Andrea Berg is Sustainability Chief at Casa Fuentes – Finlays Argentina
1. Tell us about your role
In my role I oversee sustainability at our farms and our producers’ farms which are certified under the Rainforest Alliance. I’m also in charge of coordinating our sustainability projects in the company and the community.
2. How would be a typical day for you?
No two days are the same but fortunately, routine isn’t a problem for me. I might be visiting producers to assess them, making internal audits, or running training inside and outside the organisation. Other days are for preparing documentation, procedures, doing programmed external audits, or holding meetings to coordinate projects with the community or in the field. Nowadays, we are beginning a new project to recollect data at a farm level through mobile apps.
3. What inspire you?
I’m inspired to give my grain of sand everyday to a better and more sustainable future. I’m inspired by learning every day to look at the needs of the community, not only on the inside of the company but in our community of influence and look for the way of helping. I’m inspired to feel useful and valuable. I’m also inspired to work as a team and counting on the support of my colleagues in other areas to achieve success across a range of disciplines.
4. Which achievement are you the most proud of at Casa Fuentes?
There are so many achievements I’m proud of. A major one is how we have adapted our whole ecosystem to become Rainforest Alliance certified in 2020, and being successfully audited by external parties. I’m also proud to have been part of the Tabay Stream Watershed project, achieving the satellite mapping and developing action plans. I am also involved in projects to enrich education in schools such as a vegetable garden and nursery cultivation.
5. What does the future have for sustainability in tea?
It has new challenges. Nowadays we are in the phase of recollecting data and conducting analysis to determine our carbon footprint on our journey to achieving zero carbon certification. Finding ways to optimise sustainability through innovation on our database is also a key priority.
6. Tell us a surprising fact of you
It’s hard to describe that in oneself but I could say that I’m very insistent. If I have a goal, a project in mind, I chase it until I make it. Some times external factors are hard to control, but being firm and responsible, and looking for efficiencies, is key. As is balancing my work with being a mom – something I do with much passion and which makes me proud.
Find out more about Casa Fuentes – Finlays Argentina by clicking here
