Company’s scale is adding momentum to positive change
Perdue Farms released its Fiscal Year 2018 Company Stewardship Report, demonstrating how the company is using its scale to add momentum to positive change in how animals are raised for food and increasing consumer choice while reducing environmental impact, improving associate health and wellness and supporting its communities and business partners.
“Sustainability, for us, is more than efficiency, and its measure goes beyond producing more with less,” said Chairman Jim Perdue. “We strive to align our practices with the values of our stakeholders, and, in doing so, act with responsibility. Our sustainable business model is one that makes choices affordable.”
Challenging the status quo in animal agriculture
The company continued to challenge the status quo in animal agriculture by completing the conversion of all of its branded consumer products to no antibiotics ever, and with changes in animal care that helped it achieve “Tier Two” ranking – the second highest – in the global 2017 Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare.
Those changes included giving chickens more space and brighter light, studying enrichments and alternative breeds to improve welfare, and achieving American Humane Association certification and 100-percent crate-free production for its COLEMAN NATURAL® pork products.
“We can let our scale be a mass that resists change, or we can lead by listening to our stakeholders and let our scale add momentum to positive change,” said CEO Randy Day. “We saw that with our leadership in moving away from antibiotics. Our Commitments to Animal Care have accelerated a movement in animal agriculture to better provide for the welfare of the animals in our care.”
Expanding onsite primary care with zero copay
Perdue expanded its award-winning associate health program by eliminating co-pays for associates at 16 Wellness Centers that provide access to primary care through on-location doctor’s offices.
Reducing greenhouse gases, water use and solid waste
Perdue moved into its new fiscal year with a commitment to aggressive environmental sustainability goals. By 2022, Perdue is committed to reducing greenhouse gases by 30 percent, potable-water use by 25 percent and diverting at least 90 percent of its solid waste from landfills with at least five facilities certified zero solid waste.
The report is available at www.responsiblefoodandagriculture.comas both webpage highlights and a 68-page document – the company’s most comprehensive accounting to date. The report covers the period April 2017 through March 2018.
About Perdue Farms:
We’re a fourth-generation, family owned, U.S. food and agriculture company. Through our belief in responsible food and agriculture, we are empowering consumers, customers and farmers through trusted choices in products and services.
The PERDUE® brand is the number-one brand of fresh chicken in the U.S., we’re the largest producer of organic chicken in the U.S., and Perdue AgriBusiness is an international agricultural products and services company. As we approach our 100th anniversary in 2020, our path forward is about getting better, not just bigger. We never use drugs for growth promotion in raising poultry and livestock, and we are actively advancing our animal welfare programs. Our brands are leaders in no-antibiotics-ever chicken, turkey and pork, and in USDA-certified organic chicken. Learn more at www.perduefarms.com.
Source: Perdue Farms