Tate & Lyle, Earthwatch Europe, and Nanjing Agricultural University launch new program to support sustainability of stevia
Tate & Lyle PLC, a global provider of food and beverage ingredients and solutions, has launched a new sustainability program to enable stevia growers in China to lower their environmental impact and gain greater economic benefit from production of this in-demand no calorie sweetener. Developed with environmental charity Earthwatch Europe (Earthwatch) and being rolled out with support from Nanjing Agricultural University (NJAU), the outreach program provides farming families in Dongtai, East China with training to help them to modernize farming practices and achieve sustainability-related accreditation for their stevia.
As a global stevia supplier, in 2019 Tate & Lyle commissioned Earthwatch to undertake a first-of-its-kind study to assess the environmental impacts of different approaches to stevia production in China, where most of the world’s stevia is grown. The study identified a significant opportunity to drive environmental improvements in stevia production and support the Company’s suppliers in Dongtai, one of the first areas in China where stevia was cultivated around 40 years ago and one of the main seedling supply areas in the country. Learnings from this study have been incorporated into the new sustainable stevia program, with key areas identified by Earthwatch including: