TRUE COSTS OF EUDR - Farms Change. Does the EU know?

The first time I visited John Adamnor’s farm was in 2019, when I was launching the series, ‘I am a cocoa farmer’ for ConfectioneryNews.
At the time, John was rehabilitating his farm and had just planted new cocoa seedlings. I had to be careful not to damage them as we walked through the farm.
Today, those trees are fully mature and producing cocoa pods for harvest. When I visited John in March to walk the entirety of his farm boundary, I no longer was nervous about damaging the trees. They were taller than me.
Farms change, and farmers change. A farmer may have different priorities from year to year. She or he may cultivate different crops, or replant trees, or agree with a neighbor on something that affects adjoining plots of land.
The EUDR requirement is to capture polygon maps of farms, once.
How can it be possible to truly monitor deforestation with such a requirement?
Our team at Forests & Farmers First EUDR compliance solutions were looking the other day at a satellite layer of one polygon from a cocoa farm in East Africa.
In the year 2020, it looked like bare ground. By 2024, it was a lush farm with different tree species visible, even with the relatively low resolution.
We debated how to categorize this change. While it was clear to our human eyes that trees now existed where before there were none, it wasn’t that straightforward an interpretation for EUDR compliance purposes.
I hope this True Costs of EUDR series has been as enlightening for you as it was for me, when I was there, walking the farm boundary with John. To see a farm from the farm itself, instead of on a computer screen, relying on layers of technology, brought home the issue that we are dealing with the real world - real people, real trees, real climates, real change.
I hope that the people in the European Commission and at every customs authority policing the EU border will take note of these realities, as they begin in a few short months to interpret all the data coming their way.
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ACM and its partners orijin, Aya Data, and Demeter Holdings offer full-service EUDR compliance solutions through Forests & Farmers First. We go into the work with our eyes open to rural realities, the challenges and complexities involved, and the priority of protecting farmer livelihoods.
To learn more about our compliance solutions, email [e-mail]
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Thanks to Benjamin Setor Gbadago and Dr. Martha Kakra Ataa-Asantewaa for their production support.
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