Milling & Baking News - May 28, 2013 - 23

Signature Interview



General Mills initiative
puts spotlight on wheat
sustainability, collaboration
Continued from Page 1

General Mills. First, the issue is important to the company’s customers and
has been growing in importance. In
addition, producing food sustainably
is “the right thing to do,” he said. He
added, “We really need to work together in a collaborative way that we
never have done before.” Finally, Mr.
Peterson identified what he views as
a compelling business case for General Mills to aggressively address the
issue, beyond keeping the company’s
customers satisfied.
“We must protect and conserve the
natural resources on which our business
depends,” he said. “This includes the
wonderful raw materials we put in our
products. Our business future is very
dependent on an ongoing supply of raw
materials.” Wheat and oats rank high
among these raw materials, he said.
Mr. Peterson’s background leaves
him well suited for the complicated array of issues he confronts in his role as
director of sourcing sustainability. He
has extensive experience within supply chain operations and sourcing. He
was with The Pillsbury Co. for 15 years,
joining General Mills in 2001 when
Pillsbury was acquired. Before moving to other assignments he was senior
director of ingredient sourcing at Pillsbury. He owns and manages a farm in
Paynesville, Minn., west of Minneapolis. Additionally, Mr. Peterson is actively

involved in Field to Market, serving as
vice-chairman of the organization.
While General Mills has cited commodity sourcing in the past as part
of its environmental sustainability
efforts, the decision to break out commodity sourcing shows its heightened
emphasis, Mr. Peterson said.
“We have really evolved in that raw
materials have become a critical part
of our sustainability efforts at General
Mills,” he said. “We’ve known this intuitively for a long time, but we’ve done the
work in the past year to confirm this.”
Elaborating on the importance of
sourcing within the broader objective
of improving sustainability at General
Mills, Mr. Peterson said analysis of the
environmental footprint of the $17 billion company brought the recognition
that two thirds of this footprint resides
upstream from the company, with its
suppliers. In the case of its water footprint, the upstream figure is 99%.
Even though real sustainability progress at General Mills depends on tackling
the issue upstream, Mr. Peterson said the
sequence followed by the company —
reducing the footprint at the company
level and downstream — makes sense.
“We began our journey in sustainability within our four walls, where
we have control,” he said. “We understand the game is really upstream for
us. Leading food companies are aware
of this. Approximately 80% of global

Growers in the Snake river region of Idaho were surprised to learn 3,500 gallons of
water were being used for each bushel of wheat harvested. Technological advances applied to established irrigation methods such as center-pivot irrigation help significantly
reduce water use.
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

fresh water is used in agriculture —
the single largest use by far. In the case
of carbon dioxide, the analysis is more
complicated. Roughly, the number for
global carbon dioxide output related
to agriculture is a third.”
In looking at ways to reduce the
company’s environmental footprint,
Mr. Peterson identified Field to Market as “a critical forum.”
“For several categories, like wheat,
we don’t come up with the definition
of what sustainable is,” he said. “That
decision is made within an F.T.M.
roundtable where all members of the
value chain are represented. Almost 50
companies are represented. The whole
value chain is there.
“What’s critical is that it is within
the group where there is an emerging
definition of what sustainable row crops
are. I think that’s very important. It took
a long time to agree around the framework, the calculator identifying the key
environmental factors it takes to grow
North American row crops.”
The company’s pilot project in the
Snake River Valley of Idaho will create a baseline environmental footprint
against which General Mills will be
able to measure improvement over
time, adjusted for the vagaries of
Mother Nature, Mr. Peterson said.
“That’s where Field to Market is
going,” he said. “The pilot in Idaho is
one of the leading pilots.
“Beyond the work in Idaho, we’re doing similar work in the Prairies of Canada. Our strategic crop there is oats.”
In Idaho, Mr. Peterson said the
wheat project likely will expand.
“We’re focusing on one crop right
now,” he said. “To really measure
(sustainability progress) you need the
whole rotation. Now we’re getting the
potato industry to join us in Idaho,
then sugar beets and possibly barley.”
Elaborating on the Snake River Valley project, Mr. Peterson said the work
began three years ago. While Idaho is
not one of the top U.S. wheat production states. Mr. Peterson described it
as a significant wheat source for General Mills. It is located east of Boise
and north of Salt Lake City. About 20
Milling & Baking News May 28, 2013 / 23

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