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In This Issue
Editor's Note
Sustainability Trends in Food and Agriculture
In the first of our two-part series looking at the food and agriculture sector, we spoke with BSR's new Food, Beverage & Agriculture Practice Director Kai Robertson about priority issues for the industry, such as packaging and waste reduction, sustainable consumption, obesity, and food security.
After 20 years working on sustainability in this sector, Robertson looks forward to working with BSR's 40-plus food, beverage, and agriculture member companies on developing corporate responsibility strategies and finding solutions to these and other complex issues facing the industry.
We also preview BSR Conference 2010 sessions related to the food and agriculture industry, and next week, we'll offer an in-depth look at the challenge of food security.
Finally, we share some new tools that will help companies address factory women's health issues and in turn reduce turnover and encourage higher productivity in supply chains.
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In Depth
Food for Thought: A Conversation With BSR’s New Food, Beverage & Agriculture Practice Director
Interview with Kai Robertson, Director, Food, Beverage & Agriculture Practice, Advisory Services, by Faris Natour, Director, Research & Innovation
BSR's new Food, Beverage & Agriculture Practice Director discusses issues that will affect the food industry, from food waste and sustainable consumption to our global malnutrition crisis.
Read more →
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Spotlight
Exploring the Many Links from Field to Plate at the BSR Conference
With sessions on topics such as how to feed the planet's growing population sustainably ("Feeding the Future: What Will it Take?") and how to integrate health and wellness programs with corporate responsibility strategies ("Healthier People, Healthier Planet: The Link Between Wellness and Sustainability"), the BSR Conference will explore the broad range of sustainability issues facing the food, beverage, and agriculture industry.
Other Conference sessions will explore timely questions for the sector, such as:
- What are some value-chain strategies to help a company reduce impacts along the product life cycle? ("Closing the Loop: Minimizing Product Life-Cycle Impacts")
- What do you do when the activists come calling? And more importantly, how do you prevent a crisis in your supply chain from happening in the first place? (Session name to be determined)
- How far can companies go in their marketing efforts to educate consumers about more sustainable products? ("Leading as Well as Listening: Building Demand for Sustainable Products")
BSR member companies who would like to continue these conversations at a private networking reception should email Kai Robertson for more information.
Toolbox
Understanding the Health Needs of Female Factory Workers
Nandini Hampole
HERproject—BSR's factory-based women's health initiative—recently released new resources to help companies understand the specific health needs of women workers in their supply chains:
- General health risk assessments: These pages on the website explore key issues that women workers face—including anemia, poor nutrition, unsafe sexual and reproductive health, poor pre- and post-natal care, and a lack of information on family planning—and explain what HERproject is doing to address these health-related risks.
- Country reports: These six papers—providing country-specific health assessments for Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Pakistan, and Vietnam—describe the positive benefits experienced by companies participating in HERproject, including reduced absenteeism and turnover, improved worker morale, and higher productivity. The country reports also include a list of local resources to help companies address women's health concerns.
For more information, read our recommendations on other health-related opportunities, or contact Racheal Yeager.
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On July 28, the UN General Assembly declared that access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right. While not directly legally binding, this step will end the longstanding debate about the status of water as a human right. With almost 900 million people worldwide without access to clean water, this long-overdue declaration reflects the importance of water as a sustainability challenge. It is also good news for business.