TxN 20 Industry Highlights — Food, Beverage, and Grocery
Leave a Comment2022 TxN 20: Texan-led leadership in conservation for a sustainable future in Food, Beverage, and Grocery.
The Texan by Nature team is excited to present the fourth annual list of Texan by Nature 20 (TxN 20) Honorees. TxN 20 recognizes outstanding work in conservation and sustainability from Texas-based businesses.
It’s an opportunity to showcase innovation, commitment to conservation, and best practices from the industries that keep Texas running: Agriculture, Architecture, Financial Services, Food, Beverage, & Grocery, Technology, Energy, Healthcare, Municipal Services, Retail, Transportation, and Construction & Manufacturing.
Meet the 2022 TxN 20 Honorees leading sustainability in the Food, Beverage, and Grocery industry: Sysco and Farmer Brothers.
$2.5 million to Sustainable Grazing and Wildlife Habitat – 2022 Honoree Sysco
Who is Sysco?
Sysco is the global leader in selling, marketing, and distributing food and non-food products to restaurants, healthcare, and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers around the world.
How does Sysco set the standard?
Sysco launched a Volunteer Hours Tool for associates to enter their volunteer hours. Associates are tracking volunteer hours to achieve the Global Good Goal of providing $500 Million for Global Good by 2025. Sysco teamed up with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and Cargill to award $2.5 million to 10 projects to invest in community-led sustainable grazing practices and wildlife habitat to ranchers in support of implementing the largest sustainable grazing effort in the Southern Great Plains, one of America’s most important beef-producing regions. Sysco identified and implemented water-saving opportunities such as recycling water from vehicle washing stations and using rainwater for landscaping at their offices, resulting in over 2.5 billion gallons of water conserved in agriculture.
77% of waste diverted from landfill in 2021 — 2022 Honoree Farmer Brothers
Who is Farmer Brothers?
For over a century, the Farmer Brothers company has built their business on providing extraordinary products at incomparable value to coffee-minded food service operators all across the country. From helping growers use sustainable farming methods at origin, through their supply chain, and eliminating waste in facilities; Farmer Brothers ensures sustainability is at the core of every decision they make.
How does Farmer Brothers set the standard?
Farmer Brothers donated over 42K worth of coffee and culinary products to local food banks and community organizations across the country in partnership with Feeding America. Farmer Brothers has also achieved a near 23% reduction in fuel use through reducing truck transportation with a new distribution center. These and other fleet innovations lead to savings of approximately 50,000 gallons of fuel per year, which is equivalent to 96 vehicles, 1,075 oil barrels and 69 homes. By performing waste audits at production facilities, working with local organizations to donate food, and up-cycling goods like coffee burlap and more, 77% of Farmer Brothers’ waste was diverted from landfills in 2021.
Why Forward Thinking Leaders in Food, Beverage, and Grocery Matters:
Food and beverages like coffee are essential to our daily lives, but they can also be resource-intensive. Reducing energy and water intensity to make the same delicious products that fuel us is vital to maintaining quality of life in the future. With 45% of Texas’ water supply expected to be supplied by conservation and water reuse, it is good business to follow the environmentally sustainable models exemplified by Sysco and Farmer Brothers in the production of Food, Beverages, and Groceries.
How TxN20 Honorees Are Selected Each Year
To select the 2022 TxN 20 Honorees, the TxN Team evaluated submissions and conducted independent research across 2,000+ of Texas’ publicly traded and private companies in 12 key industry sectors.
All companies were evaluated on a 17-point scoring system, from which the top 60 highest-scoring companies moved on to the final round of TxN 20. A selection committee of top industry leaders and experts was then formed to evaluate the top 60 companies and select the final 20 businesses recognized as TxN 20 Honorees.
Honorable Mentions: Standouts in Sustainability
In addition to this year’s TxN 20 honorees, here are three industry standouts for best practices in conservation and sustainability coming from companies across the agriculture industry.
Industry Innovator: Aldi
Aldi is a leader in sustainable practices in the food industry. Aldi purchases green electricity that covers 100% of its energy consumption. Additionally, Aldi prioritizes reducing plastics, packaging, and waste throughout their stores. Aldi reduced more than 62% of AlDI-exclusive packaging, shifted 19k tons of packaging to recyclable materials, and diverted 74% of operational waste.
Industry Innovator: Tetrapak
Tetrapak promotes sustainability throughout their company. Their notable efforts include their circular recycling design through which they recycle and reuse their cartons into new raw material and products. Additionally, Tetrapack’s “Tetra Rex Plant-based” packaging is their carbon-neutral label to reduce carbon emissions in their company.
Industry Innovator: General Mills
General Mills is a leader in sustainability as they align their business practices with the UN SDG goals. General Mills’ unique practices include prioritizing regenerative agriculture on 115k acres of land. The company has also shown water stewardship by working to diffuse risks in priority watersheds across their global supply chain. General Mills has 3 active plans in place with the goal of 10 priority watersheds by 2025.
Get Involved:
Is your company at the forefront of sustainability in Texas? Share your work with Texan by Nature by submitting Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) data that showcases how your company benefits people, prosperity, and natural resources to programs@texanbynature.org.
To be considered for the official TxN 20 list, companies must:
- Have operations and employees based in Texas;
- Share a demonstrated commitment to conservation & sustainability;
- Showcase tangible efforts, impact, and data in conservation;
- NOT be a conservation-based nonprofit (501c3).