Dive Brief:

• Cargill is teaming with consultancy Kennedy and Coe to assess and improve the sustainability of its massive feedlots.
• The plan is to study the impact of the feedlots, which can house in excess of 100,000 animals, on the environment and nearby communities,
• The first step for the meat-processing giant's Cargill Cattle Feeders unit will be to determine what metrics to measure.

Dive Insight:

Cargill's interest in measuring the sustainability of its cattle operations has numerous roots - particularly a need to understand, and then increase, the yield it gets from each input in the system.

But perhaps more importantly, the company has come under pressure from retail giants such as Kroger and Wal-Mart, which are facing pressures of their own from consumers who worry about the health and well-being of cattle, and the effects on the planet, of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO).

Consumers don't like "factory farming." Cargill and the rest of the industry need to find a way to boost productivity that doesn't also increase consumers' discomfort with the food supply. Cargill's partnership with Kennedy and Coe seems like a good way to start.

Meanwhile, Cargill's Truvia has settled in a lawsuit regarding its allegedly misleading "natural" claims.