Aligning on Sustainability
What does ‘sustainability’ mean in the animal food industry?
While reducing environmental impacts is a big focus for food and agriculture companies looking to enhance their sustainability programs, sustainability in the animal food industry is much more than that. It also encompasses safeguarding our feed and food supply, investing in the health and safety of our employees and communities, and being held accountable to regulatory bodies and shareholders.
The Institute for Feed Education and Research defines ‘sustainability’ as “defined and managed by each individual organization in the animal food industry to deliver measurable, continuous improvements on the impacts related to People, Planet and Governance that are most important to them and their stakeholders.”
Key Sustainability Pillars for the Animal Food Industry
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With a mission to advance understanding and trust in a sustainable animal feed and pet food supply chain, IFEEDER is collaborating with industry members and upstream and downstream stakeholders on a multifaceted strategy to advance feed systems sustainability.
Animal Feed & Pet Food Supply Chain
IFEEDER’s sustainability strategy to support the animal food industry and its customers involves proactively developing solutions with like-minded industry champions and external partners. This multi-pronged approach centers around a road map, developed for IFEEDER with extensive industry and stakeholder engagement.
IFEEDER defines success as a U.S. animal food industry delivering world-class sustainability performance throughout its customers’ supply chains. It is making that happen through projects advancing sustainability research, engaging stakeholders, supporting the Global Feed LCA Institute (GFLI), and consumer messaging.
Learn more about these projects at the links below:
- Sustainability Road Map: With input from animal food industry members and stakeholders up and down the value chain, IFEEDER has a road map to guide research and education efforts to support their sustainability journey.
- Global Feed LCA Institute: Animal food ingredient and feed additive life cycle analysis (LCA) is key to production transparency needs. In projects funded by the National Pork Board and the United Soybean Board, IFEEDER is undertaking efforts to support increased availability of US data in GFLI data sets.
- Stakeholder Engagement: IFEEDER’s reach extends beyond the animal food industry, involving public institutions and organizations looking to achieve shared goals. Bringing perspectives from all animal food industry sectors, IFEEDER has well-positioned itself to take holistic views of the industry and build bridges with partners you might not traditionally expect.
- Research: As we identify data gaps and information needs, IFEEDER is pursing research efforts to support a sustainable animal feed and pet food supply chain,
- Consumer Messaging: Sustainability is driven by both science and emotion, and consumer and industry perspectives are not often aligned. As a key stakeholder in the food supply chain, we bear the responsibility of clearly and transparently communicating our role and solutions. IFEEDER supports the U.C. Davis CLEAR Center and the North American Meat Institute’s ProteinPACT.
Industry Leaders’ Insights on Sustainability
From carbon markets to measuring feed’s impact to meeting customers’ expectations, business leaders are trying to make sense of and balance the needs of their business with outside influences. In collaboration with various partners, IFEEDER has hosted several webinars where industry leaders, academic experts and others have provided their perspectives on sustainability forces influencing the marketplace from throughout the animal feed and pet food supply chain.