Third meeting of the Advisory Group
on Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains
A joint FAO-OECD initiative
Summary Record
OECD Conference Centre CC13, Paris, 16 March 2015, 10am-5pm
The meeting was well attended with 30 participants representing OECD and non-OECD countries,
business, civil society and international organisations. David Hegwood, USAID Senior Food Security
Advisor, chaired the meeting. Vice-chairs Mella Frewen, FoodDrinkEurope, Kristen Genovese, OECD
Watch, and Bernd Schanzenbaecher, EBG Capital, also participated in the meeting.
The purpose of the meeting was for the advisory group to provide final comments on the FAOOECD guidance on responsible agricultural supply chains and to discuss possible implementation
activities once the guidance is finalised. Participants agreed that the guidance should be user-friendly
and practical. They made the following comments on the structure and content of the guidance.
Structure of the guidance
 Annex II on the roles and responsibilities of various enterprises should be integrated within the
five-step framework for risk-based due diligence.
 The model enterprise policy could be introduced before the five-step framework for risk-based
due diligence, and the five major steps for due diligence highlighted in the introduction.
 The respective purposes of the model enterprise policy and Annex I (on risks and measures for
risk mitigation) should be further clarified in the respective introductions to each of these
sections.
 Annex III on lessons learnt and best practices could be published separately and possibly posted
on a website. This would allow regularly updating and enriching it with examples of good
practices. Selected examples could also be incorporated in boxes in the guidance itself.
 The list of standards that are not considered in the guidance should be moved from the
conclusion to an annex.
Content of the guidance
 The language on free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), compensation and resettlement should
be revised to ensure that it does not specify lower requirements than those included in the VGGT
and the CFS-RAI principles and that it aligns with that in the OECD due diligence guidance for
meaningful stakeholder engagement in the extractives sector.
 The model enterprise policy should be reviewed to clarify the responsibilities of enterprises over
their business partners. One option could be to remove references on the influence of enterprises
over their business partners from the model enterprise policy and to add a box on this issue in the
introduction, drawing from the OECD note on the financial sector and the concept of ‘adverse
impacts directly linked to operations, products or services by a business relationship’ as used in
the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
 The guidance should put more emphasis on gender, food security and nutrition, and livestock (in
addition to crop) production. References to existing standards on corruption should be added and
intellectual property rights mentioned, where relevant.
 The guidance should differentiate between risks in greenfield and brownfield investments, joint
ventures, and mergers and acquisitions. It should also describe the various investment channels
used by indirect enterprises further.
 The business case for carrying out due diligence should be strengthened.
Next steps
Participants agreed on the proposed implementation activities (see presentation below), while
highlighting that cost considerations would need to be taken into account. Private sector
representatives indicated that they were ready to support these activities through their own networks.
They indicated that more practical guidance, including commodity-specific guidance, could be
developed, although they agreed that developing a user-friendly website and using informal (low cost)
dissemination channels should remain the priority.
Analysis aiming to assess the costs of complying with standards in developing versus developed
countries and to evaluate the costs-benefits of compliance would be relevant. Further work could also
draw from the work undertaken by the Netherlands to develop indicators measuring the uptake of the
guidance by enterprises. The OECD Secretariat highlighted that some activities, such as due diligence
trainings, could be undertaken by stakeholders themselves.
Participants suggested that representatives from developing countries, universities and academia,
as well as transportation companies that play a major role in the supply chain, could participate in
implementation activities. They also suggested that translating the guidance into other languages, e.g.
into Spanish, would be useful.
List of Participants
1. Chairman
United States
Mr. David HEGWOOD
Senior Food Security Advisor
Bureau of Food Security
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
2. Vice Chairs
Business and Industry Advisory
Committee (BIAC)
Ms. Mella FREWEN
Director General
FoodDrinkEurope
EBG Capital AG
Mr. Bernd SCHANZENBAECHER
Managing Partner
EBG Capital AG
OECD Watch
Ms. Kristen GENOVESE
Programme Manager
SOMO (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations)
3. Governements
Chile
Ms. Daniela ACUNA REYES
Sustainability Specialist
Bureau of Agricultural Studies and Policies – ODEPA
Ministry of Agriculture
Colombia
Ms. Martha Lucia OROZCO ARAUJO
Advisor
Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism
France
Ms. Vanina FORGET
Chargée de mission OCDE
Bureau des politiques commerciales et extérieures communautaires
Ministry of Agriculture, the Food Processing Industry and Forestry
Switzerland
Ms. Christina BLANK
Deputy Permanent Representative
Permanent Representation of Switzerland to FAO, IFAD, WFP, Rome
Mr. Michael HARTMANN
Collaborateur scientifique
Office fédéral de l'agriculture
Mr. Maurizio CERRATTI
Conseiller d'ambassade
Permanent Delegation of Switzerland to the OECD
The Netherlands
Ms. Elsbeth VISSER
Policy Advisor Food Security
Directorate-General for Agro
European Agricultural Policy and Food Security Department
Ministry of Economic Affairs
Turkey
Mr. Erdem DAVARCI
General Directorate of State-Owned Enterprises
Undersecretariat of Treasury
United States
Ms. Janet SHANNON
Investment Affairs Officer
Office of Investment Affairs
U.S. Department of State
4. Business
Aquila Capital Farms
(through conference call)
Ms. Michaela LAMERS
Manager Product Marketing
BNP Paribas Investment Partners
Ms. Helena VIÑES FIESTAS
Head of Sustainability Research
Responsable de la recherche ISR/ESG
Business and Industry Advisory
Committee (BIAC)
Mr. Jonathan GREENHILL
Policy Manager
Milltrust International
Mr. Mark EBERT
Chairman
Milltrust International LLP
Ripplewood Advisors
Mr. Naren RAMACHANDRAN
Saudi Agricultural and Livestock
Investment Company (SALIC)
Mr. Dawood S. MOHAMMED
Vice President - Investment
Sidley Austin LLP
Ms. Colette VAN DER VEN
Associate
Africa-Asia Agricultural Enterprise Pro Bono Programme
Yara (BIAC)
Mr. Koen VAN KEER
Industry Relations Expert
5. Non-governmental Organisations and Academics
Columbia University
(through conference call)
Ms. Kaitlin Y. CORDES
Legal Researcher and Head of Land and Agriculture
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Columbia Law School - The Earth Institute
Global Witness
Ms. Megan McInnes
Campaign Leader for Land
World Animal Protection
Netherlands
Mr. Dirk-Jan VERDONK
Head of Programmes
6. Intergovernmental Organisations
Food and Agriculture Organization
of the UN (FAO)
Mr. Pascal LIU
International Investment Team Leader
Trade and Markets Division
OECD
Ms. Barbara BIJELIC
Legal Expert, Sector Projects, RBC Unit
Investment Division
Ms. Coralie DAVID
Policy Analyst, Investment in Agriculture
Investment Division
Mr. Tyler GILLARD
Legal Advisor and Project Head, RBC Unit
Investment Division
Ms. Lesley O’SULLIVAN
Assistant
Investment Division
Ms. Cristina TEBAR LESS
Lead Manager, RBC Unit
Investment Division
Proposed Activities
1. Governance structure
 Transform the advisory group into a ‘steering committee’ responsible for overseeing
implementation activities:
- Additional members could include major agri-food companies, farmers’ organisations, civil
society organisations
- Balanced representation of enterprises, governments and civil society
- Meetings twice a year + conference calls
 Create working groups responsible for carrying out specific activities under the supervision of the
‘steering committee’
2. Promoting and using the guidance
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Expected endorsement of the guidance by FAO and OECD
User-friendly website to share the guidance and best practices
Road-testing by selected enterprises and/or industry associations
Material providing case studies and concrete examples from enterprises
Collaboration with selected commodity standards and industry initiatives to integrate the
guidance into their tools and trainings
 One-on-one engagement with major industry players
 Participation in key industry conferences
3. Research and analysis
 Regular update of lessons learnt and best practices on responsible agricultural supply chains
 Due diligence guidance tailored to each type of enterprises to describe their respective
responsibilities
 Commodity-specific due diligence guidance
 Close alignment with:
- Other OECD sectoral projects on responsible business conduct
- FAO activities related to responsible agricultural investment
4. Peer-learning, training and outreach
 Due diligence trainings, workshops and peer-learning webinars focusing on producers, SMEs, and
institutional investors
 Country roundtables and pilot implementation programmes for specific commodities and/or
enterprises
 Collaboration with producing and consuming countries, business, trade unions and civil society
 Outreach to specific geographies and to business and trade organisations
Questions for discussion
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How to ensure that the advisory group represents all relevant stakeholders?
What could be the role of farmer organisations and other civil society organisations?
What could be the objectives, scope and composition of working groups?
Could the guidance be road-tested by some enterprises?
With which industry initiatives should we collaborate?
On what commodity and/or type of enterprises should further analysis focus on?
What should be the target audience of trainings or webinars?