New IFEEDER Resource Showcases Industry Sustainability Stories

Written by: Lara Moody   |   July 16, 2024

toolkit, sustainability road map, project update, material issues

Sure, greenhouse gas emission reductions often get the limelight when it comes to corporate sustainability programs, but sustainability goes much broader than climate change. Considering the issues that matter most to them, i.e., conducting a “materiality assessment,” is a key step in deciding where the company should focus its sustainability efforts to make an impact. This concept can be confusing, so I break it down here and explain a new resource that the Institute for Feed Education and Research is launching to help companies understand it even better. 

Materiality is the threshold at which certain issues become relevant enough for a company to act and report on. And as the saying goes:  

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”  

“Material issues” represent items that have significant impacts – either positive or negative – on the business and its stakeholders. Stakeholders include those internal to the organization (e.g., employees or shareholders) or external to the organization (e.g., suppliers, customers and community members). A materiality assessment is the process used to identify a list of issues to consider, gather stakeholder input on, evaluate findings and develop an action plan.  

In its initial work to develop a sustainability road map, IFEEDER identified 16 issues potentially material to the animal food industry and its stakeholders related to three pillars – People, Planet and Governance. This list, and the supporting documentation, are a new resource from IFEEDER that can serve as a starting place for companies launching their sustainability programs.  

This month, IFEEDER is releasing a new resource, developed in conjunction with students working with Iowa State University’s Kurt Rosentrater, Ph.D., Professor. The new resource will include a description of the above material issues, the potential value of the issue to the animal food industry and its stakeholders, and re examples identifying the value, action and benefit of the issue from an industry member’s perspective.  

Do you have an example we can add to the collection of narratives? Contact me so we can include it. 

Working with our colleagues in the animal food industry, we’ve compiled examples of actions they have underway, including why they are doing them and what benefits they bring. 

When you read through the new resource, consider:

• How is the issue applicable to your organization?
• What benefit could your organization derive from focusing on it?
• Which of your stakeholders might care about the issue and want to be informed about it?
• What actions do you already have underway toward improvement on the issue?
• How could you measure actions your organization has underway to assess the effort?
• Do you know your baseline starting point or target?
• What ‘story’ do you want to communicate to stakeholders about the topic?

Stay tuned to the blog about ways the animal food industry is pursuing greater sustainability goals across all three pillars. These new materials will be added to IFEEDER's Animal Food Industry Sustainability Toolkit, a free resource for AFIA members, and available to all animal food industry stakeholders on IFEEDER's website. Click here to access the new resource.