Sustainability is no longer a buzzword in the food industry — it’s a critical business imperative. Food companies increasingly are prioritizing eco-friendly practices across their supply chains, aiming to reduce environmental impact while promoting long-term resource efficiency.
In fact, industry observers estimate approximately 45% of food manufacturers have implemented sustainability initiatives in their supply chains ranging from facility upgrades that incorporate cleaner energy sources to circular strategies like recycling, upcycling, and waste minimization to reduce environmental impact.
One key strategy by leading brands such as Nestlé, PepsiCo, General Mills and Cambell’s is sourcing ingredients from local or regenerative farms. By supporting agricultural practices that replenish soil health and reduce reliance on synthetic inputs, companies are fostering more resilient food systems while cutting transportation-related emissions.
Packaging is another area seeing significant innovation (see cover story on page 6). Food companies are investing in eco-friendly materials, from compostable containers to recyclable films, to minimize waste and lessen their carbon footprint. These efforts oftentimes are paired with optimized logistics, including smarter routing and load planning, to reduce fuel consumption and overall greenhouse gas emissions.
Leading companies such as Walmart, Kellanova, Tyson Foods and McDonald’s are leveraging technology to build greener supply chains. Advanced tracking and analytics platforms, AI-powered platforms, and blockchain allow companies to monitor environmental and social standards at every step—from farm to fork. Increased transparency not only helps businesses meet sustainability goals but also empowers consumers to make informed choices about the products they buy.
Collaboration is essential to success. Food shippers, distributors, and logistics partners are working together to implement best practices, share innovations, and scale sustainability initiatives across the industry. By integrating eco-conscious strategies into sourcing, packaging, transportation, and technology, food companies are transforming their supply chains into drivers of both environmental stewardship and operational efficiency.
As consumers demand more sustainable products, the companies that embrace green supply chain practices today are positioning themselves for long-term success tomorrow.
The Business Case for Sustainable Food Practices
Cargill
Sustainability goals focus on climate, land, and water, aiming to achieve deforestation-free supply chains by 2030, reduce operational greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 10% by 2025, reduce global supply chain GHG emissions by 30% by 2030, and ensure positive water impact by 2030, including enabling the restoration of 600 billion liters of water by 2030. Cargill also aims to support 10 million farmers by 2030 with training on sustainable agricultural practices and improve access to markets, while also promoting regenerative agriculture.
“Cargill depends on both nature and people to do our business,” says Pilar Cruz, Chief Sustainability Officer at Cargill. “Protecting the earth’s resources — and those who rely on them — is embedded into our company’s purpose.”
Hormel Foods
To move to a carbon-neutral economy, Hormel Foods has joined thousands of other businesses and financial institutions working with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to reduce emissions in line with climate science. As part of the company’s “20 By 30 Challenge,” it has established a goal that demonstrates climate leadership through a science-based target for the reduction of GHG emissions by 2023.
“Science-based targets are an aggressive set of goals to achieve worldwide climate targets to offset what we believe to be the worst elements of climate change,” says Tom Raymond, Director of Environmental Sustainability at Hormel Foods. “We’ll do this by reducing our energy use, making our energy cleaner and working with our partners to reduce emissions throughout our supply chain. Our greenhouse gas emission reduction targets are extremely aggressive and our timeframe is short. We’re looking at 2030 to meet all targets, but have interim goals as early as 2025. This effort will require us to review our systems and processes and think differently about how we’re going to tackle the challenges before us.”
Sysco
Committed to model and promote sustainable practices, in FY2023 Sysco introduced its “One Planet One Table” sustainability platform to amplify and unite efforts across three pillars: products, people and planet. Under the ‘products pillar’ within Sysco’s supply chain infrastructure, it promotes responsible sourcing to enhance animal welfare, biodiversity and ecosystem health. Under the ‘people pillar,’ Sysco engages and invests with local, small and diverse suppliers. Under the ‘planet pillar,’ the company is developing and promoting industry-leading sustainability standards and best practices, such as regenerative agriculture. Sysco also is encouraging suppliers to reduce their climate impacts by setting SBTi’s.
“We are progressing our fleet electrification program, but now also using new levers to deepen reductions, including sourcing renewable diesel and commitment to long-term, scaled renewable energy agreements,” says Henry Fovargue, Vice President of Sustainability at Sysco Corp. “One initiative I am excited about is the PPA we signed to bring more renewable electricity to our sites. Within the next three years, the solar field we are building should be able to power the equivalent of more than 26,000 homes, equivalent to 40% of our electricity at that time.”
Post Holdings
“We have defined the following three principles that we feel make sustainability at Post specific to our business and culture and will drive further integration of sustainability factors into daily processes, actions and decisions across all business functions: maintain foundation, seek optimization, and work together,” according to Nick Martin, Vice President, Corporate Sustainability at Post Holdings.
Post maintains foundation by consistently delivering on the essentials and making sure its sustainability efforts complement, but do not distract from, the foundational actions that define a responsible company. The company seeks optimization to eliminate waste in all forms and actions through continuous improvement, including wasted materials, time, capital, natural resources and any other inefficiencies. By optimizing, the company’s business becomes more sustainable. Lastly, Post is working toward sustainability goals by working together with its constituents, internally and externally.
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