We recently attended the Net Impact Conference in Portland, Oregon, a collaboration of people and companies who do social and environmental good. We were there on the tradeshow floor to discuss our social responsibility efforts and the launch of www.smithfieldcommitments.com with attendees. It was a great forum to engage in these conversations because those visiting our booth were intrigued by our attendance, but skeptical about our modern farming practices. After learning we had CSR in place, some attendees better understood our commitments and even stated in a conference survey that “given the chance, would change my consumption behavior in favor of this company.”
In addition, our CSO Dennis Treacy was on the panel for a session entitled “Feeding the World by 2050 through Sustainable Intensification.” The panelists spoke at length about the future of food production given the demands of a rapidly growing population, how business and government are addressing food security challenges, and what opportunities exist to meet these challenges while also “greening” companies’ operations.
Projections indicate the population is likely to grow to over 9 billion in the next 40 years, so the topic of sustainable intensification is a growing concern among producers—how to feed the growing population while reducing agriculture’s environmental footprint. Smithfield provided a “very interesting perspective” said one attendee in a session evaluation. Another stated “all speakers had really enlightening insights into potential solutions and innovative thinking in the field, from large scale corporations to the WWF.”
We had a great time in Portland and fully enjoyed the opportunity to participate in a conference that brings together people whose values are so close to ours. It was a great success and we hope to sponsor and attend next year.
