Endorsing environmental, social, and governance best practices for a more responsible castor supply chain

PHILADELPHIA, PA, August 15, 2023 — Along the west coast of India, in the state of Gujarat, dozens of smallholder farmers and their families gathered with excitement. Children and adults eagerly passed around a range of materials and consumer products, including Inolex’s sustainable ingredients, all produced from local farms of responsibly grown castor.

Earlier this year, Inolex accompanied Arkema, one of the founding members of the Sustainable Castor Association (SCA), on a trip to India where over 80% of the world’s supply of castor seed is produced. As an organization, SCA is focused on enabling sustainable castor farming to enhance the environmental, social, and economic profile of this versatile crop throughout the supply chain.

As a designer of sustainable plant-based ingredients, Inolex is committed to building a more viable supply chain through the selection and support of its raw material partners. For castor, the opportunity links back to the farmers in India who are growing it.

Castor is an inherently sustainable crop, with several implicit benefits: it is naturally drought resistant with the ability to thrive in marginal soil; it can grow on rotation with staples such as cumin, mustard, and other local crops; the plant does not compete as a food source, and what is not extracted from the seed pod as castor oil is generally repurposed as fertilizer. Further, because the cash crop has a long storage life, the farmers have more flexibility and autonomy in the marketplace.

While these benefits are extensive, Wesson notes, “there are always opportunities to better support growers and contribute to improved outcomes via the environmental, social, and governance impacts of farming.”

This is where SCA comes in, helping to enable a more traceable and verified supply chain through certification, and building programs to support the livelihood of castor farmers. The castor standard code, SuCCESS, which is managed by the SCA, is the standardized certification criteria for sustainable castor. Currently SuCCESS certified supply represents about 1% of global castor oil supply and includes over 6,200 farmers and 6,000 hectares. In addition to building traction in the certified castor supply chain, the community around SCA supports farmers through educating on good agricultural practices that boost yields, create water reduction efficiencies, and improve safety and community health practices.

Learn more about the Sustainable Castor Association and the work they are doing to enable sustainable castor farming and sustainable castor oil & derivatives supply chain at www.castorsuccess.org.