the harvest calendar allows and which decisions have to be taken in the first weeks.

Your engagement

What your Rainforest Alliance engagement includes

One Sterling team takes you from the first farm visit to the certification body's decision, under one all-inclusive proposal. Sterling does not certify; the certification body authorised by Rainforest Alliance audits and decides. You choose the support level: Design™, where we guide and your team builds, or Drive™, where we manage the work with you. They are alternatives, not stages.

• Scope, gap analysis and plan

  Certificate type, farms and sites agreed, and a plan with owners and dates.

• Practices and procedures

  Management, traceability, farming, social and environmental routines built with your managers and field staff.

• Effivity ISO & GRC software

  Records, risks and actions in Effivity from day one, included with the engagement at no additional cost. That is Automate™.

• Training for everyone

  Internal inspector training, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.

• Internal inspection

  Conducted or facilitated against every applicable requirement, with corrections closed before the audit.

• Audit readiness and Sustain™

  Support through the certification audit, then Sustain™ for internal inspections, data upkeep and version changes after certification.

Certification decisions remain with the certification body authorised by Rainforest Alliance.

Often combined with

Standards organisations pair with Rainforest Alliance

• BRCGS Food SafetyBRCGS Food Safety certification consulting for food manufacturers: HACCP plan, site standards and controls ready for a graded audit, announced or unannounced.
• BRCGS Storage and Distribution · Agents and BrokersBRCGS Storage and Distribution certification and Agents and Brokers: Issue 4 and Issue 3 requirements, scopes, audits and cost factors, with Sterling's support.
• FairtradeFairtrade certification and requirements: which Fairtrade International standards apply, FLOCERT's audit, cost and timing, and how Sterling prepares you.
• FAMI-QS / GMP+FAMI-QS and GMP+ certification for feed businesses: how the two schemes differ, their requirement documents, the audit route and how Sterling prepares you.
• FDA FSMA (US)FDA FSMA compliance for food facilities, importers, farms and carriers: preventive controls, FSVP, food traceability and records ready for FDA inspection.
• FSSC 22000FSSC 22000 certification consulting for GFSI-recognised food safety: ISO 22000, sector PRPs and FSSC requirements, ready for a licensed body's audit.