SOURCING OF LOCAL, SEASONAL, SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS

BTP content for April 2012

April BTP “Musts” + “Mays”

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Required• Share Local, Sustainable Products slides at April district meeting/call.• Order a local produce poster for your state. • Post poster at your unit.  Optional• .Register your site for the SMART tool• Take Local, Seasonal or Sustainable Sourcing Webinar (June 2010)  Audio or

Presentation (ppt).• Take

"What's Happening in the World of Local, Seasonal and Sustainable Sourcing" (June 2010). Featuring Don Seville and Karen Karp, Sustainable Food Lab and Sabrina Vigilante, Rainforest Alliance

A Better Tomorrowis part of Sodexo’s DNA Today

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To accomplish our 14 commitments, we will focus our efforts on three overarching pillars:

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• Produced, processed, and distributed close to where it is consumed. • At Sodexo NORAM, local is defined as within your state, province, or geographic

region.

Local Food

• Grown primarily in natural conditions in the same state or geographic region where they are consumed and are either fresh or stored in natural conditions for short periods of time.

Seasonal Products

• Products for which producers provide for human welfare, are making verified long-term improvements in soil organic carbon and yield per acre, and annual reductions in water energy, synthetic fertilizer, and synthetic pesticide use per unit of output.

Sustainably Grown

• Producers with 3rd party verified animal welfare standards, judicious and FDA approved use of antibiotics and hormones, minimized energy use, working to reduce carbon footprint and packaging and implement waste and water quality management systems.

Sustainably Raised

4 definitions

5Source: “The Changing Vocabulary of Food Purchasing,” Sustainable Food Laboratory.

• Definition: No agreed upon standard distance that constitutes ‘local’

• Benefits: Gives consumers access to fresh, flavorful foods harvested at peak ripeness and supports the area’s agriculture economy and local farm businesses

CSA (Community Supported Agriculture): partnership between a farmer and a group of consumers in which consumers buy “shares” in the harvest and receive weekly deliveries of seasonal products

Food miles: the distance food travels from where it is grown to the consumer’s plate and translates into but does not measure the CO2 emissions from production (agricultural or processing) or transportation

Local

6Source: “The Changing Vocabulary of Food Purchasing,” Sustainable Food Laboratory.

• When a food is freshest, ripest and most abundant

• Seasonal menu planning aims to create recipes aligning with a geographic region’s harvest calendar

• A growing season is generally measured by the number of days between the spring’s last frost and the winter’s first frost

• Geographic location, climate, daylight hours, average temperatures, rainfall, and water resources also contribute to defining a region’s growing season and determining what can be grown

Seasonal

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Example: Chiquita Brands International

• Bananas are the world’s number one export fruit• Since 1992, Chiquita has been certifying farms to meet

sustainability standards through the Rainforest Alliance with its local NGO Partners in the Sustainable Agriculture Network

• 100% of Chiquita’s banana farms and more than 95% of its suppliers have been certified

Source: “The Changing Vocabulary of Food Purchasing,” Sustainable Food Laboratory.

Sustainable agriculture: a farm’s ability to produce food indefinitely, without causing irreversible damage to the earth’s ecosystem

Sustainable food system: produces enough food to feed people affordably, nutritionally, and safely in a way that sustains the economic, environmental, and social systems in which the food system is embedded

Sustainable

Sustainable AgricultureEnvironmental

Impacts

• Biodiversity• Climate/Energy• Soil• Water

Social Impacts

• Labor Rights• Community Health• Food Quality &

Safety• Animal Welfare

Economic Impacts

• Farm Profitability• Livelihoods• Value Chain

8Source: “Short Guide to Sustainable Agriculture,” Sustainable Food Laboratory & SAI Platform.

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Case Study: Farmers’ Markets

MissionTo increase customer awareness regarding the usage of local produce used daily in Sodexo corporate service accounts in the Chicagoland area.

StrategyPartner up with local produce vendor, Castro, which came into several units and set up a farmer’s market to educate and sell local produce.

ResultsOverwhelming response from customers.“A quick note on how much I enjoyed the Farmers’ Market today. The price, selection, and quality were all superb and by far better than the Chicago Farmers’ Markets held downtown.”

Participating Accounts:Northern Trust Company, Discover, Federal Reserve Bank.

Resources

10http://bettertomorrow.sodexousa.com/home/,

Local Produce Poster

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