Silver Fern Farms has consistently been making a name for itself as a sustainable producer. In order to understand the company’s latest operational moves, I spoke with Matt Luxton, Director of Sales and USA Country Manager, to learn more.
“Silver Fern Farms is continually looking to invest in innovation and a wide range of operational improvements. We have achieved both Toitū carbonreduce and Toitū enviromark gold certification due to our comprehensive plan to manage and reduce environmental impact, measure greenhouse gas emissions, and drive continuous progress in achieving our sustainability goals,” Matt noted. “Currently, we are working to eliminate coal use from our operations over the next seven years. We have two key coal reduction projects planned in 2021/2022, which will reduce our coal usage by half.”
Matt explained to me that Silver Fern Farms has also advanced its water management initiatives and achieved a reduction in its water use of more than 30 percent per kg of product since 2016.
“We are always committed to improving our workers’ safety, investing $12 million in 2020 in health and safety for a number of on-site safety projects including improvements to traffic management safety, fall from height risks, and the Guardian safety stop bandsaw replacement. Our efforts have resulted in a 13 percent decrease in high severity injuries among our workforce,” Matt expressed.
These operational investments not only make Silver Fern Farms an ideal employer, but a better partner for both its retail and foodservice customers.
“We believe that the proactive changes and sustainability initiatives we undertake help our customers in retail and foodservice industries not only understand the importance of sustainability in the agriculture space, but also reduce their own carbon footprint. Trusting in partners that are mindful of their environmental impact and who are incorporating sustainability goals into their own practices is crucial to retailers looking to reduce their Scope 3 emissions and have more sustainable methods,” Matt remarked. “At Silver Fern Farms, we take our environmental commitments seriously and look to help drive reputational improvements for our business and our partners in the retail and foodservice industries. We hope to show that agricultural production can be sustainable despite current scrutiny from many in the consumer space and media. We believe that, by prioritizing sustainable goals, we can enrich our partner relationships and help consumers and retailers make more conscious choices.”
As it looks to the future, SilverFern Farms has several of these goals in mind.
“We are now in the process of resetting our sustainability strategy for the coming five years and engaging with a range of stakeholders to refresh our material issues. Key to our strategy refresh is our purpose-led approach including our focus on regenerative thinking and sustainability—'doing more good rather than doing less harm,’” Matt relayed.
In particular, the company is looking to progress its work toward regenerative agriculture and carbon neutrality and contribute to New Zealand’s leading initiatives to promote sustainability in the agricultural industry.
“We hope to be able to announce our regenerative principles and new carbon neutral products by the end of the year as we look to meet the growing consumer needs around sustainability, education, and transparency,” Matt concluded. “This is part of a continuous improvement approach which started in 2016 when we formalized our first sustainability framework through our Sustainable Chain of Care. This framework was underpinned by a number of material issues and five-year targets out to 2020 designed to improve social, environmental and financial performance.”
To fully understand the scope of Silver Fern Farms’ dedication to sustainability, see its 2020 Annual Report for more details.
