Up the supply chain
A visit to a supplier of ingredients to the dairy industry last week reminds me that sustainability is not just a dairy issue, it’s a global issue. The problems dairy farmers and processors face with keeping the land in good shape, reducing the inputs, lowering the carbon footprint of the farm or plant, are central to everyone in food processing, whether it is dairy or raspberries and carrots, as I saw in Poland with SVZ. It was a very good trip and I’d like to thank everyone who made it possible.
It is also interesting because if your suppliers do not keep up the good work like you do, there can be repercussions. As consumers, retailers and regulators grow more interested about the entire supply chain, it is almost incumbent on you as a business to ensure that your suppliers are doing as good a job as you are in sustainability. As we’ve seen with scandals such as the horsemeat issue of a few years back, a lack of transparency can lead to negative coverage and possible lawsuits.
I am not sure how it is possible to keep track of all the inputs – a large company such as FrieslandCampina or Arla has thousands of them. The one benefit a dairy processor has over other companies is that it usually has a decent idea of what is going on further up the supply chain, as a co-operative by its nature is run by farmers for their benefit, so at least the farmer has an idea of what other farmers’ setup is like.
But there is a level of trust between the layers of the chain, and SVZ seems hard at work at keeping up its part. It manages this through regular farmer meetings and the liaison employees crisscrossing rural Poland to ensure that the sustainable message gets through to the farmers, whether they farm 65 hectares or 0.7ha. All in all, sustainability is good business for the company.
