meatco namibia

© Bios Partners 2008

The Ethical Consumerism Agenda

Steve Homer


Don't Panic ! ....

• 25 years in agriculture and horticulture

• Flamingo Holdings CSR manager

• Former Ethical Trading Initiative Board Member

• Former GlobalGap Board of Directors and flower technical committee chair

• CMI Agri-Certification Governing Board Member

• Board member NPTC vocational training and testing for the UK and based sector

DFID/Chatham House Procurement Forum

IIED/NRI Trends in private Agri-food standards

B&M Gates Foundation New Business Models

Unilever standards benchmarking consultancy

UNIDO – Trade standards compliance reporting

World Bank – Standards consultancy

GFSI – Standards benchmarking consultancy

WTO STDF – Private standards briefing

Meatco Namibia – EU supermarket entry requirements

DFID/Chatham House Procurement Forum

IIED/NRI Trends in private Agri-food standards

B&M Gates Foundation New Business Models

Unilever standards benchmarking consultancy

UNIDO – Trade standards compliance reporting

World Bank – Standards consultancy

GFSI – Standards benchmarking consultancy

WTO STDF – Private standards briefing

Meatco Namibia – EU supermarket entry requirements


“Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

World Commission on Environment and Development Brundtland Report 1987...

Ethical Consumerism 2009


People, Planet, Profit – Definitions ...

• "People" (human capital) pertains to fair and beneficial business practices toward labour and the community and region in which a corporation conducts its business

• Planet" (natural capital) refers to sustainable environmental practices

• "Profit" is the economic benefit or value created by the organisation for the host society after deducting the cost of all inputs, including the cost of the capital tied up.


Animal Welfare

CIWF

Freedom Food

Good Agricultural

Practice

Globalgap

Good Manufacturing

Practice

HACCPISO 9001

Integrity

Social & Ethical

ETI

SA8000

Environmental

ISO 14001

Carbon

Water

Climate

Business Equity

Fair Trade

‘Provenance’

Ten years of standards


Campaigns & Media

• “Write to your local supermarket asking them to put pressure on Kenyan flower growers to improve conditions.”

• Marie Claire Magazine


Drivers - Campaigns & media…

• “To you it is a bag of salad, dropped into the supermarket trolley with the weekly groceries”

• “The world is running out of water and British supermarket shoppers are contributing to global drought”

• The Independent


John Vidal guardian.co.uk, 3 September 2009

And then there is the .... “AFRICA” Drought

• “One of the main water sources outside Moyale in Kenya runs dry”

Food prices have doubled across Kenya. A 20-litre jerry can of poor quality water has quadrupled in price. Big game is dying in large numbers in national parks, and electricity has had to be rationed, affecting petrol and food supplies.

For the first time in generations there are cows on the streets of Nairobi as nomads like Isaac come to the suburbs with their herds to feed on the verges of roads. Violence has increased around the country as people go hungry.


Animal Welfare - as a marketing tool

• “We place as much emphasis on the importance of humane treatment and quality of life for all animals as we do on the expectations for quality and flavor.”

• Everything that is alive is going to die someday (even you). What matters is the quality of life while something is alive. The fact that food animals are going to eventually die to feed humans doesn't mean that the quality of their lives is therefore irrelevant and should be ignored

Whole Foods’ CEO John Mackey


Animal welfare rating is proliferating


The Public View …

• 71% of UK consumers believe that companies should ensure good working conditions and fair treatment for their workers regardless of whether the law requires it.

• A survey among Norwegian Consumers showed 80% claimed to be willing to pay more for meat if it would help animals having a good life.

• Natures Reserve has these attributes

Mori’s Annual Corporate Social Responsibility Survey

Animal welfare as a food qualityAttribute paper to IRSA World congress, Working Group 30


The cost of getting it wrong

• The nation's top food manufacturers and restaurant chains have been recently boosting their ``no U.S. beef'' policy extensively to minimize damage from the rapidly deteriorating public sentiment against meat imports from the United States. Korea Times June 2008

A recent poll found that 87% of Korean housewives believe American meat is "unsafe." Koreans not only want to protect their local farmers, they are also justifiably concerned about the safety of U.S. meat, especially when it comes to BSE or Mad Cow Disease

Global Policy Forum April 2008


The internet exposes everything

• Washington has repeatedly criticized Japan for its tough import restrictions, which authorities say have no scientific basis.

TOKYO, Oct. 10, 2009


The public Vs private standards dilemma

• Food Safety Dispute (SPS)• Science based arguments• National bodies• Public governance rules• WTO based appeals

• Largely invisible to EU consumers


Monday, 1 June 2009 Greenpeace Website

“A three-year, undercover investigation by Greenpeace into Brazil’s booming cattle industry has exposed links between some of Britain’s biggest brands and the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Cattle ranching in the Amazon region is now the single biggest cause of deforestation in the world, and the expansion of this industry is being driven by the global export market”

Another Issue Looms


The drivers and issues move fast…

• Exclusion from EU market ?– Phytosanitary– Public Regulation– Nation States– Science based– Invisible to consumers– WTO arbitration

• Barrier to return 1 year later ?– Environmental– Unregulated– Private Entities– Allegation Based– Visible to consumers– Arbitration by ??????


Summary – The public debate

• The sustainability debate is now very B2C with a “viral media” and less B2B driven

• The drivers themselves are more subjective and less scientifically driven

The gatekeeper criteria controlling market entry to the global retailer and manufacturer brands are not radically changing in food safety but

are expanding quickly into provenance or credence issues.


Summary – The corporate debate

• Development is emerging as a mitigation for climate change– Air Freight– Food Miles– Corporate Profit– Food security (emerging)

• Balanced against– Equitable Trade– Improved Livelihoods– Responsible farming and land use

How do you measure Good for development ?


So how is Meatco shaping up ??

ECO ? – working in partnership with the country

– Farmers I visited talked about “STEWARDSHIP OF THE LAND”

– Sharing the assets of the land with eco-tourism and communities

– Helping to manage bush encroachment to maintain pasture for all

– Wind and solar powered pumps to bring up underground water



SOCIAL ? – sharing the benefits of success

– Ekwatho – helping emerging farmers to grow into commercial farmers

– Schools, community projects - helping local people with issues

– The foundation will bring a central focus to Meatco CSR activities

– Meatco workers earn good wages and have fair working conditions



Sustainability and Climate Change

• Aeon is planning to release several products with the Japan CFP label this year. In order to use this label, enterprises are required to calculate the carbon footprint of a product

• “While Japanese consumers at present do not associate beef with environmental issues, once emissions labeling starts to gain momentum, some might start to develop a less favourable view”

• MLA Meat & Livestock Australia Oct 2009


Summary

• Premium global markets are open to world class companies like Meatco. – provided they can maintain and demonstrate : – Social – Fairness– Environmental– Animal Welfare– Ethical consumerism

• All independently validated, constantly improved and annually reported


Thank you ….

meatco namibia

Documents

food animals

quality of life

poor quality water

food supplies

supermarket trolley

local supermarket

beneficial business

dry food prices