Baking & Snack - October 2021 - 10

editorial
All hands on deck
W
When writing the sustainability report that you'll find in
this issue, I ran out of space. There is such a boom in sustainability
work in the food industry that truly giving the
subject its due in a single feature is impossible. Since I finished
writing, bakingbusiness.com has been bursting with
new stories of sustainability commitments made by the
largest companies in the agri-food sector. Nestle, Vevey,
Switzerland, plans to invest $1.3 billion in regenerative
agriculture. Cargill is enrolling farmers in a new regenerative
agriculture program that pays them for improving
soil health. And PepsiCo, Purchase, NY, launched its
Pep+ initiative, which sets new goals toward positive agriculture,
value chain and choices.
" Pep+ is the future of our company - a fundamental
transformation of what we do and how we do it to create
growth and shared value with sustainability and human
capital at the center, " said Ramon Laguarta, chairman
and chief executive officer of PepsiCo, in the company's
announcement. " It reflects a new business reality,
where consumers are becoming more interested
in the future of the planet and society. "
Sustainability is not new to the baking industry.
Bakers have long been finding ways
to save on energy costs and reduce water usage.
What has changed is that sustainability is
no longer optional for companies to pursue.
Millennials and Generation Z demand companies
do better by the planet and people, and
that's requiring food companies to go beyond energy
management and look at their entire value chain
through a green lens.
" The onus is on the company, " said Siobhan Kelly, agribusiness
economist, food systems and safety division,
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EDITORIAL
Charlotte Atchley
Dan Malovany
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Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
" There's a cost and a weight, but that way of thinking is
misplaced. Those more progressive companies that are using
sustainability to pivot their business models are growing
exponentially because of younger food consumers. "
In my conversation with Ms. Kelly, she also pointed out
that sustainability is a long journey, one without a defined
finish line. There will always be new targets to set and incremental
changes to make, which sounds a lot like the
continuous improvement we see in bakeries all the time.
" All good sustainability programs are rooted in a philosophy
of continuous improvement, " said Margaret Ann
Marsh, vice president, sustainability and environmental,
Flowers Foods, Thomasville, Ga. " Inherent in this thinking
is an evolution of our approach to include current
trends, best practices and technology. "
As we watch sustainability initiatives evolve to meet
more aggressive goals and expand to include more links
in the value chain, we see those same principles of continuous
improvement come into play. Where else can
we save energy and water? How else can we support our
workers? What new technology can help us eliminate
branded litter? Where else can bakers make a difference?
Which is the key question as you'll see in my feature:
Where can your company have the biggest impact, and
what's your plan to make it happen? Ms. Marsh of Flowers
says getting sustainability right requires an all-hands-ondeck
approach, a coordinated attack, if you will, between
departments with everyone on board. But if the headlines
on bakingbusiness.com are any indication, you already
knew that.
- Charlotte Atchley, Editor
catchley@sosland.com
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Baking & Snack - October 2021

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