New SPRING add-on v2 for responsible water management available now

The updated SPRING add-on version 2 was launched on 5 September 2023 with recognition from both the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Spain and the Sustainability Initiative Fruit and Vegetables (SIFAV).

The updated Sustainable Program for Irrigation and Groundwater Use (SPRING) add-on version 2 was launched on 5 September 2023 with recognition from both the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Spain and the Sustainability Initiative Fruit and Vegetables (SIFAV).

Designed to be combined with the Integrated Farm Assurance standard for plants or the Crops for Processing standard and developed in collaboration with stakeholders from across the sector, SPRING v2 covers a wide range of topics such as water use and extraction rates, legal compliance and protection of water sources, and sustainable watershed management.

The updated version comes after extensive revisions and features simplified implementation rules and stricter principles and criteria regarding legal compliance, reflecting the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat’s growing emphasis on solutions for environmental sustainability and underscoring the central role of water management in a sustainable future.  

The add-on enables producers to demonstrate their extra commitment to responsible water management and helps farms to raise their water awareness and implement more efficient farm-level management of water resources. SPRING v2 anticipates key environmental pressure points and provides smart solutions to protect at-risk water resources.

Producers and certification bodies will have sufficient time for appropriate training before the first audits against the new version may be conducted from 1 October 2023. SPRING v2 will then become obligatory from 1 January 2024, replacing v1.1-1.

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