Vegetables with a Fingerprint Of Their Own: The New Race for Sustainable Traceability in Agri-Food Value Chains
Mexico City, July 2025
Within a context of more stringent environmental regulations, the pressure from international markets, and increasingly informed consumers, consumer goods companies (Consumer Packaged Goods or CPGs)—especially those in the fresh vegetable and intensive produce business—face a new requirement: demonstrating with verifiable evidence that their value chains are sustainable, regenerative, and low-carbon.
A changing market: From the narrative to traceable data
With the entry into force of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the intensification of frameworks such as the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB), CSRD, and the US SEC Scope 3 emissions guidelines, agri-food companies can no longer rely on blanket sustainability claims. Today, they must prove, with auditable metrics, the real impact of their operations from the field to the point of sale.
Also, major buyers such as Walmart, Nestle, Unilever, and supermarket chains like Tesco and Carrefour have reinforced their sustainable sourcing policies, including commitments to “zero deforestation,” efficient water use, reduced field emissions, and a transition toward regenerative farming.
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According to a recent report by McKinsey & Company (2024), 62% of consumers in North America and Europe are willing to pay more for food with a lower environmental footprint, as long as they have transparent and verifiable support. In high-value markets such as Europe, this requirement is no longer a differentiator, but rather a minimum condition for access.
“Insetting” and the shift towards the grower as the main character of change
Unlike offsetting, which seeks external compensation, the concept of insetting has gained momentum among CPGs. This strategy involves implementing regenerative practices and low-impact technologies within the supply chain itself, collaborating with growers to reduce emissions, collecting carbon in the soil, optimizing water use and biodiversity, and generating positive local impacts.
In short cycle produce and vegetables, where harvest and market times are tight, granular, real-time traceability becomes a strategic asset. This has led to a boom in AgTech technologies that allow monitoring, verifying, and reporting environmental metrics from the field to the shelf.
ucrop.it: the startup that turns practices into verifiable evidence
In this context, ucrop.it, the traceability platform already operating in Mexico, emerges as a key partner. Its technology allows growers to simply record sustainable farming practices, and companies to transform that information into verified carbon, water, and biodiversity claims, auditable under recognized frameworks such as the GHG Protocol, Cool Farm Tool, ISCC+, and others.
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Among its most remarkable cases in the region are partnerships with leading companies in the agri-food sector, committed to verifying their impacts from the field to the market in an efficient, measurable, auditable, and scalable manner.
According to Marcos Botta (Chief Innovation & Operations Officer of ucrop.it), “We are at the beginning of a new era where field data is the passport to premium markets. Transparency is no longer an option; it is a regulatory and commercial requirement.”
What is at stake: margins, access, and reputation
Companies that act now will be better positioned to face regulations such as the EUDR and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reporting requirements. Those that delay could face market exclusion, reputational penalties, and financing difficulties.
In the case of Mexico, which annually exports over US $2 billion worth of fresh vegetables annually to the US and Europe (source: SIAP/SADER 2024), this shift is not only a matter of environment, but a strategic decision for competitiveness.
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