Member Spotlights
Member Spotlight: World Wildlife Fund
Food and agricultural production is one of the biggest challenges and opportunities to protect the species and places World Wildlife Fund (WWF) cares about around the world. Recognizing that sustainably managed agriculture operations can preserve and restore habitats, help protect watersheds and improve soil health and water quality, WWF works to encourage biodiversity conservation, improve agricultural policies, and ensure sustainable livelihoods for producers.
When you think about habitat loss and the impacts that agricultural production has on ecosystems, it’s important that we work with supply chains and others to identify solutions toward progress,” said Franklin Holley, Manager, Agricultural Commodities, Sustainable Food, WWF. “When companies come to WWF for help making their supply chains more sustainable, particularly around corn, wheat, or soy production in the United States, one of the first things we recommend is to become a member of Field to Market and build a sustainable sourcing strategy based on Field to Market’s Fieldprint® Platform.”
As a founding member of Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, WWF has played several different roles in the organization over the years, as a contributor to the development and testing of metrics, initiating supply chain programs, and serving on the board. Through its long-standing partnership with Field to Market, WWF collaborates with a critical group of engaged stakeholders to drive more sustainable outcomes in agriculture.
“Field to Market emphasizes having well-represented and engaged members. It’s important to hear the voices of growers, industry, brands, retailers, processors, and more. Over the life of Field to Market, we’ve seen real engagement from all of these stakeholders, and continue to ensure we have diverse membership and engagement. The members especially value the different perspectives represented in this organization,” said Holley. “Field to Market is more than just a membership organization focused on row crops. In order to foster collaboration, Field to Market is strongly connected to many other organizations, companies and platforms focused on agricultural sustainability.”
Holley explained that WWF’s initial work with Field to Market focused on identifying metrics for continuous improvement and testing them in the field, and then extended to using these sustainable agriculture and environmental metrics to help understand outcomes and impacts on the environment, rather than solely counting on prescribed Best Management Practices.
© World Wildlife Fund
“Early on, when the metrics were new and needed to be piloted, WWF worked with The Coca-Cola Company to test the Fieldprint Calculator® with corn growers in the Paw Paw watershed of Michigan. Since Coca-Cola relies on agricultural ingredients for its products and has an active sustainable agriculture program, the company expressed interest in helping engage farmers to identify Fieldprint Calculator successes and flaws,” said Holley.
That approach informed WWF’s thinking to consider how the Fieldprint Calculator could be used as a sustainability sourcing application. WWF engaged Unilever and Archer Daniels Midland Company, a major agricultural processor and food ingredient provider, to design and implement one of the first supply chain projects using the calculator. The project, conducted in Iowa, focused on soybeans, which is the crop Unilever purchases most and a critical component of the company’s Hellman’s mayonnaise. Project partners work with farmers to measure, document and demonstrate sustainability performance, while identifying opportunities to improve environmental outcomes. This work will contribute to Unilever’s corporate sustainable sourcing commitment.
“Over the last couple of years, WWF’s Field to Market involvement has taken a more strategic approach. We’re working closely with committees on metrics and verification ideas about how to set up protocols to ensure a standardized approach in capturing data, delivering on outcomes, and collecting information within grower control,” said Holley. “We need to be able to translate data that is meaningful to growers and supply chain partners. Identifying environmental impacts and measuring progress is the defining vision of Field to Market. Equally important is to make that information available to growers.”
Franklin Holley
Manager, Agricultural Commodities, Sustainable Food
WWF
“Field to Market emphasizes having well-represented and engaged members. It’s important to hear the voices of growers, industry, brands, retailers, processors, and more. Over the life of Field to Market, we’ve seen real engagement from all of these stakeholders, and continue to ensure we have diverse membership and engagement.”
Franklin Holley
Manager, Agricultural Commodities, Sustainable Food
WWF
