Treating farm workers better and protecting the environment efficiently are the bases for providing the world with sustainable agriculture in the future, and a new set of standards with international certification has been designed to make sure that happens. The executive director of the Sustainable Agriculture Network, or SAN, the Brazilian Andre de Freitas, told EFE that the new standards created by this NGO are “very ambitious,” but he has no doubt that this the path that must be followed.
The SAN, founded in 1997 with headquarters in Mexico, is a coalition of non-profit conservationist organizations in the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia that promote the environmental and social sustainability of agriculture through the development of best practices, certification and training for farmers around the world.
“The future of sustainable agriculture must entail more respect for the environment and better treatment of workers. There’s no need to cut down more forests or eradicate other ecosystems to make way for agriculture – there are already vast areas cleared for farmland around the world that are either abandoned or underused,” De Freitas said.
