French company Botanic and the Dutch enviro-NGO MPS have signed a cooperative agreement which aims to enhance the sustainable development approach of Botanic plant suppliers.
The agreement falls within the framework of the sustainable development strategy initiated by Botanic network to promote responsible and environmentally friendly trade and gardening practice. As for other product lines, Botanic now wish to encourage their plant suppliers to adopt good environmental and social practices.
Botanic and MPS will join forces to facilitate Botanic suppliers joining one of the good practice certifications developed by MPS. The agreement provides for all Botanic suppliers to adopt MPS ABC environmental certification by 2010.
MPS will provide information and training to Botanic suppliers, as well as Botanic staff in charge of plants purchase and marketing. Botanic and MPS are now elaborating a leaflet to explain the selected programme. MPS will also carry out growers' follow-up and make group analysis on their environmental score.
For Luc Blanchet, chairman of Botanic, this is only a first step: "In the long run, we whish to lead our plants suppliers towards Corporate Social Responsibility. To this end, we wish to build an “Excellency” suppliers' group on a voluntary basis, for growers fulfilling good environmental and social practice, which could go up to meeting organic production criteria, as we initiated it for vegetable seedlings”.
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