Pipeline Foods LLC (https://www.pipelinefoods.com/), the first U.S.-based supply chain solutions company focused exclusively on non-GMO, organic, and regenerative food and feed, has announced the rollout of its corporate sustainability program, known as IMPACT. As part of the rollout, Pipeline Foods has published baseline metrics to kick off ongoing sustainability reporting.
“At Pipeline Foods, we want to elevate the organic industry by putting IMPACT at the center of all we do,” said Erin Heitkamp, senior vice president of agriculture and public affairs. “This means we are always working to influence outcomes on the issues that are most important to our stakeholders and our business, and tracking and reporting on progress we’ve made.”
The Pipeline Foods IMPACT Program aligns with the company’s core values: Sustainability, Integrity and Collaboration. In partnership with its investor partner AMERRA Capital, Pipeline Foods conducted its first materiality assessment in 2018 to identify key stakeholder environmental, social, and economic priorities and determine how to most effectively impact those key areas. Through this process, Pipeline Foods identified a broad range of relevant topics to the food and agriculture industry and to the health and well-being of society at large, and engaged with key stakeholder groups to prioritize issues material to its business.
“We believe that by focusing on sustainability, integrity and collaboration – within our business and across the whole industry – we can foster a regenerative agricultural system that’s better for farmers, food consumers, and the earth,” said Heitkamp.
Pipeline Foods considered industry-leading sustainability and reporting frameworks in building its program, including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The IMPACT Program identifies key performance indicators around 11 material issues:
- Organic Integrity
- Economic Performance & Profitability
- Traceability & Transparency
- Farmer Livelihood
- Soil Health
- Clean Label Market Growth
- Food Safety
- Occupational Health & Safety
- Financial Implications of Risk Management
- Local, Regional, or National Product Sourcing/Origination
- Regulatory Compliance
“We started Pipeline Foods as a mission-driven organization to support the growth and success of regenerative agriculture,” said Eric Jackson, founder and chairman. “Reporting on these issues is our way of ensuring that we are taking into account the topics that our stakeholders value most, and that our good work is having the greatest impact at all levels of the supply chain. We know that sharing our story – both successes and failures – with the world is imperative to fulfilling our commitments. We welcome everyone to follow our journey.”
The Pipeline Foods IMPACT Program and reporting framework were developed in alignment with the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) G4 core guidelines. A complete GRI content index is available at https://www.pipelinefoods.com/gri-standards-content-index.
For more information about Pipeline Foods’ IMPACT Program, and to see the details of and stories behind each material issue, visit: https://www.pipelinefoods.com/impact.
###
About Pipeline Foods
With headquarters in Minneapolis, Minn., Pipeline Foods is accelerating the availability and reliability of non-GMO, organic and regeneratively grown food. We bring transparent, sustainable supply chain solutions to connect the dots for our farming partners and end users of organic grains and ingredients. Find us at https://www.pipelinefoods.com/, on Twitter @PipelineFoods and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pipelinefoods/.