CIRCULAR ECONOMY -
It takes two days to train a cow to milk itself. This may sound like a farmer’s utopia, but at Bakerview EcoDairy, a robotic milker is just one of many dairy farm innovations being put to use.Bill Vanderkooi, president and CEO of the farm, seeks out all of the latest technologies to help him run his operation, which hosts an onsite market and agricultural education center. Armed with a Master’s degree in animal science, Vanderkooi opened the 80-acre farm near Abbotsford, British Columbia, in June of 2010. He has since established himself as a pioneer among small-scale, sustainable farm owners.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Environmental activists (and former Girl Scouts) Rhiannon Tomtishen and Madison Vorva, along with over 100,000 people in the U.S. and around the world, are calling on Kellogg Company CEO John Bryant to end the food company’s partnership with Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil trader, unless it agrees to stop relying on deforestation.
Shell and BP have diverged from the oil and gas industry’s main trade groups, which are calling for Congress to remove the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), a federal mandate that compels gasoline makers to blend in ethanol and other renewable fuels.Taking a more moderate approach, the companies are instead looking for the eight-year RFS to be modified.
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
This post first appeared on Earth911.com on July 10, 2013.Already topping lists of the nation’s most sustainable companies, Tom’s of Maine is looking to reduce end-of-life waste from its products even more by experimenting with biodegradable packaging made from potato starch.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Global food and beverage giant Mondelez International has unveiled a new training facility for coffee farmers to promote sustainability and entrepreneurship in Vietnam. The company says this is a major step toward implementing its "Coffee Made Happy" sustainability program, which commits to investing at least $200 million to help one million coffee farming entrepreneurs by 2020.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Women, particularly in developing countries, face numerous challenges, including sexual violence, limited access to health resources, barriers to education and economic opportunities.
PRESS RELEASE -
•Student team from India addresses the 20 to 30 percent food spoilage rate for poor rural farmers, via cost-effective dehydrators powered by solar conduction
•Finalist projects range from new cancer diagnostic tool and nonprofit fundraising platform to solar power crowdsourcing and recycled shoes
•Entrepreneurial students and their innovative ventures celebrated at finals event
COLLABORATION & CO-CREATION -
Beverage industry leaders from across the globe have convened in Amsterdam for the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) semi-annual meeting to discuss environmental sustainability within the beverage sector.
MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
A little-known perennial shrub called guayule (pronounced why-u-lee), native to the Southwestern United States, has been tapped as a potential alternative natural source for rubber by Bridgestone Americas and agricultural-based biomaterials company, Yulex.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers (SHCI) has embarked on a relief effort to help Latin American coffee farmers facing an outbreak of Coffee Leaf Rust Disease, known as Roya in Spanish — a parasitic fungus that is expected to destroy between 30 and 70 percent of the region’s organic coffee harvest.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
UK grocery chain Sainsbury’s is now selling farmed fish certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) in what is apparently an industry first, according to The Grocer.
PRESS RELEASE -
BASF hosts its first Symposium on Sustainability Assessment in Agriculture
International experts call for common approach to sustainability assessment in food supply chain
BASF invites opinion leaders to a joint discussion platform to develop general principles
SUPPLY CHAIN -
With Easter just around the corner, The Rainforest Foundation has teamed up with Ethical Consumer magazine to release a ranking of more than 70 UK chocolate brands to encourage companies to use more sustainably sourced palm oil.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Dunkin’ Donuts will set a target date to source all of its palm oil from sustainable sources or purchase offset certificated covering its sourced palm oil, according to a recent announcement by New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Starbucks will begin sourcing 100 percent of its palm oil from certified sustainable suppliers by 2015, according to a recent announcement.The coffee company made the change in response to a shareholder resolution filed by the Green Century Balanced Fund, a mutual fund concerned with environmental responsibility.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Häagen-Dazs has partnered with General Mills to invest $125,000 dollars over two years in Madagascar’s Sava region to encourage sustainable agriculture in one of the world’s most important vanilla production centers.
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
With more than 2 billion cups consumed each day, coffee is one of the world’s most popular beverages. Most consumers of the black liquid hail from industrialized countries — over 90 percent of coffee production occurs in developing countries and out of the bulk of climate change regulations’ reach.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
Growing consumer awareness of food production methods and sustainability issues has led to the rise in recent years of ecolabels in the food industry; over 200 seals and logos currently represent some ecological, ethical, ingredient or sustainability attributes in the global food industry.
PRESS RELEASE -
Installation of 120 solar panels at Becker Underwood’s Littlehampton, United Kingdom facility
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
The ice cream brand aims to help 5,000 female cocoa farmers in Côte D'Ivoire achieve financial stability and diversify their incomes, for greater prosperity in the cocoa-farming offseason, by 2025.