January/February 2021 - 4

THE PROCESS
ZEKE JENNINGS
Office 616-887-9008
The sustainability story
Sustainability has been a buzzword among
consumers for several years now. It's the current
standard term for ideas and practices that
used to be referred to as " eco-friendly " and a
handful of others.
It is, essentially, cutting down on things that
Zeke Jennings
Managing Editor
are perceived as bad for the environment, we
all know that. But how do you quantify what
you're doing to be sustainable, and how do
you communicate that in a meaningful way
to consumers?
What do consumers want to know?
I recently sat through an interesting virtual presentation on
that subject by Charlie Arnot, who is the CEO of The Center for
Food Integrity (CFI), which has a mission of improving public
trust in the food system.
Along with its research partners, CFI conducted a study and
analysis of what people talk about in online conversations
related to potatoes and sustainability. (While this particular
presentation was focused on the potato industry, Arnot noted
that topics regarding food production are usually pretty similar.)
Food waste, greenhouse gas emissions, soil regeneration and
water security ranked among the top five, along with farmer
aid. With the last item, Arnot said consumers expect farmers
to become more sustainable, but have an affinity for them and
want to know they're being assisted in doing that.
Cutting down on food waste topped the list of concerns and
is something that all food producers want to improve. Stories
of dairy farmers dumping milk or seed potato farmers burying
suddenly unsellable crop due to COVID-19 supply chain backups
led to frustration across the board in the industry and for the
consuming public.
COVID may ultimately result in some supply-chain tweaks, but
finding ways to utilize food waste well predates the pandemic.
For years, food producers have found ways to utilize food waste
into other uses. In late January, I received a release about a
crop protection company that has started using waste from a
paper-packaging producer to make wood ash for soil nutrition.
These are the sorts of stories that are out there and need to
get told. We want to help tell them. Perhaps your company is
doing something to utilize waste in an unusual way.
Let us know! It might inspire someone else.
Managing Editor Zeke Jennings, 616-520-2159
zjennings@greatamericanpublish.com
Integrated Marketing Andrea Schafer, 616-520-2139
Consultant prosales@produceprocessing.net
Editorial Director Tim Hodson, 616-520-2161
thodson@greatamericanpublish.com
Creative Director Kristina Howell, 616-520-2168
khowell@greatamericanpublish.com
Multimedia Designer Greg Ryan, 616-520-2145
proproduction@produceprocessing.net
Custom Marketing Jess Schmidt, 616-520-2141
Manager jschmidt@greatamericanpublish.com
Circulation Becky Stovall, 616-520-2138
circulation@produceprocessing.net
Billing Accounts Receivable, 616-520-2136
accounting@produceprocessing.net
Contributing Editors Gary Pullano, 616-520-2144
Stephen Kloosterman, 616-520-2152
COO & CMO Kimberly Baker, 616-520-2135
kbaker@greatamericanpublish.com
CFO & Director of Deb Carnes, 616-520-2169
Human Resources dcarnes@greatamericanpublish.com
Vice President/ Gerry Bogdon, 616-520-2150
Group Publisher gbogdon@greatamericanpublish.com
CEO Matt McCallum, 616-520-2133
publisher@produceprocessing.net
Editorial Advisory Board
Adrienne Seiling, American Frozen Food Institute
Rudi Groppe, Heinzen Manufacturing International
Lou Cooperhouse, Rutgers Food Innovation Center
Sherrie Rosenblatt, Can Manufacturers Institute
Leonard Batti, Taylor Farms, Salinas, California
ISSN 2375-3447
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email Zeke:
zjennings@greatamericanpublish.com
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January/February 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January/February 2021
