Sustainability Report Delivers New Insights into the Fresh Produce Industry

Sustainability Report Delivers New Insights into the Fresh Produce Industry

Melbourne, Victoria: PMA Australia-New Zealand Ltd (PMA A-NZ) have released a report into the key drivers for sustainability, sustainability frameworks, sustainability best practices and identifiers of good practice in the fresh produce industry. The scan was especially focused on what is being communicated and implemented by industry, globally. The sustainability scan captures these insights from 110 businesses globally, 77 of which were from Australia and New Zealand.

“This report provides a great opportunity for businesses in the fresh produce industry to start a conversation on sustainability by looking at how their peers are acting and communicating on the theme.” says Darren Keating, CEO PMA A-NZ. “Sustainability has always been hard to define for our members, but as it is such a focal topic for consumers there is an opportunity to harness this interest and share the many positive sustainability stories that exist in our supply chains. This report is an opportunity to learn from what others are doing, and start thinking about what your business is doing in relation to sustainability and how you can communicate this to your customers.”

The Key findings from the scan included the following:

·         43% of companies in Australia and New Zealand made a reference to sustainability on their website.

·         In Australia 20 of the 36 companies that did not refer to sustainability on their website did identify an element of sustainability (i.e. in relation to the economy, environmental and people pillars). In New Zealand the result was 9 of 13.

·         Overall, only 16 companies in Australia (30%) and 4 in New Zealand (17%) made no direct or indirect reference to sustainability.

·         Despite economic factors being internationally recognised as a key part of sustainability, there was limited evidence of it being considered as part of companies’ approaches to sustainability.

·         For the environment pillar, the most common elements of sustainability that were referred to were land, water and waste management practices.

·         For the social pillar, food safety and quality were the most frequently referred to element, and was also the most common aspect of sustainability referred to across all companies.

·         Of the 77 companies assessed in Australia and New Zealand, four had standalone sustainability reports and one had clear evidence of where sustainability was presented in an integrated report.

 

A number of companies included in the scan illustrated elements of leading practice with respect to

how they communicated and implemented sustainability. Key elements of leading practice identified in

the scan were:

 

1. Communicating a clear commitment to sustainability;

2. Alignment to international frameworks;

3. Communicating the process;

4. Supply chain integration;

5. Data collection;

6. Benchmarking; and

7. Reporting.

 

For more information on the report, visit https://www.pma.com/global-pma/anz/news/2020/sustainability-in-fresh-produce-scan-report or email PMA A-NZ Sustainability Manager, Hannah White – h.white@pma-anz.com.

 

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About PMA A-NZ: PMA Australia & New Zealand is Australia’s largest industry association for fresh produce. Based in Melbourne, Victoria, PMA A-NZ serves members in both countries by connecting members with the ideas and people that make their problems smaller and opportunities bigger, through industry events, networking, research and resources