Jo-Ann McArthur’s Post

Ahold Delhaize and Kellogg's Kellanova pilot supports the production of Cheez-It crackers made with regenerative wheat, demonstrating that from farmers to grocery shelves, all parts of the food chain must work together to foster environmental sustainability. 🌾🌍 This pilot not only aims to reduce environmental impact but also sets a precedent for how corporations can collaborate for greater good. How might other companies across the food system collaborate to amplify the impact of sustainability initiatives? #Sustainability #FoodIndustry #RegenerativeAgriculture #FoodTrends https://lnkd.in/ewRJnxJi

#Food companies are increasingly expected to demonstrate the impact of their #supplychain #sustainability efforts, and bridging the gap between on-farm practices and corporate sustainability #reporting is a critical challenge. HowGood’s Rachel Calomeni recently hosted Henry Fovargue, VP of Sustainability at Sysco, and Audrey Leduc, Director of Planet-Friendly Practices at McCain Foods, to discuss the topic. Here’s a look at some key insights from the conversation, where they explored the value of quantifying sustainability practices, the barriers facing the food industry, and previewed HowGood’s new tool, FieldScope, which makes on-farm #data more accessible for corporate reporting. https://lnkd.in/e8Eb3jes

There’s a wealth of potential for collaboration across diverse sectors to propel sustainable supply chain forward. Take the food and beverage industry, for example. Partnerships between producers, retailers, and agricultural suppliers can champion sustainable farming methods, curb food waste, and enhance supply chain transparency. Read this article by Dr. Edward Mungai highlighting how partnerships between different organizations go a long way in creating a more sustainable supply chain. https://lnkd.in/dXcMbV5j #supplychainpartnerships

🌱 Discovering Sustainable Success in Food Industry: A recent study by Deloitte and New York University reveals how investments in sustainable agriculture are not only driving revenue growth but also slashing costs for food companies. #Sustainability #FoodIndustry #BusinessGrowth https://lnkd.in/gDPpZ25K

My learning space this week: sustainability and sustainability reports. Why? Because more of us need to understand how companies are measured for their sustainability efforts and how their outputs impact all of us. This one from Oatly completely stands out. Why? It's a great case study of exceptional storytelling that's on brand and pulls the reader into an experience, not just words and data and data and words. And it's also very transparent: check out the "Success! Fail!" section. 🏆 Well done Oatly! And yes, I'm a huge fan of your super yummy oat-based beverages...the BEST. 😍 No Cow...WOW! 😀 #sustainabilityreporting #sustainabilityplans #sustainability #oatly #oatbased #alternativetodairy #greatstorytelling https://lnkd.in/eGHgTH6F

Attended the ‘Embedding regenerative principals in global supply chains’ seminar at Groundswell Agriculture yesterday. One thing which came up a few times, and was rightfully pushed back on, was that carbon is ‘the wild west’ in agriculture. It’s a tired and lazy narrative. Carbon isn’t a perfect metric for sustainability, but it’s the best we currently have. There are extensive science based methodologies out there to quantify carbon impact across a range of applications and verification bodies. Yet producers and retailers are too ‘unsure’ to pay farmers for implementing sustainable practices or giving consumers a clearer choice with carbon labelling. How much needs to happen before we can pay farmers fairly for actually implementing change on the ground which gives us more sustainable food production? And to enable new sustainable technologies to develop in the space? I’m not talking about credits here either, I’m talking about emission reductions embedded in food supply chains, where they inherently have more value than as a generic credit on the market. Farmers having to utilise 3rd party carbon trading schemes to monetise carbon/sustainable practices themselves is a failure of the supply chain and of government to value these benefits fairly. They say they are waiting for more certainty and new metrics other than carbon… …but the benefit of carbon as a metric is it is here NOW. One of the biggest factors in the climate emergency is its URGENCY. So do we wait another 10 years for another metric like biodiversity or a regenerative standard to come along (and inevitably be ‘unsure’) or do we use the imperfect tools we have now to actually make an impact? ‘Perfect is the enemy of good.’ I know there are always concerns with greenwashing, but having the industry step away from carbon standards only makes them more susceptible to abuse from unscrupulous players. Big players backing standards and putting resources into their development will increase confidence and quality, not decrease it. Let’s all actually work together to make the best with what we have now while building something better at the same time. Rather than the big producers, retailers and government sitting on their hands while farmers grapple with tiny margins and trying to shift to more sustainable practices with only their own good nature as an incentive.

The food industry is investing heavily in regenerative practices at the farm level, but are the results of these initiatives showing up in corporate emissions reporting? Sustainability leaders from the world’s largest food companies will discuss the challenges they face and solutions they’ve found for measuring, reporting, and capturing credit for on-farm agricultural practices at HowGood's next industry innovation session. Join us to hear from Henry Fovargue SVP of Sustainability at Sysco, and Audrey Leduc Director NA of Planet-Friendly Products at McCain Foods, to discuss issues like: 1) Why is it important to effectively quantify the impact of on-farm agricultural practices? 2) How are you currently working with suppliers to better reflect their sourcing practices? 3) Where have you had success in communicating benefits of your sourcing practices (or your suppliers’ practices) in reporting? Register below.

When Walmart, the world's largest retailer makes a sustainability commitment, growers, processors, and shippers along the supply chain feel it. Whether it's becoming IPM certified, adopting sustainable packaging, or embracing regenerative agriculture practices, Walmart's suppliers are being asked to step up their sustainability efforts. Here's an overview of Walmart's sustainability commitments most relevant to the fresh produce industry.

Walmart is leading in this space in many ways, and driving other retailer to take action as well. This article is a nice summary of how Walmart's sustainability initiatives are impacting their produce suppliers. Our sustainable agriculture certification, Sustainability Standard, is accepted as one of the certifications that demonstrates adoption of IPM practices on farms supplying Walmart. #sustainableagriculture #sustainability #certification