{"id":5443,"date":"2015-09-03T05:15:44","date_gmt":"2015-09-03T09:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/?p=5443"},"modified":"2025-06-11T12:51:38","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T16:51:38","slug":"powerful-business-the-lever-for-change-across-the-ag-supply-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/2015\/09\/03\/powerful-business-the-lever-for-change-across-the-ag-supply-chain\/","title":{"rendered":"Powerful business: the lever for change across the ag supply chain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>A longer version of this post was first published on EDF+Business.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes when a problem seems too big, too ugly and too complex to handle, you need a lever to help move things along. \u00a0All of the big environmental problems we currently face fall into this category.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to tackling our planet\u2019s biggest problems, there is a full spectrum of approaches and many different leverage points. A thriving planet and a thriving economy, farmers included, don\u2019t have to be at odds. EDF is focusing on helping businesses make their supply chains cleaner, more efficient and more profitable.<\/p>\n<p>By <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/2014\/10\/06\/a-business-smart-approach-to-ending-fertilizer-pollution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">collaborating with decision makers<\/a> at every point in the agricultural supply chain \u2013 from retailers and food companies to agribusiness and farmers \u2013 we are building demand for and increasing the supply of sustainably produced grains.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Powerful Business: The Lever for Change Across the Supply Chain\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/V4TQve493Ow?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><strong>Corporate\u00a0demand for <\/strong><b>sustainability<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Working with powerful business has been a cornerstone of EDF\u2019s approach ever since we launched our first partnership with McDonald\u2019s 25 years ago.\u00a0Since then, we have kick-started market transformations in fast food with McDonalds and Starbucks, shipping with FedEx, retail with Walmart, and private equity with KKR. With each partnership, we\u2019ve worked to create new, sustainable demand signals that extend across the supply chain. When powerful business speaks, suppliers listen. EDF is helping the most impactful companies commit to selling sustainably-produced products, encouraging every supplier and producer contributing to those products to also adopt more sustainable practices.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/52\/files\/2015\/09\/Sup-chain.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-5444\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/52\/files\/2015\/09\/Sup-chain-241x300.jpg\" alt=\"Sup chain\" width=\"241\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/52\/files\/2015\/09\/Sup-chain-241x300.jpg 241w, https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/52\/files\/2015\/09\/Sup-chain.jpg 655w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 241px) 100vw, 241px\" \/><\/a>EDF is currently focused on cleaning up consumer product supply chains in three key areas: deforestation, hazardous chemicals, and reducing the effects of fertilizer runoff from agriculture. By working with retailers and consumer products suppliers, EDF has the potential to effect real environmental gains on farms across the U.S., in forests in Brazil, in food products on store shelves, and in the air we breathe.<\/p>\n<p>Through our work with <a href=\"http:\/\/business.edf.org\/projects\/featured\/sustainable-supply-chains\/edf-and-walmart-partnership-timeline\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Walmart<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sustainabilityconsortium.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Sustainability Consortium<\/a>, EDF has had the opportunity to look across incredibly large and complex supply chains, index the environmental \u201chot spots,\u201d and work with key influencers on the chain.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fertilizer\u00a0efficiency<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nitrogen fertilizer use was one of those hot spots, giving EDF the opportunity to dig into <a href=\"http:\/\/business.edf.org\/projects\/featured\/sustainable-supply-chains\/greening-agricultural-supply-chains\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">greening the agricultural supply chain<\/a>. Our work with Walmart to reduce 20 MMT of greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain was a catalyst for focusing on optimizing fertilizer use. Now, by leveraging the power of businesses across the entire food supply chain, the momentum for sustainable grain is growing. To date, food companies and agribusiness have committed to fertilizer efficiency on 23 million acres across the U.S by 2020.<\/p>\n<p>EDF and our corporate partners are making great gains, but there is so much more to be done. We need to keep building and strengthening the business lever by getting more companies to actively send smart demand signals across their supply chains. It\u2019s good for the planet, and it\u2019s good for business. Everyone wins.<\/p>\n<p><em>Related Links<br \/>\n<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/2015\/08\/24\/strong-market-signal-for-sustainable-grain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Strong market signal for sustainable grain<br \/>\n<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/2015\/07\/13\/more-reasons-to-embrace-food-sustainability\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">More reasons to embrace food sustainability<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/2015\/06\/02\/campbells-soup-expands-its-fertilizer-optimization-programs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Campbell&#8217;s Soup expands its fertilizer optimization programs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A longer version of this post was first published on EDF+Business. Sometimes when a problem seems too big, too ugly and too complex to handle, you need a lever to help move things along. \u00a0All of the big environmental problems we currently face fall into this category. When it comes to tackling our planet\u2019s biggest &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1886,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120554],"tags":[234,76,235,42756,5767,63845,68442,35014,64228,413,39994],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","tag-agriculture-tag","tag-consumer-products","tag-deforestation","tag-farmers","tag-fedex","tag-food-production","tag-greenhouse-gas","tag-mcdonalds","tag-supply-chain-2","tag-sustainability","tag-walmart"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1886"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15565,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5443\/revisions\/15565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5443"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}