Major corporations are looking for sustainability agreements from their suppliers
BANFF, Alta. —Top executives at McDonald’s Corp. knew they were stirring the pot when they started the beef sustainability debate.
“In January, our company announced it was going to do something without knowing how we were going to do it,” said Jeffrey Fitzpatrick-Stillwell, senior manager of sustainability for McDonald’s Canada.
However its plan to source most of its beef from sustainable operations got everyone talking.
As well, Walmart invited the heads of 400 suppliers to talk about sustainability in April. The suppliers included firms such as Cargill, Kellogg’s, General Mills and PepsiCo, which represented about $1 trillion a year in global sales.
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The companies agreed they cannot set individual standards but must be flexible and considerate of how farming practices vary around the world.
“None of us want to have brand specific metrics or programs,” Fitzpatrick-Stillwell said at the Alberta Barley Commission’s annual meeting in Banff Dec. 11.
“Our ultimate goal around sourcing will be to source everything in a verified sustainable way,” he said.
“What does that mean? We don’t fully know yet.”
Feed is a major component for the beef industry and could be included in the sustainable practices requirement. However, that needs to be defined.
A sustainability statement was published in November at the Global Round Table on Beef Sustainability held in Brazil.
The environmental non-governmental organization community was critical of the final statement, saying it was nothing more than motherhood and apple pie type statements.
However, Fitzpatrick-Stillwell argued it represented a major leap forward from where they were two years ago when there was no definition of any sort.
McDonald’s selected Canada to pilot its program, and four Alberta ranches are trying out the scheme to see if it is workable.
Canada was selected because it already had good programs such as the verified beef program, the Beef Information Exchange system for traceability, the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency and a major feed barley research project.
The plan is to buy some beef from a sustainable program by 2016 and then set firm goals by 2020, when its knows how much product could be made available.
“We didn’t commit to a particular volume or a percentage in 2016 because not only did we not know then, we still don’t know that now,” he said. “We are not looking to set a McDonald’s policy for sustainable beef. We want to say we source our beef from the principles and guidelines from the Canadian round table for sustainable beef.”
The requirements for farmers and processors are still being honed. Seventy-four indicators were originally identified that could be measured, but that has been pared to 20.
They include measuring practices such as dealing with soil erosion and nutrient runoff and protecting riparian health. As well, farmers must follow animal handling techniques outlined in the national beef code of practice.
McDonald’s sees the initiative as a way to build consumer confidence and sell more beef. Canada’s advantage is that it can promote itself as being the first country to offer sustainable beef to a multinational corporation.
Loblaws joined the Canadian pilot in September.
McDonald’s tends to buy mostly trim, so the more valuable cuts will go elsewhere. Companies like Loblaws will be able to tell people the prime rib came from a sustainable system.
barbara.duckworth@producer.com
