An Interview with Johnathan Sutton
Group Chief Sustainability Officer, Westfalia
Johnathan Sutton, Westfalia’s Group Chief Sustainability Officer, shares how smallholder farmers are essential to the company’s global supply chain—from sub-Saharan Africa to Latin America. Sutton explains how Westfalia supports farmers to improve livelihoods and restore ecosystems, and discusses the value of partnering with IFC to innovate and scale agricultural practices.
Sutton: We're a large-scale avocado grower sourcing from around 15-16 countries around the world, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, but also up the West Coast of the Americas, from Chile, Peru, Colombia, all the way into the sourcing and selling into…. [other] markets.
Question: How important are smallholders to your business?
Sutton: Smallholders are vital to our business. They unlock huge potential in terms of the nimbleness of the marketplace, but also the social aspect of the of the business. So they bring in the opportunity to develop communities to, also help us understand what's needed in those areas as well.
Question: How do you support smallholders to improve and grow?
Sutton: We work with smallholders. There’s a really big project in Peru at the moment. So helping them reforest areas that have been deforested over the years, which is improving soil structures, reducing soil erosion and helping with water. And also in Tanzania, we're working with smallholders to access seed that we then put into our breeding programs to develop our plant nurseries.
Question: Why Work with IFC?
Sutton: IFC gives us an opportunity to think differently, act differently, within the spirit of our philosophy, which is to do good.