How food and beverage companies can deliver robust commitments

A new strategy from ofi is an example of a comprehensive approach to transforming the agri-food sector by enhancing supply chain resilience and promoting collaboration across the value chain

Increasing regulatory requirements are tasking food and beverage companies with more robust corporate reporting. Strengthening commitments to enhance the resilience of supply chains also remains essential to deliver the change the law demands and farmers, rural communities and nature needs. Enabling better choices to be made across the value chain is the focus of Choices for Change, a new sustainability strategy by ofi (previously known as Olam Food Ingredients).

Innovation Forum and ofi recently convened a virtual event to launch ofi’s 2030 sustainability targets and action plans – which covers its five product platforms, namely cocoa, coffee, dairy, nuts, and spices – to a diverse audience of agri-food industry stakeholders. An expert panel discussed topics such as regenerative agriculture, living income and sustainability metrics.

You can click here to watch the webinar recording, or to listen the discussion as a podcast here. You can also click here for a full list of audience questions asked during the webinar. Below is a summary of the discussion.

Choices for Change overview

ofi overview: ofi collaborates with farmers and partner organisations globally to support sustainable sourcing practices, guided by its purpose to ‘be the change for good food and a healthy future.
Strategic vision: Choices for Change is guided by ofi’s 2030 sustainability targets and goals to foster collaboration across the supply chain. Its long-term ambitions focus on delivering impact across four key pillars: prosperous farmers, thriving communities, climate action and regenerating the living world.
2030 targets: The company’s 2030 targets are backed by clear action plans and methodologies, including:
- Delivering enhanced livelihood support to one million farmers, helping them to be more productive and deliver better quality ingredients.
- Cutting scope 3 emissions by 30% to offer customers verifiable, low-carbon products and ingredients, and contribute to net-zero commitments.
- Bringing two million hectares of land under regenerative farming practices to create long-term farm resilience and products with verified positive natural impact.
- Implementation and partnership: ofi’s strategy emphasises the importance of transparency and long-term collaboration with stakeholders (from farmers, to customers, NGOs and government) to drive impact across ofi's supply chains. This involves building on existing product-specific initiatives and working with customers to co-create action plans informed by the digital tools and insights available through from their sustainability management system, AtSource.

Collaborating on living income strategies

Stephanie Daniels, senior programme director from Sustainable Food Lab and founding member of the Living Income Community of Practice, discussed the importance of partnerships and collaboration with companies such as ofi to promote sustainable livelihoods for farmers.

Market volatility: There has been global progress towards sustainable agriculture over the past five years through discussions at COP and steps taken by global food and beverage companies. However, challenges remain for farmers’ livelihoods as commodity market's dynamics do not focus on social and environmental outcomes. Companies need to balance profitability with building long-term value through sustainable practices.
Appropriate targets: With quantitative targets, such as ofi’s target of 1 million ofi farmer households to receive enhanced livelihood support and 200,000 ofi farmer households achieving a living income, companies should take caution to not select only the most successful, larger and wealthier farm to meet such income targets. Instead, using aligned indicators that consider the median farmer's earnings could avoid skewing results.
Supporting smallholder farmers: To ensure inclusive progress, long-term investment in building relationships and supporting smallholder farmers is key.

Sourcing programmes with real impact

Alastair Child, chief sustainability officer at Mars Wrigley, highlighted ofi as a key partner for two critical ingredients in Mars’ supply chain: cocoa and almonds. The companies’ partnership focuses on building a traceable cocoa supply chain, implementing agroforestry systems, and aligning data for greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting systems.

Performance over promise: Alastair stressed the importance of performance over promise, advocating for immediate actions and measurable progress in sustainability towards 2030 goals. To achieve this, Mars integrates sustainability strategy into all parts of the company, such as business processes, governance, and leadership incentives, ensuring that sustainability goals are as crucial as financial targets to drive both social and environmental progress. This integration extends to their suppliers, incentivising them based on performance against sustainability metrics.
Innovation: There is a need for innovation and collaboration to develop and trial new technologies and practices for long-term sustainability goals as it is being implemented by Mars and ofi under the Kind Almond Acres initiative which is testing a combination of regenerative agriculture practices across 500 acres (just over 200 hectares) of ofi’s almond orchards in California.
Partnerships: Delivering meaningful and measurable impact at scale to meet mutual sustainability goals requires collaboration and co-investment. Brands alone cannot be expected to pay more. Farmers being profitable and more productive is a shared goal.

Building sustainable livelihoods and landscapes

Jeffery Cohen, mission director Indonesia from USAID, outlined the organisation’s approach and initiatives in promoting positive change and fostering sustainable development. USAID’s new climate strategy aims to support 500 million people through various climate change mitigation and adaptation projects, including sustainable agricultural practices and addressing deforestation and land degradation to preserve biodiversity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Partnerships with ofi include the LASCARCOCO initiative in Indonesia, which is working to train 5,500 cocoa farmers and 1,000 coffee farmers on agroforestry practices, aiming to improve the management of 15,000 hectares of land and sequester 250,000 tonnes of carbon.

Local ownership and empowerment: Empowering local communities (specifically women and indigenous populations) to lead and drive project development outcomes is key in recognising their crucial roles in agriculture and resource management. This includes capacity building and ensuring that local needs and perspectives drive project design and implementation for long-term positive impacts on communities and the environment.
Strong partnerships: USAID emphasises the importance of collaboration with the private sector, local organisations, and governments to implement effective and sustainable projects and leverage shared resources and expertise beyond donor funding. Its partnerships with Mars and ofi include working on expanding efforts in buffer zones of national parks and other areas threatened by deforestation.
Adaptive strategies: Adjusting methods, technologies and engagement approaches with communities and partners in different environments is key to drive sustainable practices.

Webinar panel: