Getting Started with Bonsucro Certification: What the Production Standard Requires
Bonsucro certification is built around two separate standards, and the one most sugarcane growers and mills need first is the Bonsucro Production Standard. It's the framework that certifies sugarcane production itself, covering greenhouse gas emissions, water management, biodiversity and workers' rights, and it's what a mill and its supplying farms are actually audited against. This article covers what the standard requires, how certification is structured, and what the process looks like from first contact to certificate.
What Bonsucro is
Bonsucro is a global multi-stakeholder, not-for-profit organisation that runs the most widely recognised sustainability certification for sugarcane. The Production Standard is its core certification, used by mills and the farms that supply them to demonstrate sustainable production and give buyers confidence in where their sugarcane, sugar, ethanol or other derivatives come from.
Who the Production Standard applies to
Certification is scoped to mills together with their supplying area, meaning the mill and the farms that grow the cane it processes are assessed as a single unit rather than separately. Bonsucro also publishes a dedicated Production Standard for Smallholder Farmers, a simplified version built for smaller growing operations that supply a certified mill, since the full standard's documentation and reporting requirements can be disproportionate for a smallholder's scale.
The five principles the standard is built around
The current version of the standard, Version 5.2.1, organises its requirements into five principles:
comply with applicable laws;
respect human rights and labour standards;
manage input, production and processing efficiencies to enhance sustainability;
actively manage biodiversity and ecosystem services;
continuously improve key areas of the business.
Within those five principles, the detailed requirements are set out as individual indicators covering areas like greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and worker health and safety.
How compliance is actually assessed
Indicators under the standard fall into two categories. Core indicators must be met in full, with no exceptions, for certification to be granted. Non-core indicators work differently: rather than requiring full compliance, the standard sets a minimum pass rate, currently 60 percent of the applicable non-core indicators, that a mill and its supplying farms need to meet. This structure is what allows the standard to hold firm on the requirements considered non-negotiable, like core labour and legal compliance, while still giving operations a realistic path to certification on the wider set of continuous-improvement-oriented indicators.
What the certification process looks like
Bonsucro sets out certification as a structured sequence rather than a single audit event. It typically starts with an initial conversation with Bonsucro to understand scope and requirements, followed by downloading the current Production Standard and its guidance document. From there, most mills put together a core team spanning milling, agriculture, legal and HR, since the standard's requirements cut across all of those functions, and attend Bonsucro training to understand what's actually being assessed.
A gap analysis, typically run through the Bonsucro Calculator inside Bonsucro Connect, identifies where current practice falls short of the standard, and that feeds into a work plan the team tracks against before booking an audit with a Licensed Certification Body. Once the audit is passed, the mill can use Bonsucro-certified product claims.
Certification validity and the audit cycle
Certification runs on a three-year cycle. After the initial certification audit, two surveillance audits are carried out over the following two years, followed by a full recertification audit at the end of the cycle. This means certification isn't a one-time event, a mill needs to keep meeting the standard's requirements continuously between full audits, not just at the point of initial certification.
Once you're certified, chain of custody is a separate question
Certifying your production is the first step, but it doesn't automatically cover what happens to certified sugarcane once it leaves the mill. Whether you also need Chain of Custody certification depends on your position in the supply chain and whether you're trading, processing or reselling certified material downstream.
→ See: Bonsucro Production Standard vs Chain of Custody: Which One Do You Need?
Working out what your mill actually needs to prepare
Between the core and non-core indicators, the audit cycle, and coordinating milling, agriculture, legal and HR teams around a shared work plan, getting from gap analysis to certification takes real coordination. If you'd like a hand mapping where your operation stands against the standard, get in touch.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Bonsucro Production Standard?
It's Bonsucro's core certification for sugarcane production, assessed at the mill and its supplying farms together. It's built around five principles covering legal compliance, human rights and labour standards, production efficiency, biodiversity, and continuous improvement.
What's the difference between core and non-core indicators?
Core indicators must be met in full for certification. Non-core indicators require meeting a minimum pass rate, currently 60 percent of the applicable indicators, rather than full compliance on every one.
How long is Bonsucro Production Standard certification valid for?
Certification runs on a three-year cycle: an initial certification audit, two surveillance audits over the following two years, and a full recertification audit at the end of the cycle.
Is there a simplified version of the standard for smallholder farmers?
Yes. Bonsucro publishes a separate Production Standard for Smallholder Farmers, built for smaller growing operations supplying a certified mill, with requirements scaled to a smallholder's size and resources.