Q&A: Understanding how the COFCO International Responsible Agriculture Standard benefits our business and farmers
To meet the growing demand for certified sustainable commodities, COFCO International introduced its own Responsible Agriculture Standard in 2022. Now, we speak to the company’s Brazil Origination Director, Gustavo Rezende Trevizoli, and Oscar Stroschon, a farmer participating in the Standard, to understand how it is being implemented in practice. We also explore the benefits that certification brings to the business and to farmers, given their central role in adopting and managing any such standard.
Oscar Stroschon, President, Sementes Produtiva
A Brazilian producer with farms in Brazil’s Goias State, Tocantins, Minas Gerais and Bahia, Oscar adopted the Standard on two of his farms covering 11,436 hectares in Minas Gerais and the Federal District in 2025. He sees his responsibility as a farmer to produce safe, high quality, nutritious food. The principal crops he produces are soy, maize, sorghum, wheat, and cotton. Supported by the COFCO International team, he has been able to implement the Standard effectively at his Goias State farms to adopt better agricultural practices, lower the farms’ climate and environmental impact, and empower employees to further develop their workplace culture.
How has COFCO International supported you in implementing its Responsible Agriculture Standard?
In today’s challenging climate, farmers cannot succeed alone. We need reliable, trusted partners. This is what COFCO International has been for us – we value the company’s consistency, expertise and ability to help ensure better market returns. The COFCO team supported us from the outset – highlighting how we should take action to fulfil all relevant requirements and achieve recognition for our sustainable operations. Following a rapid and efficient audit process, two of our farms were certified in 2025 and another in early 2026.
What challenges do you face as a farmer? How has COFCO International helped you to overcome them?
In addition to the challenge of climate change, we also face the rising cost of agricultural inputs. Adopting sustainable practices, such as regenerative agriculture, is a good solution to help build resilience and lower costs. For example, we are now operating a no-till policy, planting mixed crops, ensuring crop rotation and monitoring soil health, which is helping to reduce the inputs we use. Building on this, we have also replaced synthetic pesticides with biological alternatives, where possible.
We are also improving our impact on the environment every year, including by lowering water consumption and waste generation. Importantly, COFCO International has helped us to optimise our workplace culture and communicate the importance of sustainability and health and safety to employees. For example, there has been a significant improvement in the way we handle chemicals and separates waste, including the correct disposal of empty pesticide containers.
Could you describe any results or benefits you have experienced so far from adopting the Standard?
We are the first agricultural business to be certified under the Standard in our region, and we believe it will help us to access new markets and achieve higher prices for our harvests. By raising our performance in this way, we have also achieved RTRS certification, further enabling us to supply the sustainable soy market.
Beyond this, our employees are adopting different attitudes and behaviour around sustainability, creating a substantial culture shift. This evolution is creating further value for our business, strengthening our reputation and enabling us to meet customer expectations.
From a biodiversity perspective, we are using cameras to better understand and preserve local flora and fauna. Some employees were surprised to see that we recorded jaguars and other large felines.
Overall, by leveraging the significant amount of information we are now recording on the farm, we are able to analyse our yields per square metre, rather than per hectare, promoting continuous improvement.
What are your plans for the future?
I am optimistic that as we continue to adopt better practices, sustainable agriculture will transform our community and improve livelihoods. We know that extreme weather events may still impact our farm, and are becoming more frequent and intense with climate change. However, we are confident that we have the knowledge and best practice in place to continue improving our practices to build resilience to these events, so that we can withstand them economically and environmentally, and ultimately better protect our crops.
Looking ahead, we anticipate making further advances based on the knowledge gained through the latest technology, and expanding the Standard certification to more of our farms, promoting more consistent behaviour and processes across our company. I also hope to invest in renewable energy, as we make more infrastructure improvements.
Today, we are undoubtedly a sustainable company, well positioned for growth, and the credibility we have gained through the Standard will helps to take our business into the future.
Gustavo Rezende Trevizoli, Origination Director Brazil, COFCO International
According to Gustavo Rezende Trevizoli, Origination Director Brazil, the COFCO International Responsible Agriculture Standard is designed to help farmers meet growing sustainability expectations while accessing new market opportunities. By recognising and certifying good agricultural practices, the Standard enables farmers to demonstrate their sustainability performance and meet customer requirements more efficiently. Developed in alignment with other recognised certification schemes, it reduces administrative burdens and supports broader certification pathways. Through targeted technical assistance, independent verification, and close collaboration with farmers, the programme promotes continuous improvement in environmental, social and operational performance, helping producers strengthen both their sustainability credentials and long-term competitiveness.
How have you developed the standard in a way that works for farmers?
The COFCO International Responsible Agriculture Standard supports farmers by offering an effective way to meet market demands for sustainability. Put simply, becoming certified under the Standard allows farmers to market their products, knowing that they will be preferred by customers with particular sustainability requirements. It also acknowledges the good agricultural practices they are implementing.
In developing the Standard, we have also taken care to match our criteria with other standards. This reduces the burden on farmers and helps to ensure that once a farmer has achieved certification with the Standard, they are more easily able to obtain similar certifications.
How does the standard work in practice? How have you partnered with farmers to implement it?
We have adapted our implementation approach to better meet farmers’ needs. For example, our origination team selects farmers based on our business relationship and sustainability profile. This typically means farmers who have shown an interest or commit to meeting the criteria in the Standard and who are open to receiving technical assistance to achieve certification. Our sustainability team identifies any areas requiring attention prior to an external audit, providing dedicated support. Finally, an independent verification company completes the audit with the farmer.
Could you explain how you have worked with farmers to overcome any implementation challenges?
The concept of the Standard is to go beyond the requirements we set for all our suppliers to enable leading farms to be recognised for their sustainability performance and compete effectively in the sustainable commodities marketplace.
In this way, the Standard seeks to continuously improve good sustainability practices by, for example, encouraging integrated crop management, water conservation measures, using fewer fossil fuels, improving soil health monitoring, and optimising approaches to health and safety, in addition to ensuring full compliance with labour rights requirements.
Where the farmer is clearly committed to achieving certification, we work together to address any challenges, contributing our understanding of the requirement and providing technical support to implement improvements needed for the farm(s) to comply with the programme.
Could you share any progress so far?
We have consistently promoted the Standard over the past year, with more farmers and customers recognising its value. In particular, we have more than doubled our volumes certified under the COFCO Standard in Brazil in 2025, year on year. As a company, we have also accessed three new markets in 2025 - Thailand, Bangladesh and Vietnam, as we continued to expand our reach.
What does external recognition of the Standard mean for COFCO International, participating farmers and customers?
Recognition of our Standard in industry and country guidelines for sustainable agriculture is important in ensuring that customers understand that the COFCO Standard is robust and equivalent to other industry standards.
The recognition by the European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation was particularly important for the European market, for example, and other markets that buy our commodities to make products sold to Europe. Meanwhile, the Consumer Goods Forum’s Forest Positive Coalition recognition provides reassurance to customers in both Europe and the US.
Elsewhere, the official recognition of our Standard by Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock enables eligible farmers to request a reduction in interest rates on agricultural loans. Moreover, it assures farmers that becoming COFCO Standard-certified opens market opportunities, and helps them to achieve certification under other standards.
What’s next for the Standard?
To strengthen our efforts in 2026, we aim to communicate with more farmers, continue growing our volumes of certified sustainable commodities, and access new destination markets. This will help to further reinforce the value of sustainability for farmers, as one of our most important stakeholders, and our business. It will also demonstrate to customers and banks that we are working to promote and meet growing demand.
