The company states what significance aspects of sustainability have for added value and how deep in the value chain the sustainability criteria are verified.
The company’s business activities can be divided along the value chain into the following individual steps:
1. Raw material procurement 2. Manufacture and refining 3. Logistics and sales 4. Disposal
Sustainability is particularly relevant for HOPSTEINER in the processes involved in raw material procurement, logistics, and sales. Raw material procurement
- More certainty of sale for the supplier through long-term purchase contracts (certainty of being able to supply to customers), which creates long-term loyalties between companies
- Global Good Agricultural Practice (G.A.P.) certification of HOPSTEINER farms in the USA
- Sustainability certification of approximately 50% of the purchased quantity in accordance with the Sustainable Agricultural Initiative (SAI) organized through Hopfenring e.V.
- Growing advice through our field service
- Advice on crop protection measures; e.g. pesticide application recommendations and restrictions concerning maximum quantities, satisfying both the legal and the customer’s requirements
- Overseeing of compliance with the requirements as part of the HOPSTEINER residue monitoring from growing the hops to the finished product
- Documentation and assessment of pesticides
- In-house hop breeding program (water management, disease and pest resistance, availability, and yield)
- Extensive cold storage facilities to preserve raw hop quality
- All our raw hop cold stores are operated using renewable energy carriers
Europe must be made fit for the future in the medium and long term as a major hop production area. The large-scale reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) launched by the European Union has influenced agriculture for some time and will have been implemented in national legislation by 2023. The objectives for the agricultural sector are set out in the EU’s Farm-to-Fork Strategy guidelines. They envisage a 50% reduction in use of chemical pesticides by 2030, the use of 20% less fertilizers by the same date and a significant expansion of the proportion of ecologically grown crops. Although the measures are not yet defined in detail and have still to be formally adopted, this transformation will present challenges to the hop sector. However, there will also be opportunities with respect to new breeding technologies and a changed variety portfolio. HOPSTEINER is responding to this with intensive growing and crop protection advice, its own hop breeding program, and investment in research, including alternative forms of irrigation and water conservation. The small-scale farming structure of some of our suppliers faces further challenges. Meeting these challenges will require pragmatic action, a spirit of partnership, and individualized solutions from us in cooperation with our contract partners.
All stakeholders are involved in the decision-making process in good time. In the event of major crop deviations, solutions are always worked out jointly with suppliers and customers. Manufacture The topics of energy consumption, wastewater, and disposal play a large role during the manufacturing stage. We seek to reduce our energy consumption by the use of renewable energy, for example from photovoltaic systems or heat recovery in our own heating systems.
Logistics and sales Product storage (cold storage service)
- Transport (just-in-time)
- Packaging material designed to suit transport conditions
- Packaging strength
Sales
- Multi-year advance contracts
In the field of logistics, we commission service providers with climate-neutral transport options, and logistics companies that work in accordance with AEO requirements and comply with safety standards. Here as well, our company philosophy is to work in partnership with others to find solutions to any problems, should they occur.