Integrated supply chains create traceability and reliable supply

We’re deeply involved at every stage of our supply chains - from plant to palate - which means we give you more value, more control and greater reliability.

Our procurement and logistics teams are based in all the major growing regions. We also have manufacturing and innovation centers around the world. Plus, with superior supply chain visibility we can offer increasing traceability right back to the farming community or farm.

Tractor lifting heavy white bag onto conveyer belt
Risk Management
Minimising sourcing, food safety and regulatory risk

In agriculture, you learn to expect the unexpected. Thanks to our global presence and diversified sourcing, we can always adapt so disruption to your supply is minimized.

 

Farming can be unpredictable. A harvest might be lower than anticipated. Prices can drop or climb dramatically due to over- or undersupply. But, thanks to being spread across the world and sourcing ingredients from multiple origins, at ofi we can manage these risks. Which means you get reliable supply. 

 

Our diversified global presence also helps to insulate us from supply shocks that may disrupt the production of a particular crop in a particular location in any particular year. It allows us to offer certainty of supply and provide the requisite food safety and quality assurance to our customers through adaptive solutions. 

 

This is supported by our team of risk experts who have deep understanding of agricultural commodities and financial instruments trading to help manage the price changes and volatility that can create a difficult operating environment for producers and supply chain participants. We focus on building long-term partnerships with our customers and offering tailored solutions. 

Man holding a mobile device that tracks food ingredients
Traceability & Provenance
Do you know where your ingredients come from?

Consumers increasingly want reassurance about where their ingredients come from. Thanks to ofi’s superior traceability, you can give them exactly that.

 

Providing traceability for agricultural raw materials can be challenging given the complex and fragmented nature of many ingredient supply chains, because many crops tend to be grown by small-scale farmers who sell to an intermediary, who may then sell on to another intermediary, mixing sacks from different sources along the way. With the aim of reducing complexity in our supply chains, we make every effort to work directly with farmers, organising buying stations and local cooperatives.

 

This way of working not only provides us with the data we need to trace our supply back to the farmer groups we work with, but also provides opportunities to create positive impact by implementing sustainability programmes with customer, government, not for profit and development finance institution partners. With traceability, we can also reduce social and environmental risks such as deforestation and human rights abuses. 

 

We also work closely with large-scale growers such as in California for our onions and garlic. Here, we have long-standing relationships with multi-generational farmers passionate about their crops and stewardship of their land. We provide them with proprietary world-class seeds and our ag operations teams and crop supervisors help support production, harvesting and logistics. Of course, with our own farms and estates such as almonds, black pepper and dairy farms, we offer full traceability and absolute control. 

 

Action includes:

 

  • Ensuring all suppliers sign the Supplier Code – which also applies to their suppliers

  • Training farmers through our sustainability programmes 

  • Providing advice and guidance through our digital applications

 

ofi’s unique technologies play a vital role in improving traceability:

 

  • Olam Direct: the app that lets farmers do business directly with ofi

  • Olam Farmer Information System (OFIS): putting isolated smallholder farmers on the digital map.

  • AtSource: our sustainability insights platform which gives you more supply chain transparency than ever before

Hands of a person planting a small tree
Improved Quality & Functionality
Food ingredients you can rely on

You expect consistent functionality of ingredients. That’s why we have our own people on the ground at every stage of the supply chain.

 

Getting better performance from food ingredients starts with the best seeds and seedlings. This is an ongoing mission for our plant scientists and agronomists in their support to farmers. One of our seeds, developed by the Spices team, produces onions with more dry matter—boosting yields and reducing the amount of water, fertiliser and pesticide needed per acre. A great example of the power of plant science.

 

In our smallholder farmer networks, our sustainability teams provide training on how to get the best quality crops with the lowest environmental impact. For example, with careful use of fertilisers and pesticides, replacing synthetic chemicals with natural alternatives wherever possible.  

 

In addition, our own custom developed planting and harvesting equipment has shown significant reductions in our carbon footprint. We also provide training on how to protect crops post-harvest, providing equipment such as drying mats and tables which help prevent contamination from the soil.

 

This combination of superior seed, expertise and reduced inputs provides our farmers with well-managed crop risk and yield. All made possible thanks to our global reach and teams working together at every step of the supply chain. 

Man holding a mobile device that tracks food ingredients
Food Safety & Quality
Putting consumer safety at the heart of our operations

Making sure our ingredients are delivered to customers without contamination or adulteration is our top priority.

 

We achieve this by:

 

  • Operating highly integrated supply chains working with both large-scale growers and smallholders

  • Providing training and quality seeds to help farmers reduce the risk of contamination

  • Maintaining the highest standards of quality and food safety control at our processing plants

  • Continuously investing in safety, health, quality and sustainability 

  • Putting in place food quality and safety systems including GMP and HACCP 

Tractor lifting heavy white bag onto conveyer belt
Risk Management
Minimising sourcing, food safety and regulatory risk
Man holding a mobile device that tracks food ingredients
Traceability & Provenance
Do you know where your ingredients come from?
Hands of a person planting a small tree
Improved Quality & Functionality
Food ingredients you can rely on
Man holding a mobile device that tracks food ingredients
Food Safety & Quality
Putting consumer safety at the heart of our operations

Read ofi news

Press Release Oct 7, 2024
ofi shortlisted in trio of sustainability awards for pioneering social impact initiatives

On International Coffee Day, the World Coffee Innovation Awards prized ofi's efforts to address child labor risks in major coffee-growing origins with its ‘Coffee Kindergartens’ initiative winning the ‘Best Sustainability Initiative’ category.

 

The Kindergartens are set up by ofi’s local coffee teams each year, supported by its specialty coffee business Covoya, in areas identified as high-risk through community surveys, part of its Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS). They offer a safe space for children to play and learn during the school holidays while their parents harvest coffee on the farms.

 

The success of the first Coffee Kindergarten in Guatemala, run in partnership with NGO Funcafé in 2020, attracted support from donors and customers, allowing ofi to expand the initiative to set up a further 22 Kindergartens last year in Guatemala and two in Honduras and Nicaragua with local NGO Educo.

 

On the same day, the Reuters Sustainability Awards shortlisted ofi in the Business Transformation category for pioneering work in natural capital accounting. ofi was one of the first companies in the world to start reporting the impact of its sustainability efforts in dollars and cents through its Integrated Impact Statement (IIS) and today, is applying multi-capital accounting to delve into the year-on-year monetary impact of selected coffee and cocoa programs.

 

ofi was also shortlisted in the Social Impact category for its first social capital impact valuation which assessed the value of customized support delivered to approximately1,000 coffee farmers as part of a living income project in Honduras with partner ALDI SOUTH Group. Analysis for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 crop years revealed a Social Return on Investment (SROI) of eight dollars for every dollar invested.

 

Roel Van Poppel, Chief Sustainability Officer at ofi said: "These achievements reflect our ongoing efforts to double down on the topics that matter most to our customers and the communities where we operate, and where we can make the greatest impact.

 

“We are able to do this because of the expertise and relationships we’ve grown in the heart of farming communities. And we’re choosing to achieve a lot more under our ‘Choices for Change’ sustainability strategy with 2030 targets to raise 200,000 ofi farmer households to a living income and remediate 100% of identified human rights cases, which our plans for 50 new Coffee Kindergartens will contribute to. We are inviting our customers and other partners across the supply chains to join these projects so we can collectively drive positive change.”

 

#bethechange

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