THE BOARDROOM JOURNAL: SUSTAINABILITY AND THE SUPPLY CHAIN
Posted in News, Business, International, Agriculture, Crop, Sustainability, Market Research, Market Trends, Costs, Economics, Beverages, Dairy Management, Dairy, Grains / Pasta / Tuber, Bakery / Cereal, Food Safety, Fruits / Vegetables, Meat Products, Fats/Oils, Sweeteners
PHOENIX—Food Product Design's first issue of The Boardroom Journal explores sustainability's effect on the global food supply chain. With a myriad of concepts, practices and issues falling underneath the sustainability label, it's important for organizations to ask questions such as: What does sustainability mean for my business? How do I implement sustainable practices into my everyday processes? Below are a few teasers from this quarter's digital issue. To download the full issue, check out some videos or flip through a couple slide shows on the topic, click here.
The Benefit Corporation: Balancing Profits and Social Welfare
Traditionally, directors have owed fiduciary duties to maximize shareholder value—the environment and social welfare now and again be disregarded if it interfered with the bottom line; the benefit corporation is changing that rule of law.
In Delaware, home to more than 1 million legal entities and some of the nation's largest businesses, "public benefit corporations" must balance the interests of stockholders, "those materially affected by the corporation's conduct" and the "public benefit or benefits" that have been identified in incorporation paperwork. The law is intended to ensure that benefit corporations are held accountable while still granting directors broad protection from liability.
B Lab, a non-profit organization with offices in New York, San Francisco and Wayne, PA, has been certifying businesses as so-called B Corps since 2007. To date, the number of certified B Corps totals 830 organizations in 27 countries with 60 industries participating, including food and beverage companies such as Andean Naturals, Ben & Jerry's, Bison Brewing Co., New Belgium Brewing Co., Sustainable Harvest and Plum Organics.
The Biotechnology Opportunity: Agricultural biotechnology’s potential contribution to global food security and stewardship of the earth’s resources
In 2012, the United Nations issued an unprecedented warning about the state of global food supplies, noting world-grain reserves are so dangerously low that economists warn another year of severe weather in the United States or other food-exporting countries could trigger a major hunger crisis. Clearly, unprecedented needs require innovative solutions. Martina Newell- McGloughlin and Kent J. Bradford, Ph.D., from the University of California, Davis, illustrate in their article from the basic nutrition perspective, there is a clear dichotomy in demonstrated need between different regions and socioeconomic groups, the starkest being injudicious consumption in the developed world and under-nourishment in less-developed countries. To this point, agricultural biotechnology already has helped farmers around the world boost their productivity and grow crops in more ecologically healthy fields while allowing much more efficient use of resources.
Current Trends in Sustainability
Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of adult American consumers surveyed in Natural Marketing Institute's 2012 LOHAS Consumer Trends Database® responded they are aware of the term "sustainability." Moreover, sustainability has manifested itself in the food and beverage market often via products that also offer health benefits, such as organic or local food. Given that one's personal health is generally more motivating than planetary health, attracting consumers on the basis of the personal health benefits a product or service offers can be an effective gateway to introducing them to other dimensions of a sustainable lifestyle.
Traditionally, directors have owed fiduciary duties to maximize shareholder value—the environment and social welfare now and again be disregarded if it interfered with the bottom line; the benefit corporation is changing that rule of law.
In Delaware, home to more than 1 million legal entities and some of the nation's largest businesses, "public benefit corporations" must balance the interests of stockholders, "those materially affected by the corporation's conduct" and the "public benefit or benefits" that have been identified in incorporation paperwork. The law is intended to ensure that benefit corporations are held accountable while still granting directors broad protection from liability.
B Lab, a non-profit organization with offices in New York, San Francisco and Wayne, PA, has been certifying businesses as so-called B Corps since 2007. To date, the number of certified B Corps totals 830 organizations in 27 countries with 60 industries participating, including food and beverage companies such as Andean Naturals, Ben & Jerry's, Bison Brewing Co., New Belgium Brewing Co., Sustainable Harvest and Plum Organics.
The Biotechnology Opportunity: Agricultural biotechnology’s potential contribution to global food security and stewardship of the earth’s resources
In 2012, the United Nations issued an unprecedented warning about the state of global food supplies, noting world-grain reserves are so dangerously low that economists warn another year of severe weather in the United States or other food-exporting countries could trigger a major hunger crisis. Clearly, unprecedented needs require innovative solutions. Martina Newell- McGloughlin and Kent J. Bradford, Ph.D., from the University of California, Davis, illustrate in their article from the basic nutrition perspective, there is a clear dichotomy in demonstrated need between different regions and socioeconomic groups, the starkest being injudicious consumption in the developed world and under-nourishment in less-developed countries. To this point, agricultural biotechnology already has helped farmers around the world boost their productivity and grow crops in more ecologically healthy fields while allowing much more efficient use of resources.
Current Trends in Sustainability
Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of adult American consumers surveyed in Natural Marketing Institute's 2012 LOHAS Consumer Trends Database® responded they are aware of the term "sustainability." Moreover, sustainability has manifested itself in the food and beverage market often via products that also offer health benefits, such as organic or local food. Given that one's personal health is generally more motivating than planetary health, attracting consumers on the basis of the personal health benefits a product or service offers can be an effective gateway to introducing them to other dimensions of a sustainable lifestyle.
Check out my latest e-book entitled: "Social Media Marketing in Agri-Foods: Endless Profit and Painless Gain"
The book is available on Amazon and Kindle for $4.99 USD. Visit amazon/Kindle to order now:
http://www.amazon.ca/Social-Media-Marketing-Agri-Foods-ebook/dp/B00C42OB3E/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1364756966&sr=1-1
Thanks for taking the time
No comments:
Post a Comment