Farming for Sustainable Development: A resource for communicating internally on sustainable agriculture

Communicating on the importance of agricultural sustainability is a challenge for many SAI Platform members. While food and drink companies are placing a greater emphasis on sustainability and therefore engaging their wider internal teams on sustainable sourcing, the nuances and implications of implementing better practices at the farm level can be difficult to convey.

SAI Platform has interviewed farmers all over the world to understand the on-the-ground experiences and messages they would like to convey to industry about the day-to-day decisions they make in order to balance the demands of production, farm economics, and the environment.

Working with a diverse group of members, we have collated that information into a communication guidebook. This resource provides digestible content that members can lift and shift into their own communications to more quickly and concisely communicate about environmental sustainability topics including water, climate, soil, and nature.

Join us on 25th October as we present the guidebook and discuss with our members the challenges and successes they have had in communicating sustainability within their own organisations.

Speakers:

Annelie Selander, Group Sustainability Director, Nomad Foods 

Annelie Selander has almost 20 years experience in the food industry. Following 10 years at Nestle in Sweden working across infant nutrition, coffee and consumer insights and two years at Finnish homewares company Fiskars, she joined Findus to lead NPD for the Nordics in 2013. After four years in senior marketing and innovation roles she was appointed Group Sustainability Director for Nomad Foods, parent company of the Birds Eye, Findus, and iglo brands, in January 2018.   

Annelie has a passion for purpose led business and marketing and is responsible for the Europe-wide programme that underpins Nomad Foods sustainability strategy and its ambition to make a difference to every mealtime, through affordable and sustainable food.   

Headquartered in the UK, Nomad Foods is Europe’s largest frozen food company and the world’s largest branded purchaser of eco-labelled fish. It’s recently launched Green Cuisine range of plant protein meat alternatives brings an exciting new dimension to a portfolio that is already flexitarian at heart. 

Emily O’Halloran, Responsible Sourcing Lead for North America, Kellogg Company 

Emily O’Halloran is the Responsible Sourcing Lead for North America supply chain at Kellogg Company. She recently joined Kellogg after 4 years as a sustainability manager at Ocean Spray Cranberries. She holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Central Michigan University and a Bachelor’s degree in Fisheries & Wildlife from Michigan State University. Emily has also worked as a crop scout in apple, peaches & cherry orchards in western Michigan and as a research lab technician for the USDA Forest Service in a forest entomology invasive species research lab.  

In her new role, Emily ensures Kellogg’s Better Days Promise targets are implemented through purchase decisions within the Kellogg North America raw ingredient supply chain. Emily also leads a variety of farmer-facing engagement & support programs. The objective of her role is to improve farmer access to resources supporting a shift toward sustainable and regenerative growing practices, while driving industry alignment and resource support of these farmers and practices.  

Emily lives in Portage, Michigan with her husband, 17 month-old daughter and two cats. She loves home baking, hikes and exploring the simple things with her daughter.  

Thomas Gent, Founder, Gentle Farming

Thomas Gent is the 4th generation on his family farm in the UK. They farm around 900 hectares of arable cropping and have done so using the principles of regenerative agriculture for around 14 years.

Thomas’s grandad holds the patent on one of the world’s best selling no till farming machines. The farm uses the Agreena Carbon system to quantify its carbon impacts and is working on connecting with the supply chain through its own Gentle Farming brand.