a greenfutures Special Edition
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food for the future
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Rio and after: can the food and drinks industry make a success of sustainability?
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Welcome to Food for the Future. As the world’s leaders gather in Rio, one of the greatest challenges facing them is how to feed a growing population at a time of ever scarcer resources and looming climate change. It’s not a challenge that can be solved at a single conference. Setting food production on a path to sustainability will take a generation or more. But already some pretty dramatic progress is being made – and it rarely gets the publicity it deserves. So, in this Special Edition, we set out the key issues which need to be resolved, and highlight some of the innovations under way which are starting to do just that. Martin Wright, Editor in Chief, Green Futures @MartinFutures
I believe the engagement of business in the Rio process is paramount, because we are the people who produce things, employ people, generate wealth and put science and technology to work. But, in this process we use precious resources. As a result, we have both a duty and a compelling business case to continue in ways that are sustainable, so that our consumers can continue enjoying the food and drinks they love for generations to come. As the country’s largest manufacturing sector, we believe that the UK food and drink industry has a major role to play in delivering sustainable growth. Our job is to supply consumers with safe, nutritious, appetising and affordable food. But, we need to rise to the challenge of producing more, from less, with less environmental impact if we are to help deal with the combined pressures of population growth and climate change over the next 20 years and beyond. The Food and Drink Federation put together an industry-wide environmental sustainability programme – our Five-fold Environmental Ambition – nearly five years ago. It aims to deliver real and measurable
Nick Bunker is President Kraft Foods & Cadbury UK/Ireland, and Chair of the Food and Drink Federation’s Sustainability Steering Group.
What are the big sustainability challenges emerging post-Rio – and what should be done to meet them?
galvanise international and domestic efforts to deliver a more sustainable global food and agricultural system.
By 2030, the world will need at least 50% more food, 45% more energy and 30% more water, and this will all need to be produced without further damaging the environment. Many systems of food production are unsustainable – which compromises the world’s capacity to produce food in the future. That is why I’m calling for a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on food security and sustainable agriculture, in order to
How strong is the business case for sustainability in the food sector? There is a clear link between businesses becoming more sustainable and becoming more profitable. UK businesses could save around £23 billion a year through low-cost improvements in the way they use materials, energy and water. And they could exploit significant international economic opportunities post-Rio. Global agreements on such key issues as food, Photos: xxxxx
“We need to make it easy for people to do the right thing”
“Our challenge is to produce more from less”
savings in water and energy use, transport, packaging and food waste, to demonstrate that good environmental practice makes good business sense. As you’ll see from the case studies in this Edition, some fantastic progress has been made. But there is still more to be done. At Kraft Foods, we realised that almost 90% of our environmental impact was outside our factories and offices, most notably in the farms that grow the ingredients we need for our products. So, we have developed programmes to work with farmers, and partnerships with organisations like the Fairtrade Foundation and Rainforest Alliance to help improve both the livelihoods of the farmers and their families, as well as the quality and sustainability of our products. It’s a perfect example of sustainability being good for business. Building on the success of examples like this from across the industry, the FDF has recently expanded the aims of the Five Fold Ambition to address sustainability across the supply chain, and support work with partners to overcome barriers to protecting and enhancing the natural resources vital to future production. The food and drink industry has already achieved a huge amount. But, there is a lot more to be done. We hope some of the experiences and expertise captured in these pages will help inspire businesses, governments and NGOs in Rio and beyond to work together to deliver a more sustainable future.
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“Shift the system, and the rest will follow”
We know that the food sector as a whole is facing some huge challenges on the path to sustainability. It’s tempting to think that we should tackle them in turn, being careful not to bite off more than we can chew, as it were. But this would be a mistake. We’re talking about a whole system here, and we can’t heal it by picking off particular symptoms in isolation. Instead we have to see how they influence one another within the whole. That means using systems thinking to identify the key interventions we can make which have the best chance of shifting those systemic barriers. Here is my top three. 1. W hole value chains need to work together A key driver of the current unsustainability of the food system is the dysfunctionality of value chains. More often than not, producers lose out, and too much power sits with faceless procurement departments. Tackling this status quo isn’t easy, but movements such as Fairtrade offer alternatives. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil also shows it is possible for the
water and energy security are of great value to the UK food industry. They create new investment opportunities, allowing it to showcase its leadership on sustainability, and provide greater transparency in how companies report on progress towards it. I want to work closely with the industry to show the rest of the world the expertise we can bring to the table. Is there a need for more regulation or will mere voluntary initiatives be enough?
2. W e need to reconnect with the food we eat Millions of people are totally disconnected from where and how food is produced. This in turn can translate into a reluctance to pay the ‘true’ price for food, as well as to throw up to a third of it away. Again, there is no simple answer, but there are some ways forward. First, brands and retailers should actively engage consumers with how and where their favourite product is made. Tetley Tea’s Farmers First Hand initiative is a great example of how it is possible to engage the non-greens on issues like product origin. Second, instead of asking consumers what they want now, how about anticipating future needs, and using this insight to innovate new products and services? Forum for the Future’s ‘Consumer Futures’ project showed that, by 2020, sustainable consumption is likely to have mainstreamed, driven by trends such as resource shortages, and the demand for transparency.
successful voluntary agreements, such as the Courtauld Commitment to reduce waste, can drive behaviour change across the food chain, helping businesses save money and become more sustainable. The Government is making regulation more efficient, but there are areas where we can help signpost what is being done on sustainability, such as environmental labelling. This can be a useful way to help consumers make more informed decisions. Businesses can help themselves by providing credible information, demonstrating that they are acting responsibly, enhancing their credentials,
3. T he money needs to work for sustainability A business has a fiduciary duty to maximise shareholder value. And there is increasing evidence that a company’s ability to generate returns is linked to how it responds to environmental and social challenges. Despite a crystal clear business case, far too many businesses are single-mindedly pursuing short-term profit with no eye on the bigger picture. Rather than wait for these dinosaurs to become extinct, we need to usher in the new wave of businesses that are making sustainability work financially. The first step in this transition is to align business models with societal needs. By providing health care and hygiene to the millions in the emerging markets, multinationals such as Unilever are securing short-term success and the creation of long-term valuation. On a smaller scale, the UK-based baby food manufacturer Ella’s Kitchen recognised the needs of parents who wanted wholesome and tasty food for their offspring. Ella’s Kitchen has reached the point where it is now one of the UK’s most successful export stories. The examples used here are pioneering practice. The ultimate solution will come when we have scaled up this pioneering practice and created a tipping point, which in turn will lead to a new mainstream where sustainable food is the norm. Sally Uren is Deputy Chief Executive at Forum for the Future. @sallyuren
and helping to steer the market towards greener products. At the end of the day, do we have to choose between taking steps to boost economic growth and ones to protect the environment? No. Economic growth and protecting the environment work hand-in-hand. I believe increasing food production and driving economic growth can be balanced with protecting the environment. Caroline Spelman is UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
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We need to make it easier for people to do the right thing. We have seen how
value chain, from producer to retailer, to come together, in this case to switch to sustainable sourcing of this critical global commodity. And in the UK, representatives from across the dairy supply chain have recently published a vision for a sustainable sector: www.dairy2020.com. From palm oil to dairy, there are two features which make it possible for the value chain to come together in this way: clear boundaries on what is pre-competitive and competitive, and a shared vision for sustainability.
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Feed the world, save the planet – and make a profit The crisis facing the food industry is throwing up some unlikely allies – and opportunities too. Andrew Purvis investigates. is that food and drink companies have woken up to the significance of their role. “If we want a sustainable planet by 2050, which we must have or it’s Armageddon, we have to deal with food.” No pressure, then. And no doubting the scale of the challenge. By 2050, the population will have grown by 2.5 billion (an extra India and China). Many of these will be part of the world’s emerging middle class, with appetites that impose even more burdens on scarce resources. This rapid growth means that by 2030 – less than 18 years away – we will need 50% more food and energy and 30% more water,
Climate change is starting to wreak havoc with much of the world’s croplands, as in Niger (left); although the UK (below) remains relatively unaffected, it will be hit by global instability.
Photos: Karen Kasmauski / Science Faction / Corbis; iStockPhoto / thinkstock
Speaking, not for the first time, to Tim Lang, scrutineer, sceptic and scourge of Big Food, I notice a distinct change of tone. “PepsiCo in the UK is on a mission to reduce its footprint by 50% over five years”, the Professor of Food Policy at City University almost enthuses. “This is astonishing. Unilever, the fourth biggest food company in the world, has made a commitment of dramatic significance, to hardwire all kinds of targets around sustainability into its core business. Five years ago, this would have been unthinkable. ” The reason for the seachange, Lang believes,
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You won’t find a label on food saying, ‘this is botulismfree’. People just expect that. In a few years’ time, it should be the same for sustainability
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according to the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, John Beddington. But as some consume more to the point of obesity, others are, increasingly, going without. “Hunger is on the rise again,” says Harriet Lamb, Director of the Fairtrade Foundation, pinpointing climate change as a key driver. “We did some research, and found that 80% of smallholder farmers are hit by changing weather patterns; one cooperative, in Uganda, says productivity is down 40%. Yield growth for crops has fallen to about 1% a year, well below the growth in demand as population increases.” It’s a concern reiterated by Professor Tim Benton, an expert on food security at Leeds University. “Soils are increasingly degraded, we’re seeing a range of climate change impacts such as rainfall variability, and we have pretty much plumbed the depths of what is genetically available through conventional plant breeding”, he says. “We’re running out of building blocks for increasing yield.” Given this ‘perfect storm’, what can food and drink companies do to feed the world without depleting resources further? How can they address these complex challenges while remaining profitable and satisfying shareholders? “The priority is food security”, says Andrew Kuyk, Director of Sustainability at the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), which represents the UK manufacturing industry. “If people are faced with empty shelves, there will be a real risk of civil disorder. If society is to function smoothly, food security is an absolute prerequisite for sustainable growth and sustainable development.” In this respect, the UK will have an important role to play globally. “One area that is going to be least impacted by climate change is northern Europe”, Professor Benton says. “We are blessed in having a good climate, good soils, fairly abundant water; we
Green Futures June 2012
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Juiced up: adding value to raw foods through industrial processing is crucial to the success of the industry.
can produce large amounts of food, and if the rest of the world is squeezed, there is a business opportunity. We can increase agriculture in Europe without huge cost, compared to, say, sub-Saharan Africa.” What’s needed, Kuyk says, is “a profitable, innovative, resource-efficient food industry”. But how do your create that? The FDF has begun close to home. Its Five-fold Environmental Ambition plan, launched in 2007 [see box], sets targets for carbon, water, transport miles, packaging and waste across the UK operations of its members. It’s shown that progress – dramatic progress, even – is possible. One aim was a 20% cut in CO2 emissions by 2010. This was achieved a year early, and has now been revised to 35% by 2020. “We’re ahead of the Government’s own carbon budget,” says Kuyk, “on a trajectory that will take us to 80% by 2050.” Significantly, these reductions were achieved while increasing output. And the same trend applies to water, too. In 2010, FDF members reduced their water use by 5.3% compared to 2007 (the equivalent of 520 Olympic-size swimming pools) despite increasing production by 7.5%. “Decoupling growth from environmental impact is the holy grail,” says Kuyk, “Filtering water for re-use in cooling systems enables you to produce more with less. That saves you money. Carbon is a very good proxy for energy consumption. If you control your carbon, you are probably using less electricity, and that is a cost saving, too.” It’s an argument that makes sense to Mike Barry, Head of Sustainable Business at Marks & Spencer, and the man behind Plan A, a programme to build sustainability into every product. “Last year,” he says, “Plan A brought a £70 million net benefit to M&S. We invested tens of millions in better factories, better farms, more ethical products, but we more than recouped that thanks to substantial savings and new revenue streams. This financial year the benefit’s even greater: £105 million – a 50% increase. [It shows] you can deliver value to the business in the short term and prepare for a different future. It’s about logistics, efficiency, traceability and a better understanding of your value chain.” That is where the FDF will focus its efforts next. “By the end of 2012, we hope to deliver a generic sustainable sourcing guide for commodities”, says Andrew Kuyk. “Is the water used rain-fed? Is it irrigation? If it is, where has it come from and who are the potential [other] users of that water?” FDF members will look “up and down the supply chain”, Kuyk says, considering such issues as biodiversity, judicious and timely use of fertilisers and ‘sustainable intensification’. The idea is to optimise outputs for a given level of input at all scales of production from big to small, making food production “better-yielding, more efficient and less wasteful”. In Harriet Lamb’s view, smallholders are the key. “There’s no doubt they can increase the productivity of their land”, she says. “With the right technological support, finance and access to markets, they can be part of the solution.” Unilever agrees. In its Sustainable Living Plan, the company pledges that “by 2020, we will link more than 500,000 smallholder farmers and small-scale distributors into our supply chain”. Other targets include halving the impact of its greenhouse gases,
waste and water, sourcing 100% of raw materials sustainably and bringing safe drinking water to 500,000 people, all in the next eight years. “Unilever is one of the thought leaders on this”, says Mark Driscoll, Head of the One Planet Food Programme at WWF. “They take a much more holistic approach.” As yet, there is no way of measuring sustainability in the round, hence the use of simple metrics such as food miles. Professor Benton questions the wisdom of this approach, arguing that transport in particular is a red herring. Instead, companies should be focusing more on influencing dietary habits. “If the average North American family ate white meat instead of red one day a week,” he says, “it would be the equivalent of saving all the food miles in the entire system.” Another key area to tackle is food waste, where there is huge potential for imaginative solutions. In its sandwiches, Marks & Spencer uses loaves that are 4ft long to minimise the ratio of crusts to usable slices, so less bread is thrown away. In May 2012, Agriculture Minister Jim Paice brokered a £50 million deal to export British pork to China, the majority of it offal, trotters, ears and other parts of the ‘fifth quarter’ which British diners do not eat but the Chinese do. So, should Government be doing more? “Governments do bring resources to this, [even in austere times]”, says Caroline Spelman, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. “We are shifting models of assistance to developing countries, towards multiple outcomes and relatively simple interventions that are much smarter. A small amount of resources can reduce post-harvest losses, for example, or provide smallholder farmers with water storage facilities.”
With the right leadership from government and industry, Andrew Kuyk is confident that the food and drink sector can be genuinely sustainable. “Today, you won’t find a label on food saying, ‘This is botulism-free’”, he says. “People just expect that. In a few years’ time, you shouldn’t have to be told that this produce has used water sustainably or that one is dolphin-friendly, because it shouldn’t be on the shelves unless it is. It’s a long journey, but that’s where we have to get to.”
Get it right now, and his grandchildren will be tucking in, too.
Andrew Purvis has written widely about food and sustainability for The Observer, The Guardian and Green Futures.
Coalition of the willing
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Leading food companies are signing up to stringent sustainability targets. Sarah Lewis-Hammond reports. When it comes to cutting, reducing and saving, voluntary targets tend to be seen as something of a cop-out. Swift and effective action on environmental concerns, runs the argument, is hardly best served by just letting people get on with it in their own time, with no comeback if they don’t make the grade. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) however, views things a bit differently. In 2007, it launched its Five-fold Environmental Ambition [FEA], a response to the Government’s Food Industry Sustainability Strategy, which examined where the greatest environmental gains could be made. Since then, many federation members, such as Premier Foods, Kraft and Nestlé, have enthusiastically taken part in the opt-in programme and reported year-on-year improvements. The FEA includes five specific commitments: CO2 reduction, diverting food and packaging waste from landfill, using less packaging, lowering water usage, and minimising HGV transport miles. Members are free to sign up to all, some or none as they see fit, and the number signed up to each changes over time. The one exception is CO2 reduction, which boasts a 100% sign up rate thanks to a discount on the climate change levy
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for participating companies. Unsurprisingly, it’s the Ambition’s greatest success, comfortably exceeding the target well before the deadline. Despite its voluntary status, the companies involved represent such a large proportion of food production that the FDF is confident in saying the targets met are representative of the industry overall. Andrew Kuyk, FDF’s sustainability director, says that voluntary participation is a crucial strength, as it encourages companies to take part that might be nervous of making a public commitment on their own. With measurements taken across a number of organisations, there is no risk of being singled out as a failure. “It also acts as a means of sharing best practice on a non-competitive basis, helping to drive the performance of the sector as a whole”, Kuyk adds. Savings on packaging waste, water use and HGV miles haven’t been quite as dramatic as those for carbon, but they are all pointing in the right direction. This, as Kuyk points out, is no mean feat during a period of increased productivity and demand – further evidence that the much sought after goal of ‘decoupling’ is no mirage. Sarah Lewis-Hammond is a journalist specialising in environmental issues.
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Six of the best Leading food companies, large and small, are starting to shift to sustainable production. Sarah Lewis-Hammond finds six examples which show what’s possible.
Big brands tend to get a bad rap when it comes to sustainability. But a company with 50,000 metric tonnes of coffee beans passing through their doors and selling millions of jars of coffee every year is in a position to make a big difference – and quickly. In 2005, Kraft Foods’ coffee brand Kenco decided to begin sourcing from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms, a certification programme that ensures land is farmed in an environmentally sustainable way while also protecting the rights of workers. Over five years, Kenco has transformed their entire range, and Kraft Foods is now one of the largest purchasers of Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee worldwide. For Kenco, ensuring the wellbeing of their coffee growers made business sense, but brand manager Stephanie Okell says there was a further business case to be made: selling ethically sourced coffee could be used to “increase consumer engagement.” “We’ve had a lot of growth on the back of becoming certified and launching the Eco Refill (a lightweight reusable plastic alternative to coffee jars),” says Okell, pointing out that, since 2008, there has been over one million additional consumers buying Kenco coffee. “Sustainability has been a key business driver”, she says. Central to this success is brand owner Kraft Food’s ability to make more ethical coffee accessible for a mainstream audience. As a large company, it can absorb the extra cost of buying certified coffee in exchange for a larger market share. “We can make sure people don’t have to pay a premium to enjoy great quality coffee. There are more niche brands of ethical coffee out there, but we are bringing it to an everyday consumer.” Kenco’s advertising strategy has also been important, Okell believes. Instead of lecturing about saving the world, they focused on how Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee brings direct benefits to real people. And the lighthearted adverts for the Eco Refill helped. “There was no preaching. We just made it easier to make a sustainable choice.”
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Shrink the footprint, not the food “We’ve got an absolutely ace bunch of people who work in the factory who are very keen” [on sustainability]”, says Peter King, the quality resource manager and environmental coordinator at Portable Foods in Wrexham, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kellogg’s. “They want to do it, they’re always coming up with ideas, and the management want it done as well.” In fact, the management is so keen to see the factory reach high environmental standards that in 2009 they took the Food and Drink Federation targets for 2015 – and decided to meet them four years early. Because of this, the Portable Foods plant, which manufactures many of the Kellogg’s bars such as Rice Krispies Squares, has cut energy use by a third and reduced water use by 17%. It’s also reached the target of sending zero waste to landfill. After halving the amount of general waste leaving the site, the rest is incinerated, with the energy being recovered. This year, the amount of waste headed for incineration should be cut from 17 tonnes a month to five. Energy is also on the hit list for 2012. Despite a public commitment to a 2% year-on-year reduction, management set the in-house figure at 5%. “Those are pretty aggressive targets really”, says King, pointing out that their office space doubled over Christmas. Additionally, the plant is only 14 years old, meaning their machinery is relatively new and energy efficient, so there’s no obvious ‘low hanging fruit’. Instead, any serious reductions have to happen on a human scale through training and awareness. “I do think it’s the mentality in Portable Foods that makes a big difference”, King says. “We are a smaller plant. It’s easier to be a family, a community. I look at what we’ve achieved and I think ‘bloody hell, that’s good stuff’.”
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Photos: Rainforest Alliance; Kellogg’s
Woke up, smelt the coffee
How to make the chocolate last On the basis of sales figures alone, it’s tempting to conclude that chocolate is one industry which could blithely ignore the fragile state of the worldwide economy. Last year’s revenue topped $100 million for the first time. But far from celebrating, the industry is worried. Behind the scenes, shrinking cocoa harvests are leading to predictions of a serious slump in supply, while a striking lack of young people willing to take over family farms is compounding the problem. No surprise, then, that one of the world’s largest purchasers of cocoa beans should be concerned for the future security of its vital supplies. In 2008, Cadbury launched the Cocoa Partnership, made up of governments, international organisations, NGOs and farmers, to help restore the dwindling industry and to promote sustainable livelihoods for those involved. Since Kraft Foods acquired the company in 2010, it has maintained and expanded the programme and works in cocoa-producing
nations across the world. One of the most important of these is Ghana, home to around 700,000 cocoa farmers, and the main source of supply for Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. To date, the partnership has been able to help 60,000 farmers in over 200 cocoa-growing communities. In Bonkuku in the West Achim District, for example, nearly 100 farmers meet regularly to work on a community action plan with help from Cocoa Partnership partner Voluntary Service Overseas. Since 2009, they have established new seedling nurseries to improve production, secured second incomes through soap and pomade making, raised literacy levels and committed to securing electricity for the whole community by connecting to mains electricity by 2015. According to Anna Swaithes, Head of Development at the Cocoa Partnership, it is now planning to use programmes of knowledge sharing and political engagement to take livelihood improvements “beyond farmers who supply Kraft Foods, to the broader cocoa sector”.
Photos: The Macphie Biomass Plant; The Macphie Glenbervie Estate
Key ingredients: wind and wood The Glenbervie Estate in north-east Scotland has been cared for by the Macphie family for over 700 years. The grounds are looked after meticulously and passionately, from the Victorian walled garden which houses a wide variety of plant species, to the quarter of a million trees planted on the estate over the last four decades. But it’s no ancestral pile preserved in aspic. It’s also home to family firm Macphie of Glenbervie, the UK’s leading independent food ingredient manufacturer. In keeping with the family’s commitment to safeguarding the heritage around Glenbervie, Macphie has recently made a number of environmental investments in its factory. In 2008, the company installed a biomass steam boiler to produce steam for its UHT factory. It runs on woodchips sourced sustainably from nearby woodlands, and saves around 2,100 tonnes of CO2 annually. Soon, it will be complemented by two wind turbines, each with a capacity of 2.3MW – saving an additional 8,200 tonnes of emissions. All this will put Macphie on track to meet the target of getting all its electricity and steam from renewable sources by 2013.
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The other significant target is to send no waste to landfill by 2015. That’s a big ask, but some relatively simple ideas, such as the introduction of reusable transit packaging and other packaging initiatives, mean that 17% of waste has already disappeared from the supply chain. So can this all be achieved without compromising business aims? Absolutely, says executive director Alastair Macphie. The company has some “very ambitious growth plans”, and these green measures help protect it from the unsettling impacts of a volatile energy market, while also ensuring that resources are used as efficiently as possible. Solid sustainability policies are vital for business success, he says, “which is why robust environmental management standards are embedded into our strategy”.
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A sweet taste in the mouth
A less hungry haggis
Fairtrade might have started off in something of an ethical niche, but recent years have seen it become increasingly mainstream. Nothing epitomised this shift more than when the UK’s most well-known chocolate brand decided to get itself certified. In 2009, when Cadbury’s Dairy Milk started boasting the green and blue swirls, it was hailed as a major turning point for the Fairtrade mark. Since then, some 650 million bars and bags of Fairtrade-certified Cadbury’s Dairy Milk have been sold in the UK and Ireland, and the chocolate manufacturer has been responsible for quadrupling the volume of Fairtrade cocoa exported from Ghana. For assistant brand manager Hortense Rothenburger, this is a logical extension of a long history of supporting Ghanaian cocoa farmers [see p9], and represents “a further commitment to their sustainable livelihoods”. The dramatic increase in cocoa exports has generated a cool £3.6 million for the farmers. The country’s Kuapa Kokoo cooperative [see GF Special Edition ‘Shared Future’, p9] which handles the sales, has been channelling the money to help members develop their communities, through improved infrastructure, skills training and community services such as health clinics, water and sanitation. In 2011, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk donated 20% of all profits sold during Fairtrade Fortnight to install solar panels and lanterns in Ghanaian schools, mills, health clinics and homes. A “managed and phased roll out of Fairtrade” means that the certified chocolate has now been launched in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, and in the UK it is spreading to other Cadbury products such as hot drinks and chocolate buttons. Last year, sales of the familiar purple bars reached a record 16% market share, and well over two-thirds of customers surveyed claimed that the Fairtrade stamp was important or extremely important in their purchasing decision.
Is there such a thing as an environmentally friendly haggis? That’s not quite as absurd a question as it sounds. Haggis makers Macsweens – a Scots family firm – has managed to cut the amount of energy and water needed to make 1lb of the fabled dish by 20% and 30%, respectively. And it is on track to have zero waste going to landfill within the next year. After an audit by the Energy Saving Trust, Macsweens fitted its refrigeration units with heat-recovery systems, put in sophisticated timers for lighting, heating and ventilation, and gave every employee training in how to use equipment as efficiently as possible. Diverting 90% of waste from going to landfill earns it money, too. A local recycling company buys its plastic and cardboard, and a biodiesel processor pays to take away its waste fat. The final 10% is plastic that has been in contact with haggis ingredients, making it difficult to recycle, and after an 18-month search it still hasn’t found a solution. However, director James Macsween says he is sure that by 2013 it will be a zero waste to landfill company. He says sustainability is “very much part of what we are and how we work. It’s been a 10-year journey, learning and innovating along the way”.
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A menu for the future
Photos: Paul Burns / cultura / Corbis
Imagine we’re on the eve of Rio+40, and the food industry’s celebrating its sustainability. What’s happened? Andrew Purvis has a crystal ball… What will the food and drink industry look like in 2032? If world leaders, policy-makers and the private sector do their job at Rio+20, the world will be better fed, the planet won’t be toast and there will be no unsustainable products on shelves. A whole host of initiatives – some by business, some by government – will have combined to get us there. Every company will have a route map to sustainability, including a set of well-informed targets developed with scientists and stakeholders. Progress against these will be reported transparently, to make sure pledges are met. By 2032, all board directors will be remunerated on the basis of sustainability and rewarded for meeting these targets (as they are at Marks & Spencer and Unilever now). Enlightened companies will have abandoned quarterly reporting to shareholders, instead informing them about more solid, longer term prospects. Choice editing will play its part, too. In store, consumers will no longer have to trouble themselves with logos (such as Fairtrade or Soil Association), traffic light symbols or carbon labels, because manufacturers will have done the work to ensure sustainability throughout the supply chain. Every product will have a sustainability story behind it – about producer partnerships, fair trade, provenance, conservation, packaging and waste – accessible by those who are interested via a QR code (or its 2032 equivalent) in the comfort of their home. Working with universities, food and drink companies will develop a holistic sustainability calculator, factoring in greenhouse emissions, water use, transport miles, packaging, waste, land use and social impacts, all represented by a single kitemark. In the field, ‘precision farming’ technology similar to PepsiCo’s i-crop (developed with Cambridge University) will glean data from moisture probes in the soil and combine it with rain forecasts to avoid underand over-watering. Similar tools will be developed to ensure that nitrogen fertilisers are applied only in dry weather, in the right location and in the right amounts, driving down cost and reducing spill off into water courses. And where other agrichemicals are needed, the technology will be available to ensure the optimal dose is applied with minimum impact to wildlife or the soil. Public-private partnerships will fund research into drought-resistant GM crops and varieties with
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root systems that allow them to absorb nitrogen more efficiently. Organically produced fertiliser – not synthetic – will be the norm, and biogas fermenters will drive nitrogen production facilities on farms. In the developing world, extension services will address the knowledge gaps and infrastructure challenges that are holding poor farmers back, and they in turn will share knowledge with the North about nutrition. In the developed world, we will find ourselves eating more fruit and vegetables, more pulses but less red meat and dairy produce, influenced not only by the South but by consistent messages and price incentives from the industry and the Government. Brands will be directly engaged with organised smallholders, in much more equal trading relationships, helping each understand the needs of the other. Increasingly, producer cooperatives will be shareholders in brands, as happens today with Divine (chocolate) and Liberation (nuts), benefiting everyone. It may sound like an ambitious menu. But everything on it is entirely feasible, and backed by a strong business case, too. And if we don’t opt for something along these lines, the future may leave a very bitter taste in the mouth. – Andrew Purvis
Precision farming will allow just the right amount of water to be used in just the right places
With thanks to Andrew Kuyk (Food and Drink Federation), Mike Barry (Marks & Spencer), Professor Tim Benton (University of Leeds), Mark Driscoll (WWF) and Harriet Lamb (Fairtrade Foundation).
Green Futures June 2012
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Food for the Future is a Green Futures Special Edition, produced in association with The Food and Drink Federation and Kraft Foods. Editor: Martin Wright Managing Editor, Green Futures: Anna Simpson Production: Katie Shaw Design: The Urban Ant Ltd Printed by Pureprint, using their environmental technology and vegetable-based inks, on 100% recycled and FSC certified Cocoon Silk paper, supplied by Arjowiggins Graphic. Published June 2012. © Green Futures Reg charity no. 1040519 Company no. 2959712 VAT reg. no. 677 7475 70 The Food and Drink Federation is the voice of the UK food and drink industry, the largest manufacturing sector in the country. The food and
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drink sector directly employs up to 400,000 people, and as many as 1.2 million in ancillary services; it accounts for 15% of the UK’s total manufacturing sector by value; and it is an invaluable partner to British agriculture, buying twothirds of what farmers produce. Its membership comprises manufacturers of all sizes as well as trade associations dealing with specific sectors of the industry. www.fdf.org.uk Kraft Foods is a global snacks powerhouse with an unrivalled portfolio of brands people love. Proudly marketing delicious biscuits, confectionery, beverages, cheese, grocery products and convenient meals in approximately 170 countries, Kraft Foods had 2011 revenue of $54.4 billion.
A leader in innovation, marketing, health & wellness and sustainability, Kraft Foods is a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard & Poor’s 500, Dow Jones Sustainability Index and Ethibel Sustainability Index. www.kraftfoodscompany.com www.facebook.com/ kraftfoodscorporate Green Futures is the leading international magazine on environmental solutions and sustainable futures. Founded by Jonathon Porritt, it is published by Forum for the Future, a non-profit organisation working globally with business and government to create a sustainable future. www.greenfutures.org.uk www.forumforthefuture.org
Order Food for the Future online To order more copies of Food for the Future, or to download a pdf version, visit: www.greenfutures.org.uk/foodforfuture We’d love your feedback on Food for the Future. Please email our editorial team at: letters@greenfutures.org.uk
Cover image: iStockphoto / thinkstock