Dive Brief:
- Ceres and the World Wildlife Fund have collaborated to form the AgWater Challenge, an initiative that pushes sustainable water use in food and beverage sourcing. Several major manufacturers are participating, including Diageo, General Mills, Hain Celestial, Hormel Foods, Kellogg, PepsiCo and WhiteWave Foods, according to a news release.
- Manufacturers submitted detailed plans for their sustainable sourcing and water stewardship efforts. WWF and Ceres named those that met certain criteria as AgWater Stewards, including Diageo, General Mills and Kellogg.
- AgWater Stewards demonstrated actions they were taking across five key categories: assessing water risks in key sourcing regions; setting sustainable agricultural policies that address water; setting time-bound goals to reduce water impacts of key crops; directly supporting and incentivizing growers to protect water resources; and collaborating at watershed level to protect water resources in high-risk areas.
Dive Insight:
Challenge participants have made several commitments include working with agricultural suppliers to improve water efficiency (PepsiCo); setting sustainable sourcing goals for certain agricultural ingredients, including assisting farmers with water and fertilizer management practices (Hain Celestial); and developing a comprehensive water stewardship policy (Hormel) or similar long-term plans, particularly for key commodities like dairy, soy, almond and produce (WhiteWave).
These four companies have all voiced various commitments to sustainability in recent years, with some targeting water usage more publicly, like PepsiCo. But Hain Celestial and WhiteWave have kept natural ingredients and sustainability at the heart of their product development and production efforts since their inception. Hormel has also become more active in sustainability efforts, making changes like actively switching to cage-free eggs rather than just committing to doing it in the future.
To be considered AgWater Stewards, the three named companies often took a more global approach and specifically targeted international suppliers and regions that were at highest risk for water issues, including Diageo and Africa and General Mills and California. Kellogg's efforts are widespread, targeting 17,000 agricultural suppliers, millers and farmers across 22 different countries.
While these three companies seem to take a more global and widespread approach than the rest, these efforts are attainable for the industry as a whole. One major aspect is establishing whole chain traceability so manufacturers have a better idea of what their suppliers' operations entail. Once they have that information, other companies could better work with their suppliers on improving water risks throughout their supply chains and put themselves in the running for this type of challenge.