Baking & Snack - December 2018 - 52

SUSTAINABLE SOURCING

Some companies are
removing palm oil from
their ingredient lists due
to deforestation concerns.
©nopparat - stock.adobe.com

in 2017 were more likely to try a product with a sustainability story, up 6% from 2009. They may pay more for
it, too. In 2017, 31% of shoppers said they were less concerned with the price than 25% in 2009.
To create a sustainable sourcing story, a baker must
understand the many facets of the ingredient platform.
The term sustainability simply means the ability to be
maintained and refers to the farmers as much as the
land. "It's also about connecting farmers to the foods that
nourish and sustain our lives," said Tara Froemming,
marketing coordinator, Healthy Food Ingredients.
The basic goals of sustainable agriculture are environmental health, economic profitability, and social and
economic equity - sometimes referred to as the "three
legs" of the sustainability stool. "Every farmer, farm and
business is different both in how they operate and where
they are in their sustainability journey," said Ashley
Schmeling, precision agronomist, Central Farm Service.
"Our seed and agronomy professionals work beside our
farmers every step of the production process to capture
opportunities and support precision agriculture."
Sustainability is an observable philosophy. Every
small decision or change can make a difference. When
bakers opt to work with suppliers that employ sustainable procedures, they are communicating these efforts
on websites and marketing materials.
Publican Quality Bread, Chicago, a wholesale baker
supplying bread to more than 50 restaurants across the
Windy City, has a dedicated team to explore the use of
sustainable whole grains. "Growth and cultivation are
vital to any experience, the human one included," said
Greg Wade, head baker, Publican Quality Bread. "For us,
it's as important to grow our grains as it is to grow our
relationships and our community."
The Publican's breads would not be possible without
Marty and Will Travis of Spence Farm, Fairbury, IL, a
connection fostered over 5-plus years.
"Each year, we collaborate with Marty and Will on
the grains we'd like to use, as well as growing conditions for the year and our collective quality standards,"
Mr. Wade said. "We choose varieties of heritage wheat,
not for yield or ease of harvest as conventional farmers
do, but for flavor, baking quality and soil health. Our

52 Baking & Snack December 2018 / www.bakingandsnack.com

bread starts, quite literally, from the ground up."
Commercial bakers may take a different approach
to writing their sustainability story. The Cookie
Department, Portland, OR, for example, announced in
October that it will replace the palm oil in many of its
functional cookie varieties with algae butter. The formulation change is environmentally motivated, as palm
harvesting is contributing to deforestation. While players in the palm oil supply chain are dedicating resources to improving conditions, for some bakers, it's not
enough for them at this time.
"It may seem trivial, but what's happening in these
countries is very serious to our ecosystem," said Akiva
Resnikoff, founder and CEO, The Cookie Department.
"We hope that by removing palm oil from our cookie
products that we are, in a sense, doing our part to save
the forests and their inhabitants from total destruction
and extinction. We hope other companies take notice
as well."
To replace it, the company uses algae butter to enhance dairy butter (the two are used in equal proportions in most cookie recipes) because it essentially has
the same texture, binding capabilities and taste but with
half the saturated fat. "The feedback from our customers is that they can't tell the difference in taste," Mr.
Resnikoff said.

Telling a local story
Every effort counts. And when dealing with specialty ingredients from far-away regions, it is difficult, especially
for smaller bakers, to do much more than speak with
their dollar.
With domestically produced ingredients, there is a lot
of pressure from food manufacturers that their suppliers
work with farmers who make their best effort into putting sustainable agriculture practices into action. Land
O'Lakes Sustain, a business unit of Land O'Lakes Inc.,
advances stewardship efforts throughout the food system with scale, from farmers to ingredient suppliers to
retailers and partners such as bakers.
"It's a major step forward in supporting food system sustainability that starts on the farm," said Matt
Carstens, senior vice-president of Land O'Lakes Sustain.

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Baking & Snack - December 2018

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