nov-dec-2020

Sustainability Equals Market Access “Consumers care about how their food is made and the care that goes into the ingredients,” stated Mary Gallagher, Senior Manager for North American Responsible Sourcing at the Kellogg Company. During the Sustainability Seminar held as part of the cooperative’s 2020 Annual Meeting, Gallagher laid out the importance of a sustainability program to food producers and marketers, and how Kellogg’s program serves farmers, consumers and the company. Kellogg is a major customer for Blue Diamond ® Almonds. Gallagher emphasized, “We are committed to sourcing almonds responsibly, to addressing issues like water scarcity, soil health, and biodiversity. We employ industry tools to track continuous improvement, and we align our programs with industry standard tools such as CASP (California Almond Sustainability Program), which provides proof points showing how almond growers farm responsibly. With almonds one of our high priority ingredients, we must be able to assure our customers that the almonds we use are grown responsibly.” Starting in 1906, W. H. Kellogg, the company’s founder, established the values and practices that now underpin the philanthropic and sustainability programs at Kellogg. “Those practices deliver business security, enhance our reputation, minimize risk and build trust and loyalty with our employees, suppliers and customers,” Gallagher explained. Consumers Expect It In this era of heightened consumer awareness and concern about food quality and the impact its production and processing have on the environment and health, consumers expect food producers and processors to adhere to sustainable practices and to be transparent about it, she explained. “Over 75 percent of the stakeholders who we interviewed about their concerns talked about climate urgency. Nearly half mentioned deforestation and over 40 percent were concerned about farmer livelihoods and equity. They were also concerned about emissions from agriculture, soil health and carbon, and protecting ecosystems and biodiversity.” The stakeholder insights validated Kellogg’s responsible sourcing priorities, according to Gallagher. “Our priorities include supporting farmers and agriculture, responsible ingredient sourcing, reducing food waste, and promoting natural resources conservation and human rights. We have programs focused on farmer livelihoods and financial resiliency, climate, biodiversity, packaging and deforestation. However, it is not enough to simply run the programs, as valuable as that is,” she said. “It is also important to tell our story to consumers. We build trust with consumers through storytelling and reporting.” Kellogg markets over one thousand products in 180 countries around the world. “We have programs in every market to tell our story by engaging people in ‘heart & soul’ commercials and digital campaigns,” said Gallagher. Kellogg tells its story through its brands in advertising and on packaging, and through the media in what it calls “Heart & Soul” stories delivered through television, news publications and online. “We are getting growers into our ads to put a face on the source of our ingredients — to establish a connection with the consumer,” she said. Blue Diamond Sustainability Program Blue Diamond has been using its grower-owners as spokesmen for Blue Diamond ® Almond products for decades, points out Micah Keith, Senior Brand Manager at Blue Diamond . “Now our sustainability program enables us to expand on that approach by creating positive stories backed by credible information to communicate to customers and consumers how our almonds are produced in our fields and facilities.” ANNUAL GROWERS MEETING 3 0 A L M O N D F A C T S