Today we are excited to release a new video, “Producing Enough Sustainable Food,” that ponders the question and shows what we, and the pork industry, are doing to help feed the world’s growing population with food that is produced both responsibly and sustainably.

 “We’re very excited about this video because it provides an engaging way to show what Smithfield Foods, along with the rest of the pork industry, is doing to meet the challenge of providing not only sustainable food, but enough of it to feed a rapidly growing population,” said our CEO Larry Pope.

 The video is available on YouTube. 

I realize that I am aging myself by saying this, but I witnessed the first Earth Day in 1970. It’s hard to describe the impact of that day, but there was a universal feeling of purpose and empowerment among those who participated, and it focused my career goals.

Many people have spent their careers attempting to enhance the health and vitality of our environment. From my experience, first through the government and regulatory approaches and now from the perspective of private business, I can tell you that things have changed quite a bit from that first Earth Day in April 1970. It is now celebrated in almost 150 countries, which alludes to the fact that our world has become increasingly connected.

We realize now, more than ever, that we cannot solve the environmental issues we face without increased collaboration and communication. We all must work together in order to enact the changes we hope to see in the next few decades. At Smithfield we work alongside both our supply chain and our customers to move in a direction of increased sustainability, and we strive to deepen those relationships as we move forward.

Those of us involved in agriculture face perhaps the greatest challenge of our time—feeding a global population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050. We need to more than double our production of food, but not increase the land or other resources we are using in the process. That is a massive task, and we won’t be able to meet it without innovation, collaboration, and creativity. Here at Smithfield, we believe the future is bright, but we understand that we have a responsibility to feed the world in a sustainable way.

Sincerely,

Dennis Treacy

EVP and Chief Sustainability Officer

Smithfield Foods, Inc.

Sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the George and Cynthia Mitchell Endowment for Sustainability Science, the report emphasizes the importance of increasing global food supplies in a sustainable way while navigating worldwide policy and logistical constraints.

As a global food company, food security is something that Smithfield Foods recognizes as a growing and complex issue and one that requires collaboration and new approaches to solve.

“Our perspective is that everyone should have access not only to affordable food, but food that they can trust is produced in a sustainable and responsible way,” said Dennis Treacy, our executive vice president and chief sustainability officer who served on the Food Security for All as a Sustainability Challenge Committee and contributed to the research report.

Click here to access the report.

Ray will travel to Karima, Kenya, to be with members of the Kikuyu tribe. Along with other youth leaders and the 410 Bridge group, the group’s focus will be to expand an existing water project by building a water distribution system. This will allow the people of Karima to have greater access to clean and safe drinking water.

Additionally, the group will assist in the construction of a new school building at the primary school to help house all the students that attend school there.

Please check back for part two of this story when Ray returns with full post-trip details and pictures. 

For those of you unfamiliar with World Water Monitoring Day, it is an educational outreach initiative that was launched in 2002 by America’s Clean Water Foundation to underscore the importance of water as one of our most essential natural resources. Participants traditionally observe the environmental holiday of sorts by taking samples and testing the quality of local water sources to ensure their health.

However, in an effort to boost participation, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and International Water Association (IWA) recently unveiled exciting redesigns to the storied program, including a new name, look and interactive website. Now called World Water Monitoring Challenge (WWMC), the revamped international program encourages participants to monitor their local waterways year-round.

WEF and IWA officially expanded the scope of the program to improve flexibility and emphasize the value in observing water quality on a regular basis. We’re thrilled to hear that these refinements have so far prompted a considerable increase in program participation. In 2011, nearly 340,000 people monitored their waterways in 77 countries, whereas five years ago 30,000 joined in the effort.

We’d like to thank WEF and IWA for their hard work in promoting and organizing the protection of our world’s water sources. We can’t wait to continue our efforts this year in partnership with WWMC.  

“Our farms have long been criticized for errors we made long ago despite the ensuing years of environmental improvement and industry leadership, so reaching our goal of no NOVs system-wide is a very rewarding achievement. We are tremendously proud of the determination and dedication of all our employees at Murphy-Brown and our international operations,” said Dennis Treacy, executive vice president and chief sustainability officer for Smithfield Foods.

A decade ago, Smithfield adopted an environmental policy committing the company to pollution prevention and continuous improvement in its environmental performance. In 2002 Smithfield received ISO 14001 certification for all of its domestic company-owned farms, and by 2004 its processing facilities also earned the same ISO certification.

“Each day we face new challenges throughout our industry, which makes this achievement just one step in our ongoing journey,” Treacy said.

While PSF’s agreement with the state designated a final deadline of July 31, 2012 to complete the project, final installation procedures took place on December 29, 2011. In total, installation costs of the next generation barn scraper technology exceeded $7 million.

“A great deal of perseverance and cooperation on the part of the state and our company went into this project over the past ten years, and now that it’s completed we believe we are setting the standard for environmental technology,” said Bill Homann, director of administration and compliance for PSF.

“In fact, our production employees and environmental staff experts are very happy with how well the next generation technology is working. The systems are exceeding our expectations and providing a very positive impact,” he added.

We’re thrilled to see a decade’s worth of hard work culminate in such a concerted fashion. PSF’s diligence has not only helped to preserve hundreds of jobs in the area, but will also serve to improve the future quality of life for all of our friends and families who call north Missouri home.

“GEMI has a truly exceptional and dedicated Board of Directors and membership, and I am honored to have been elected by them and look forward to serving as GEMI’s Chair in 2012,” stated Gill.

GEMI, based in Washington, D.C., is a global leader in developing insights and creating environmental sustainability solutions for business. It currently has 26 member companies representing more than 12 business sectors. Through its membership, companies have the ability to work collaboratively together to achieve sustainability excellence for their businesses around the world.

The Save Energy Now LEADER Program provides technical assistance and resources to companies that pledge significant improvements in industrial energy efficiencies. The DOE conducts assessments and audits to identify opportunities for energy and cost savings, and in return, participating companies have access to tools to implement change.

At the outset, I need to point out that HSUS’ accusations about our company not living up to its social responsibility commitments are misleading and baseless. Specifically, HSUS referred to our commitment to phase out gestation stalls, how we treat our animals and our new video series, Taking the Mystery Out of Pork Production. Allow me to address each of these issues.

First, HSUS suggests that Smithfield has backed away from our stated goal of phasing out gestation stalls in favor of group housing at our company-owned sow farms by 2017, but nothing could be further from the truth.

While the dramatic economic downturn of three years ago temporarily slowed our efforts in phasing out gestation stalls, we steadfastly stood by our commitment to ultimately achieve this goal. Our commitment has never wavered, as evidenced by our progress in converting 30 percent of our sows to group housing by the end of 2011, and our commitment to spend more than $300 million to achieve our stated goal. I invite you to read about our progress at www.smithfieldcommitments.com.

Second, the well-being of all our animals is one of our highest priorities, which is why we consistently seek input from our customers, consumers like yourself, experts in animal husbandry, veterinarians and animal behavior specialists.  

We implement and monitor the practices at our farms through an industry-leading Animal Care Policy. This policy is more than just words—it articulates the principles and expectations to which we hold all employees accountable and guides the daily activities of all of our company-owned farms and those of our contract growers. In sum, we want our animals to be safe, comfortable, and healthy. Willful neglect or abuse of animals is not tolerated and will result in immediate termination. When mistakes are made or violations of our policies occur, we correct them.

Third, our website video series is not some slick production glossing over how pork is produced. The employees in the videos are real employees who were not scripted. They were told to express their own feelings about their jobs, and the work they do. And we could never have gotten renowned animal expert Dr. Temple Grandin to present the introduction to the videos if we had misrepresented the facts.

Beyond that, our concerted social responsibility efforts during the past decade have resulted in third-party recognition that we are very proud of. Most significantly, we were the first in our industry to achieve ISO 14001 environmental certification for all of our U.S. hog production and pork processing facilities. ISO 14001 is the international gold standard for environmental management. In addition, Smithfield Foods has been consistently named to FORTUNE magazine’s prestigious annual list of America’s Most Admired Companies. Companies are rated on eight criteria, from investment value to social responsibility.

At the same time, I need to underscore that we’re not saying that we’re perfect. We have made mistakes in the past, but we have learned from them and we have redoubled our efforts to behave in a socially responsible manner. This is a journey, but we believe we’re on the right track.

Because we are so passionate about doing the right thing, we welcome all who are interested in learning more about our company’s practices and commitments. We stand by the information we provide and our proven track record, which can all be found at www.smithfieldcommitments.com.

I hope this information addresses your concerns and that we take your opinions very seriously. Thank you for your interest in Smithfield Foods.  

Sincerely,

Dennis H. Treacy
Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs
and Chief Sustainability Officer