Sustainability and Social Responsibility The Charity Of Business explained that charity is just sound business strategy and has nothing to do with whether corporations, particularly publicly held corporations, should be altruistic or have responsibilities beyond maximizing profits. 8/7/2006
Wal-Mart Advances Green Movement reported how ASDA, Wal-Mart’s U.K. operation, has announced a commitment that by 2010 it will stop sending any waste at all from its 307 stores to landfills. Everything will be recycled, reused or composted. This is very top-down driven, as Lee Scott has identified sustainability as a key focus. 8/8/2006
Air Freighted Foods Get Marks & Spencer Symbol announces Marks &
Spencer has unveiled a new symbol to appear on all food that has been
air-freighted into the United Kingdom. Guy Farrant, Director of Food,
Marks & Spencer, said: “Our customers want to know more about how food
is transported into the UK. We’re putting an aeroplane symbol on the
small amount of food we transport by air because we know this is
something our customers increasingly care about.” This is simply not a
serious sustainability initiative, it’s a simple-minded trick to make
consumers think they are doing something good for the world when, in
fact, we have no idea if they do the world good or they do the world
harm. 3/20/2007
Pundit’s Mailbag — Chiquita’s Motivations our piece entitled
Chiquita’s Shame — And Our Ineffective Anti-Terrorism Policy
brought a number of responses, including this one from an executive
who asked to remain anonymous. This note reaches across many areas to
the nature of corporate responsibility. We don’t think the focus on
“motivations” — did Chiquita pay the protection money because it
valued the lives of its employees or did it pay the money because it
wanted to stay in business — really makes sense. In an integral way,
Chiquita both wanted to preserve its business and protect the lives of
its employees. 3/26/2007
Carbon Footprinting Gone Wild! notes that everyone who is doing
business with British supermarkets is getting inquiries about the
“carbon footprint” their products impose on the environment. Telling
consumers to make buying decisions based on some calculation of carbon
use will backfire. What would make sense is to push politically for
public policies that make sure the price of goods reflect their true
cost to society. In other words, you want to make sure that the law
does not allow people to pollute for free as this will encourage
pollution. 4/25/2007
Pundit’s Mailbag — Global Warming’s Shameful Marketing Attempts
our piece
Carbon Footprinting Gone Wild! brought a letter from a European
who is experiencing this issue on a level Americans don’t even
approach. Global warming is an enormously complicated issue. To
overlay this complexity with a simple-minded marketing message — don’t
eat produce flown on a plane — is bizarre. It is an attempt by
retailers to position themselves marketing-wise with total disregard
to the actual issue at hand. This is not about the environment; this
is marketing, pure and simple, and it is a shame. 4/26/2007
Wal-Mart’s Latest ‘Green’ Move Gives Pause To Explore Sustainability Rationale specified three categories for achieving sustainability initiatives: Those that produce positive ROI, those that produce a “reputational dividend” and those that lose money for a company’s shareholders. But really, what is all the fuss about? 5/10/2007
Richard Branson Chimes In On Food Miles reminds that we have
warned in numerous pieces the movement toward promoting “food miles”
as something retailers and consumers are supposed to take into account
in purchasing is not merely unlikely to achieve any environmental
benefit but, in fact, could cause harms of all different types. Sir
Richard Branson, whose mind has been focused on the issue because he
owns an airline that has just inaugurated service between the United
Kingdom and Kenya, has apparently come to the same conclusion as the
Pundit. 6/5/2007
Food’s Carbon Footprint Not Easy To Measure cautions that before
we in America acquire the British fascination with “food miles” we
ought to look at what they are actually finding out in Britain as they
look into the subject. The African Channel picked up an article we
excerpt here by The Sunday Telegraph headlined “Locally Grown Food Has
Higher Carbon Footprint Than Imported Products”. “Food miles” has
nothing to do with the environment. It is just a marketing tool that
supermarkets have latched onto in Britain. They should be ashamed of
themselves for deceiving their customers into thinking they are doing
something useful. 6/15/2007
The Problem With Food Miles excerpts a New York Times op-ed
article entitled, “Food That Travels Well” on the hot subject of “Food
Miles”. About the best one can say for this piece is that there seems
to be movement on the subject so that defenders of the concept of
“food miles” are giving up on defending the ridiculous — that the
only thing that matters is how far the product is shipped — to
defending the merely incorrect — that by carefully doing a “lifecycle
assessment” of each food, we can determine where it is best to
purchase food from. Yet what this author advocates is more dangerous
because, as a result of studies, it adds the patina of science to what
is really just made up garble. 8/10/2007
Food Safety And Sustainability Go Hand-in-Hand At Ocean Mist Farms announced news from Ocean Mist Farms that “in its ongoing commitment to sustainable agriculture, is creating a new position dedicated to environmental stewardship.” We suspect this won’t be the last we hear about companies creating positions that combine food safety with sustainability. 9/6/2007
C.H. Robinson Launches Our World Organics Line learns that C.H.
Robinson, demonstrating it is in sync with all that its customers are
thinking about, has announced a new brand: Our World Organics.
Certainly someone at C.H. Robinson has its pulse on the trends. It is
a big undertaking, and we hope C.H. Robinson isn’t setting itself up
for criticism when consumer advocates note that it isn’t able to
always do all these things, and certainly not all at once. Although we
wish C.H. Robinson would drop the “Food Miles” language as that has
now been clearly demonstrated to have no relationship to anything
important, we are enormously impressed at the scope of C.H. Robinson’s
ambition and its willingness to undertake a great deal to assist its
customers. 9/14/2007
Reducing Carbon Vs. Increasing Wealth excerpts a fascinating piece
on global warming from The New York Times based on an interview with
Bjorn Lomborg. Dr. Lomborg is interesting because, although he
believes in global warming, he argues that the way we are discussing
the issue is preventing the optimal conclusion. The gist of the
argument is that any change in carbon emissions is likely to have a
very small effect on global warming. Although Dr. Lomborg agrees with
imposing a carbon tax to offset some of the costs carbon emissions can
impose on the world he says that the most important thing is to do
what is necessary to increase economic growth. 9/18/2007
Pundit’s Mailbag — The Meaning Of Food Miles And Other ‘Green’ Terms
our piece,
C.H. Robinson Launches Our World Organics Line, brought a number
of questions, less about the line than about this phrase in our
comments. One letter writer asks “Why does “Food Miles” not matter in
regards to anything important? If a product is grown locally and
shipped locally (or at least grown closer rather than further away),
wouldn’t that be a positive thing in regards to the environment?” The
answer is a decided “maybe,” and that points to why promoting “Food
Miles” is not a good idea. 9/18/2007
Going Green Only When It’s Convenient asserts everyone
is into “green”, the big question is what will it all boil down
to? We suppose some definition is in order. Although some people want
to trumpet that being “green” is good business, we can’t accept that
doing things simply because they provide a good return on investment
deserves some special praise. An awful lot of the green initiative
seems to focus on selling stuff, and to what degree those products are
really environmentally friendly is unclear. If a company only does
Green things as a prototype to learn from and get PR or,
alternatively, only when it is profitable, how does that show
consumers that a company’s owners or executives care about something?
9/20/2007
Wealth And Global Warming our piece,
Reducing Carbon Vs. Increasing Wealth, dealt with the thesis of
Dr. Bjorn Lomborg that global warming, though real, cannot be solved
by efforts to reduce carbon output. Instead, he argued, the wisest
course is to focus on increasing wealth so that we are better able to
deal with climate change. His call for a “technological breakthrough”
seems to us pretty much like a call to focus on wealth so as to fund
the technological research that can really solve this problem. Smart
people around the world are starting to realize that a focus on the
carbon footprint of vegetables is a marketing gimmick, a distraction
from the serious work at hand. 9/21/2007
Wal-Mart Joins Fray In Carbon Profiling revealed how Tesco in the
UK was already asking U.S. exporters to do it; now Wal-Mart is
asking suppliers of select items to ascertain the amount of energy
they use and their total carbon footprint, which used properly, could
be helpful, but there are dangers. 9/25/2007
Green Homes As Status Symbol asks if you want to know the degree
to which “greenness” has become a status symbol, just take a look at
this house being built not far from Pundit headquarters. CNN did a
story pointing out that luxury home buyers now want environmentally
friendly estates: Just don’t try to call it environmentalism.
9/25/2007
Wal-Mart’s ASDA Serious About Sustainability reiterated that Wal-Mart is pretty hot on sustainability initiatives, but its UK subsidiary, ASDA, is really focused. While we admire the push toward sustainability practices, we believe consumers are skeptical that all this stuff isn’t just another way to increase profits. 10/5/2007
Tesco Marks November Eighth As Launch Date For Six Stores profiles Tesco’s announcement of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market first store openings in Southern California. Includes commentary on the “social responsibility” of these new stores touting healthy, private label products, high worker wages and benefits and “green” methodology. 10/10/2007
Report Card On ‘Green-ness’ Of UK Stores reprints a BBC report
that a self-proclaimed consumer advocacy group, the National Consumer
Council, is demanding the supermarkets in the UK go greener. ASDA
Chief Executive Officer Andy Bond had the best quote of the piece in
saying: “Customers tell us they want to do the right thing, but don’t
want to pay more for the privilege.” The quote is intriguing in two
ways; first because we can all agree that consumers, by and large,
want to “do the right thing,” yet that leaves open the question of
precisely what the right thing might be. 10/18/2007
Lessons On Social Responsibility From GAP’s Child Labor Woes reinforced that even though it may seem distant, with the increasing focus on corporate social responsibility, we can expect much more rigorous attention to be paid to the way the produce and perishable food industries operate, especially concerning farm labor, particularly in developing countries. 10/30/2007
Tesco, Polar Bears And Social Irresponsibility pondered why Tesco, a giant corporation with extensive resources, wouldn’t more carefully vet pop-culture environmentalism claims before it starts posting them in every back room and putting them on postcards sent out by the CEO. 11/30/2007
Florida Tomato Growers Reject Penny-A-Pound Initiative At The Industry’s Peril conveyed that the issue for the Florida tomato industry is that in the new world of emphasis on corporate social responsibility, the industry would do better to position itself as a leader rather than a retrograde industry. Many think that sustainability and corporate social responsibility mean locally grown and solar panels on the roof, but as we have been warning the industry, the actual vulnerability of the industry is labor issues. 12/14/2007
Michael Pollan’s Sustainability Arguments Unsustainable In Context Of Economics discussed Michael Pollan, author of numerous books related to the food industry and sustainability issues. With all the focus on sustainability, it strikes us that his efforts to define the word “unsustainable” are important and, also, that his definition is unsatisfactory. 12/20/2007
A Call For An Industrywide Sustainability And Social Responsibility Initiative comments on an important letter to us from Tim York, President of Markon Cooperative. In it, Tim raises the exceedingly important issue that sustainability and social responsibility are likely to pose an important management challenge for every executive in the industry and proposes that we should quickly come to consensus on a meaningful sustainability program. 1/8/2008
Wegmans Phasing Out Tobacco commented that Wegmans may well lose a lot of business as customers who use tobacco products may choose to do all their food shopping elsewhere. Is it an assertion of social responsibility? Of saying these products shouldn’t be sold? Perhaps tobacco, uniquely harmful when used as intended, is a special case. 1/8/2008
Sustainability And Gratitude offers a special thanks for all the letters offering sponsorship, participation on the steering committee, volunteers to speak, etc., after the announcement of our plans to conduct an industry conference on sustainability and corporate social responsibility. 1/11/2008
Sustainability/Social Responsibility And GMO Corn & Carrots acknowledged that what makes wrestling with social responsibility difficult for many businesspeople is that these initiatives often get constrained by either government or private action. These efforts also struggle in an environment of anti-GMO sentiment that is difficult to overcome. In spite of these travails, do sustainability and social responsibility enhance the financial bottom line? 1/17/2008
Pundit’s Mailbag — Letter From Sweden About Nobel Prize ‘Sarcasm’
expresses that it is indeed possible, even likely, that eco-thinking
will, as our Swedish letter author, Åke Lewander, Group Networking
Manager for LCL World Wide Group writes “spread out of California.” In
fact, we find most growers very interested in sustainability issues
and think many Americans care deeply about the environment and
sustainability — but caring doesn’t substitute for the critical
thinking necessary to solve the problem. 1/29/2008
Pundit’s Mailbag — Food Safety Is Part Of Being Socially Responsible reprints a comprehensive letter from Nissa Pierson of Ger-nis International, LLC, an importer of Israeli and Dutch produce, addressing the responsibility of importers in food safety recalls and the importance of allowing growers to make a return and connecting these issues to questions of sustainability and social responsibility. 3/6/2008
Sustainability Standard Being Steamrolled — Does A Sustainable Vision Encompass Only Organics?
The Imperative For Action (Part 1) reaffirmed that sustainability and social responsibility as issues for the fresh produce industry to wrestle with have now reached a point where attention is not only important, but urgent. 3/6/2008
No Standardization Without Representation (Part 2) a highly debatable proposition has been put forth that only organic agriculture is sustainable. Based on this premise, Scientific Certification Systems, “in consultation with numerous stakeholders,” has authored a draft standard with the rubber stamp of “The Sustainability Experts,” the Leonardo Academy an ANSI-accredited standards developer. As soon as the draft was published, the outcry began. 3/6/2008
The Produce Industry Strikes Back (Part 3) presented a letter from Bob Martin of Rio Farms, who along with a group of California producers has reached out to the industry, including the buying segment, to bring attention to their consternation with the proposed sustainability draft standard. There are two very big problems with this draft standard. One is substantive and the other is procedural. 3/6/2008
Pundit’s Mailbag — Organic Icon DiMatteo Weighs In On Sustainability Standard discussed a response from Katherine DiMatteo of DiMatteo Consulting, a passionate advocate for organic agriculture, a recipient of many accolades and awards, and an icon of late 20th century agriculture. We hope she will join with us to recognize that mistakes were made in the way this particular procedure has been conducted. If she helps in this process, her influence is so vast and her guidance so respected, we may yet achieve an industry standard for sustainability. 3/12/2008
Pundit’s Mailbag — SCS Takes Exception To Analysis of Sustainability Standard responded to a letter from Linda Brown, Executive Vice President of Scientific Certification Systems. We actually are in complete agreement on the need for a national standard. Our problem is not with the concept; it is with the specific execution being used in this particular effort. Our position is simple: the stakeholders must be in agreement with the methods used to develop the standards. 3/14/2008
Sustainability Goes Beyond Best Practices presented another important contribution to our discussion from Tim York of Markon Cooperative, this time speaking jointly with Jeff Dlott of SureHarvest. The “best practices” sustainability model tends to be negative and heavily focused on environmental issues. Sustainability in a business context should be a process in which the collective wisdom of stakeholders helps an organization achieve its vision while developing and sustaining the environmental, social and economic resources necessary for success in the future. 3/20/2008
Sustainability Expert Provides Insights To A Similar Industry offers an analysis of how best to incorporate sustainable principles from another industry. We asked Pundit Investigator and Special Projects Editor Mira Slott to find out more about the California Sustainable Winegrowing Program from Jeff Dlott, President and CEO of SureHarvest in Soquel, California. 5/2/2008
Another Company Says No To Wal-Mart’s ASDA reveals that earlier
this month, a major potato supplier to ASDA also decided to say “No
More” cutting its £32 million-a-year contract. Taypack’s walking away
may or may not mean much for the British potato sector. However, if
the land is diverted to biofuels or wheat, it will establish that
growers have options, and that will change the dynamic between vendors
and retailers. It is also intriguing that this matter is playing out
in the UK, where sustainability discussions have been ongoing for many
years. As we have
discussed, sustainability is more than environmentalism; it
includes conducting oneself in a way that sustains the supply chain.
5/13/2008
Will Wal-Mart’s Energy Efficient/Hispanic Store Make A Real Contribution? proposed that Wal-Mart’s introduction of energy-efficient stores and its first “Hispanic Community” store could open the door to many possibilities. Energy efficiency is part of Wal-Mart’s sustainability campaign, which can potentially lower costs. The Hispanic community store is a good idea, but may not go far enough. 5/14/2008
Pundit’s Mailbag – Sustainability Needs To Be Embraced By Industry brought a letter from Blair R. Richardson of FreshSense, LLC explaining that converting his farming operations to sustainable practices is not an easy process, and a tough sell. Our work with consumers has indicated that although consumers are quick to punish producers and retailers for ethical or environmental lapses, they are slow to reward companies for doing what consumers think they should be doing. At its heart, sustainability is supposed to ensure that an organization or an industry can sustain itself into the future. 5/23/2008
The Keystone Center’s Sustainability Initiative Provides Insights For Produce discussed another approach being moderated in the industry by The Keystone Center called Creating Sustainable Outcomes for Agriculture. Pundit Investigator and Special Projects Editor Mira Slott spoke with Member of the Executive Committee, Dr. Jeff Barach, who is also Vice President and Center Director of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. He lays out a guideline for the produce industry to get involved with this effort and warned of the consequences if the industry does not. 5/23/2008
Pundit’s Mailbag – USDA Opposes Current ANSI Effort To Define Sustainability thanks Thomas P. Redick of
the Global Environmental Ethics Counsel for passing along a most
crucial document from the USDA objecting to the Draft National Standard for Trial Use Sustainable
Agriculture Practice Standard, being undertaken by Scientific Certification Systems, containing a number of
critiques of both the SCS proposal and the process that is being shepherded by The Leonardo Academy. 7/25/2008
Award-Winning Articles Raise Topics To Consider explains that we
don’t like to crow about awards too much, partly because Momma Pundit
taught us it wasn’t polite and mostly because we care more about
accolades from people in our industry than editorial experts. We did,
however, think it interesting to note the two columns The American
Society of Business Publication Editors recognized for excellence are
very topical a year later. One of them, a September 2007 piece
entitled,
Wages And Social Responsibility, which assessed industry
vulnerability as the social component of sustainability gains traction
— while also pointing out that what many claim to be “socially
responsible” behavior may actually do much harm. 8/19/2008
Oil Price Decline Dampens Alternative-Energy Fervor with the news
being that oil has now fallen near $70 a barrel, meaning that oil is
down over 50% from its $145.29 high in July — one would think we have
cause for celebration. Certainly lower oil prices mean some people who
make a lot of trouble will have less money to make trouble with and
may even have trouble keeping control of their own people. So there
are many good things that come from lower oil prices, but there are
big problems: that great sucking sound you hear is sustainability
going out the window. 10/17/2008
Pundit’s Mailbag — Sustainability In Bad Economic Times our recent
piece,
Oil Price Decline Dampens Alternative-Energy Fervor, brought a
letter from Nelson Longenecker, Vice President of Business Innovation
for Four Seasons Produce, Inc. which we very much appreciate because
it gives us an opportunity to get to the heart of the quandary that
surrounds sustainability. We agree with Nelson that sustainability has
to make financial sense; it is hardly sustainable for a business to go
bankrupt or achieve sub-par returns and thus be unable to attract
capital to grow and expand. When properly deployed, sustainability
makes companies more competitive and effective; done poorly
sustainability efforts can weaken a company. 10/21/2008
Advice For Wal-Mart As It Asks Chinese Suppliers To Be More Socially
Responsible relates how Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart, flew to China
and announced a “Global Responsible Sourcing Initiative” outlining a
series of aggressive goals and expectations to build a more
environmentally and socially responsible global supply chain. The
initiative calls for companies working with Wal-Mart to comply with
environmental laws, partner with them to improve energy efficiency and
use fewer natural resources, accept higher standards of product safety
and quality, and greater transparency and ownership. It also calls for
a major effort to make Wal-Mart China stores a leader in
sustainability. Yet, though Wal-Mart’s initiative is strategic and
will surely have some good effect, there are really only three things
Wal-Mart or any other buyer need to say and do if they want to boost
the standards of their Chinese supply base. 10/23/2008
Bailout Analysis Ahead Of The Times thought we would give a
two-minute shout out recapping a portion of our coverage of
sustainability issues during the financial crisis to point out some of
the really incredible value we’ve been delivering on the Pundit, and
with all this value being delivered, if we bump into each other at PMA,
or if you come by our booth # 515 to say hello, we don’t want to hear
that you are not getting value for your subscription price. Oh wait,
other publications charge hundreds of dollars for subscription. The
Perishable Pundit? We don’t charge at all. What a value indeed.
10/23/2008
Is Tesco Defrauding Consumers? Promising Only Nature’s Choice
Certified Product But Delivering Cheaper Alternatives? explains
that retailers and large buyers dictate a set of standards to their
vendors. The supply base is told to invest time and money to conform
to these standards with the implicit promise of business from the
buyer. Now, with value the watchword for retailers worldwide, this
deal is disintegrating. From an industry perspective, the problem is
clear: There are supply chain responsibilities in food safety,
traceability and sustainability. Top producers in the industry strive
to meet these responsibilities. Then, they are put in a position by
many retailers of having to meet the price of vendors that have not
met these responsibilities. The premise of Tesco’s Nature’s Choice
program is that part of the value equation is safety, sustainability
and traceability — if Tesco wants to offer cheap product that has not
been audited for adherence to this standard, they need to inform
consumers that when they buy this particular product, they are not
getting all the assurances they usually do when shopping at Tesco.
1/22/2009
Subway Joins Penny-A-Pound Program While Tomato Growers Feel The Pinch
reports that Subway Restaurants announced recently that it has joined
with many other quick-serve restaurants in committing to pay Florida
tomato pickers an extra penny-a-pound over their normal wages, this
movement seems to be gaining momentum again. We asked Pundit
Investigator and Special Projects Editor Mira Slott to find out more
from Les Winograd, spokesperson for Subway Restaurants and Reggie
Brown, Manager of the Florida Tomato Committee Executive Vice
President of the Florida Tomato Exchange and Florida Tomato Growers
Exchange. We find five reasons why this is one of those situations in
which nothing is as it seems to be. 1/22/2009
Produce Takes Greater Role In Sustainability Standards one of the
important criticisms we made of the initial attempt to establish an
ANSI sustainability standard for the industry was that a draft
standard was submitted and changes required advocacy. Instead of
starting from scratch, a rebuttable presumption had been established.
This was profoundly unfair. Much hard work has finally led to the
rejection of that draft standard and thus given the industry an
opportunity to rethink the whole process. Still, progress has been
made and the possibility of a more inclusive kind of sustainability
has been created by the formation of a group developing methods of
measurement for the produce trade similar to what we reported Keystone
is doing for other parts of agriculture in our piece
here. For an update on both sustainability tracks, we asked Pundit
Investigator and Special Projects Editor Mira Slott to speak with a
man whose activities intersect both projects: Tim York President of
Markon Group and for additional perspective on the ANSI project,
Mira touched base with the Leonardo Academy to get an update from
Amanda Raster, Sustainability Standards Development Manager. 2/27/2009
United Fresh/Bayer CropScience Launch Global Sustainability Center
declares it was near and dear to our heart to learn at this year’s
United Convention about a new industry resource: the Center for Global
Produce Sustainability. This is an important area and one that has
seen some pullback to the recession, so it is terrific to learn that
Bayer CropScience is forward-thinking enough to look beyond the
present situation and invest for the future. We needed to learn
exactly what both Bayer CropScience and United Fresh have in store so
we asked Pundit Investigator and Special Projects Editor Mira Slott to
find out more from Tom Stenzel, President and CEO of United Fresh
Produce Association and Greggory Storey, Ph.D, Industry Relations Lead
with Bayer CropScience. 4/28/2009
Pundit's Mailbag — Mike Stuart Of FFVA Speaks Out On Ballantine And
Buyer/Seller Relations received many letters on our recent piece,
Did Wal-Mart Have A Role In Ballantine’s Fall?, which focused on
the implications of the story for the future of the industry,
including this one from Michael J. Stuart of the Florida Fruit &
Vegetable Association. Mike asks the question precisely: “At the end
of the day, how are these firms going to make significant investments
in food safety, traceability, sustainability and other important
industry initiatives if the profitability of the business is squeezed
to the breaking point? How are they going to survive at all?” Yet
issues such as food safety, sustainability and traceability are so in
the public interest that the government may lose its patience with
such games. Indeed, a free nation values a farming sector that is not
merely productive but also manned by free and independent men and
women, not supplicants to an oligarchy of buyers. 5/15/2009
A Historic Sustainability Decision Allows Industry To Snatch Victory
From The Jaws Of Defeat our extensive efforts and those of many
others, all linked to sustainability, have done some good. We received
a letter from Thomas Parker Redick of Global Environmental Ethics
Counsel, the most prominent attorney monitoring these issues that,
considering where we started, reports a minor miracle. It also speaks
to a broader sustainability including how we sustain civil discourse.
SCS didn’t really want a dialog; it wanted to impose its vision on a
hostile industry. The defeat of the SCS vision of sustainability is a
reminder to all who wish to create change: Men are not meat; the more
you pound them, the tougher they get. 6/16/2009
Publix Wins Sustainability Award From PRODUCE BUSINESS Magazine
had the opportunity recently to visit the Publix headquarters in
Lakeland, Florida for the presentation of the 1st Annual
PRODUCE BUSINESS Retail Sustainability Award. We looked extensively
for an organization in which sustainability grew authentically out of
the values and business systems of the retailer. This brought us to
Publix. If you haven’t read the article PRODUCE BUSINESS published,
titled Publix Super Markets: Subtle Sustainability With Substance, you
can do so right
here. 7/1/2009
In Defense Of Cosmetically Challenged Produce recalls that back in
November, Sainsbury’s pulled its planned line of “Halloween produce,”
because EU standards prevented the sale of such items to consumers,
and then launched a campaign to change the regulations. Sainsbury’s
efforts have paid off. Effective July 1, 2009, the old rules have been
abolished. The question of whether grade standards are encouraging the
industry to focus on the right things and whether grade standards
serve as a consumer-protection device has long been debated. With the
sustainability movement focusing on avoiding waste, this move in
Europe may presage even bigger changes both in Europe and in the US.
We thought it worth understanding the situation better, so we asked
Pundit Investigator and Special Projects Editor Mira Slott to find out
more by speaking with two representatives of the pan-European produce
trade association: Philippe Binard, Secretary General, and Frederic
Rosseneu, Secretariat of Freshfel Europe. 7/14/2009
In Converting Onion Waste To Electricity, Gills Sets Example Of Sustainable Leadership had the great
pleasure recently of flying out to Oxnard, California, to be part of the festivities surrounding the launch of
a new Advanced Energy Recovery System at Gills Onions. In reality it was a celebration of sustainability done
right. What Gills Onions provided is an example for the industry, indeed an example for the world, not just of
a scientific and engineering achievement but also, and with more long term significance, a model path by which
companies ought to engage with sustainability. Every company has to face its own challenges, grasp its own
opportunities and build its own future. 7/23/2009
‘Eat Seasonably’ Campaign Another Example Of Misguided Intentions heard that a battle was brewing in
Britain between eating seasonably advocates and the fruit and vegetable industry, and asked Pundit
Investigator and Special Projects Editor Mira Slott to find out more from Nigel Jenney, President of the Fresh
Produce Consortium. Visit the UK and one quickly learns that sustainability and food miles are used as
protectionist weapons and that consumers see it as an outlet for nationalist sentiment. We did some focus
groups on sustainability in the UK and found consumers waxing poetic about “local” and the need to limit “food
miles.” So you have British nationalism, overlapping with protectionist forces and the most mindless kind of
sustainability ethos that demands no evidence or proof but simply like to do things to “feel good” and you
have a recipe for a mess, which is pretty much what this “eat seasonably” program is. 7/23/2009
Wal-Mart Must Include Adequate Return On Capital In Its Sustainability
‘Index’ Or It Will Do More Harm Than Good observed that Wal-Mart
announced a major new sustainability initiative, it is, however, a
train wreck waiting to happen and will probably do real harm to the
world. Sustainability, dealing with three separate spheres of
responsibility, the social, environmental and economic, is inherently
complex and value-driven. Despite many attempts to posit an analogy
between sustainability efforts and accounting balance sheets, there is
no “triple bottom line” that can represent sustainability efforts. If
this Sustainability Index ever happens, it will not represent some
kind of “natural” level of sustainability but, instead, the result of
decisions to spend money to achieve a higher ranking. In many cases,
however, this higher ranking will be achieved at the horrible,
humanity impoverishing cost of wasted capital. 8/5/2009
Dangers And Broader Implications Of Wal-Mart’s Sustainability Index
as we detailed in
Wal-Mart Must Include Adequate Return On Capital In Its Sustainability
“Index” Or It Will Do More Harm Than Good, Wal-Mart’s
sustainability initiative is extensive. So we focused in on one
glaring problem: Wal-Mart’s decision to exclude the economic sphere
from its proposed index. Sustainability is typically considered to
contain three spheres of responsibilities: The environmental, the
social and the economic. We would go so far as to say that speaking of
sustainability without all three of the spheres makes no sense.
Wal-Mart’s initiative is far broader than retail produce. We wanted to
examine how it might interact with other industry initiatives in
sustainability. To do so, we asked Pundit Investigator and Special
Projects Editor Mira Slott to explore the topic more by speaking to
Tim York, President of Markon Group. 8/11/2009
Wal-Mart’s Global Food Sourcing Initiative Closes The Peterson Era And
Threatens Sustainability Of Agricultural Base this summer Wal-Mart
has decided to proceed with their Global Food Sourcing Initiative. The
gist of the program is a decision to completely reform the procurement
of perishables worldwide. In order to maximize the pool of vendors
available to sell Wal-Mart the goal is to, ultimately, eliminate all
vendor-replenishment functions. The very goal of expanding the pool of
vendors runs counter to Wal-Mart’s initiatives for
GFSI and
Sustainability. A small number of high quality vendors will meet
these standards, so expanding the pool of vendors will inevitably mean
sacrificing Wal-Mart’s standards to obtain cheaper prices. How are
vendors to fund the
Produce Traceability Initiative,
enhanced food safety efforts or
improved sustainability efforts — if they simultaneously are being
told to make do with even thinner – or perhaps negative margins?
8/13/2009
Got Produce? Look Closer At Packaging And Handling To Increase Consumption comments that during our
coverage of the proposed generic promotion board for the produce industry, we’ve had quite a number of produce
executives point out to us that they believe the biggest difficulty in boosting consumption is the fault of
the produce industry itself — selling the wrong varieties, harvesting it before it is fully ripe, etc. Well we
wanted to add packaging and handling to the list of industry vices. Sustainability often involves little more
than being conscious of the impact our choices have on the environment, social concerns and economic returns.
Looking at all our products and packaging from a standpoint of consumer delight seems prerequisite to success
in boosting consumption. 9/29/2009
Tesco Goes LEED, But Is LEED Sustainable? finds Fresh & Easy has
received a LEED Gold certification from the United States Green
Building Council for a store in Cathedral City, CA. However, there is
increasingly a question about whether the LEED certification process
does anything useful at all. A recent article in The New York Times
helps to illustrate the problem. LEED gives lots of points for things
that don’t contribute to the actual building’s energy efficiency, and
the effects of which are never measured. And, many of these buildings
get LEED certification based on efficiency standards at which
manufacturers say the equipment can perform. But actual achievement of
these efficiency levels requires optimum maintenance regimes, which
many owners and occupants don’t follow. Wouldn't we be better off
looking at “continuous improvement” models? 10/2/2009
When Child Labor Laws Don’t Necessarily Help Children saw that
when ABC broadcast an exposé on child labor in agriculture and
specifically focused on the Adkin Blue Ribbon Packing Company, the
reaction was both predictable and inevitable. The United Fresh Produce
Association sent out a letter to its members, basically saying that
everyone has to redouble their efforts to make sure there is no
illegal child labor in their operations. Buying organizations, of
course, wanted to distance themselves from this illegal activity.
Still, it is worth a moment to think about the practical effects of
this law and of everyone’s reaction to the exposé. 11/9/2009
The Next Big Industry Challenge: Water reports that although
discussions of sustainability have often focused on carbon emission,
many experts in the field see water as the issue of the future. The
California State Legislature finally came to a water compromise
agreement that, though surely not perfect, has been widely hailed.
Most observers see the package as a breakthrough and significant
achievement, even if much more work will need to be done. Prior to the
announcement in Sacramento, the drought in California had prompted us
to ask Mira Slott, Pundit Investigator and Special Projects Editor, to
speak with an expert, Holly Doremus, Ph.D., Professor of Law at the
University of California, Berkeley to get some historical perspective
and context. 11/9/2009
Climategate: Dangers Of Relying On Manipulated Science explains that although many are going on as if the recent news regarding the release of a large number of e-mails and other data from the Hadley Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at Britain’s University of East Anglia doesn’t matter, it most decidedly does. Of course, it does not prove there is no global warming, but it means the scientific foundation for belief in anthropomorphic global warming is so weak that there is no basis for the world to adopt exceedingly expensive policies to fight global warming. Really the science needs to be looked at from square one. This won’t kill off sustainability, however, as that has morphed into a kind of business management system that involves consciousness of all costs. 12/9/2009
Flaws In Wal-Mart’s Produce-Procurement Thinking highlights a piece in The Financial Times that reports on Wal-Mart’s efforts to reduce supply chain costs. Although Wal-Mart’s claim that apple procurement costs went down 10% in the Washington pilot project is mysterious, the bigger point is that even if Wal-Mart’s number is correct, it is surely only a portion of the story. There is an obvious Achilles heel. If it produces a 10% lower cost of produce it is a violation of everything Wal-Mart purports to believe about sustainability. It goes beyond price, it doesn’t give producers the assurance they need to invest for the long run. It encourages them to do anything to beat the other bid, whatever the long term implications. 1/5/2010
Big Ramifications For Industry As Florida Tomato Growers Exchange Agrees To Penny-A-Pound Program found that the move to so-called penny-a-pound programs seemed inexorable to us. The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange had all kinds of reasons why it couldn’t participate. They claimed anti-trust issues, practical impossibility and on and on. In the end, they changed their stance and announced their own Social Accountability Program that includes a Florida Tomato Grower Code of Conduct. We wanted to get another perspective and Pundit Investigator and Special Projects Editor Mira Slott spoke to a knowledgeable observer of the industry. 3/5/2010
Efforts To Minimize Food Safety And Sustainability Conflicts Laudable But Don't Resolve Conflict points out one of the biggest battles that produce growers have had to deal with is how to wrestle with the competing values of food safety and environmental concerns. Now comes word that there has been an effort to resolve this dilemma. The Nature Conservancy recently produced "Safe and Sustainable: Co-Managing For Food Safety And Ecological Health in California’s Central Coast Region" a report for Georgetown’s University’s Produce Safety Project. We have nothing but praise for people who do the hard work of trying to solve industry problems. Alas, having read the results of all these efforts, we confess that we think they fall short. 3/5/2010
Wal-Mart’s Auction System Leads To Less Sustainability received a letter from Rod Farrow of Lamont Fruit Farm Inc. who sees the drop in costs from Wal-Mart’s new produce procurement operation being absorbed by the grower, and further states that this creates an unprofitable and unsustainable situation for growers. We appreciate Rod’s input and think he has an important point but think that the point needs to be more tightly focused. Rod’s point is to note the contradiction between Wal-Mart’s self-professed desire to emphasize sustainability and its willingness to put farmers into competition with one another on an auction basis, which challenges sustainability on at least three levels. 3/22/2010
With Penny-A-Pound ‘Victory’, Coalition of Immokalee Workers Looks To Justify Its Actions our most recent piece, titled Big Ramifications For Industry As Florida Tomato Growers Exchange Agrees To Penny-a-Pound Program, brought this response from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, in part, explaining that their "campaign is designed to keep demand in Florida, and for that demand to seek the highest standards of social responsibility and sustainability by rewarding growers who are willing to do the right thing." We don’t find CIW’s argument persuasive as to why raising the price of Florida tomatoes will not disadvantage Florida vis-a-vis other production areas and alternative eating options. 3/22/2010
Reaction to Agriprocessors Raid Leads to A New Jewish Ethical Trading Initiative
For Food: But Is There Really a Jewish Position On The Minimum Wage?
describes how the modern sustainability movement was hardly the first to call
for such consciousness. Those who “keep kosher” or follow the laws of kashrut
are obliged to be conscious of each bite they place in their mouths. After the
recent Agriprocessors raid, this led some to object that when consumers buy
kosher food, they expect more than simply food prepared in the ritualistic way
required to meet standards of kashrut. They expect food that is raised in
accordance with Jewish ethical principles. This move to tie morality and ethics
to food seemed intriguing, so we asked Pundit Investigator and Special Projects
Editor, Mira Slott to find out more from Rabbi Paul Drazen, with the United
Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and Kimberly Rubenfeld, with the Hekhsher
Tzedek Commission. 6/16/2010
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