The FINANCIAL -- In 2012, Chiquita Brands celebrates 20 years of working with the Rainforest Alliance and implementing the social and environmental standards they pioneered.

This collaboration marks one of the longest sustained relationships between a company and NGO. According to Chiquita Brands, from this experience, Chiquita has also developed sustainability partnerships with leading retailers and governments to continue improving in sustainability.

To mark the occasion, on February 9, 2012, at Fruit Logistica in Berlin, Chiquita joins with representatives of the Rainforest Alliance, as well as leading retailers Migros and REWE Group, in celebrating the power of collaboration and partnerships to drive positive change.

1992 to 2012: 20 years of working with the Rainforest Alliance -- When the Rainforest Alliance first proposed that banana companies should adopt their comprehensive social and environmental standards, it was a revolutionary idea. Chiquita evaluated the concept, and then proceeded to make a significant investment over the next eight years to apply the Rainforest Alliance standards on all of its owned banana farms in Latin America, improving facilities and production practices and training thousands of men and women. Subsequently, Chiquita encouraged numerous independent banana growers to become Rainforest Alliance certified.

2003: Migros and Chiquita launch the Nature and Community Project -- Chiquita's experience with the standard for sustainable agriculture, developed by the Rainforest Alliance and other NGO's in the Sustainable Agriculture Network opened the gates to productive partnerships. In 2003, Chiquita and leading Swiss retailer MIGROS joined in a biodiversity partnership with the aim to protect and connect rainforest areas in Costa Rica.

More recently, the British retailer IPL/ASDA also joined the partnership. With support from the Rainforest Alliance and many local and international institutions, this pilot project has demonstrated that the creation of biological corridors connecting forest areas plays a key role in the conservation of natural flora and fauna. It has also demonstrated the vital importance of the participation of local farmers and communities in such a project.

2008: REWE Group and Chiquita join forces in Panama -- A second biodiversity partnership was born in 2008, when REWE and Chiquita agreed to work together in the Bocas province of Panama to conserve valuable wetlands and endangered species, in cooperation with the local community, farmers and government authorities.

Soon after, REWE Group and Chiquita broadened their scope of activities and entered in a development partnership with the Costa Rican federation of banana growers and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH working on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. In this cooperation the work of the project has been extended to the Sixaola region of Costa Rica focusing on activities to improve the living conditions of the communities in this border region of Panama and Costa Rica.

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