The growing shortage in renewable resources such as agricultural land, fresh water and forest land, is to a large extent the cause of poverty, migration and more generally social and political instability. This phenomenon is linked to environmental damage, climate change and the excessive exploitation of resources due to an increase in demand and their unequal distribution.
Every possible solution has to include a more efficient use of agricultural resources and investment aimed at maximising accessibility to them. The sustainability of the supply chain is a fundamental priority on which companies in the food sector must take action, requiring them to take steps towards adapting to new situations. This is the only way to avoid threatening the survival of the company in the market place.
More specifically, long-term sustainability largely depends on the ability to procure raw materials using methods that do not compromise their future availability despite shortages and increasing evidence of the existence of oligopolies in relation to supplies. This implies that companies in the food industry need to create an independent, integrated system that links and qualifies partners in the supply chain; this is of particular interest to customers, consumers and all other stakeholders who believe in the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the industries in which they operate.
Management of such a complex process requires implementation of a control system based on the selection of the best and most reliable suppliers, supported by systems able to guarantee continuous improvements in supplies. This is the only way of ensuring raw materials are safe and of the highest quality and safeguarding the sustainability of the whole supply chain.
1. Extend controls over the key agricultural eaw materials supply chains including the availability and quality of arable soil, water requirements, fertilisers and the impact on climate change.
2. Readdress the genetics improvement programs and develop cultivation practices, quality and food safety objectives, with environmental improvement targets, such as soil fertitlity defence, eutrophication, water consuption and carbon dioxide emissions reduction.
3. Increase by 20% the amount of durum wheat procured under cultivation contracts.
4. Extend the model to forecast durum wheat crops (Delphi) to the Mediterranean basin.
5. Measure the environmental impact of the strategic supply chains in terms of carbon footprint, water footprint and ecological footprint.
6. Define environmental impacts standards and commence improvement projects in conjunction with suppliers throughout all stages of the supply chain.
7. Satisfy 100% of palm oil demand using suppliers that are a member of RSPO and that mainly originate from Malaysia or Papua New Guinea.
8. Purchase cocoa from supplier who are members of ICCO and the WCF that have african processing facilities in line with the code of conduct and have been audited positively.
