Tyson Foods has partnered with the Environmental Defences Fund (EDF) in a move aimed at accelerating sustainable food production.
The partnership’s first project focuses on land stewardship and aims to pilot and scale agriculture practices on 500,000 acres of corn that reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), improve water quality and maximize farmer profitability.
Tyson said this inaugural effort will also help it meet its Land Stewardship Goal of working with farmers to improve environmental practices across two million acres of corn production by 2020.
The pilot will use cloud-based agricultural technologies from MyFarms and Farmers Business Network (FBN) which both collect information on agricultural production practices while protecting data privacy.
MyFarms and FBN will work to enrol farmers in the initial sustainable agriculture project. Insights from the analysis of that data will inform sustainability practices at the field level.
“If the largest US food company can prove the viability of farming practices that are good for the planet and for profits, it would be a game changer,” said Jenny Ahlen, Director of the EDF+Business Supply chain programme.
“We’re using scientific analysis to measure the benefits of sustainable farming practices, help companies like Tyson evaluate the impact of their sustainability initiatives, and inspire transparency across the supply chain.”
Justin Whitmore, Executive Vice President of Continuous Improvement and Chief Sustainability Officer at Tyson Foods, added: “Developing a sustainable food system is important to our business and the planet.
“Joining forces with EDF enables us to bring together the best of our joint expertise in supply chains and sustainable agriculture, and deliver value to growers, businesses and the environment.”
