Food production and the environment have an intricate relationship. Should nature falter one day, food will go also.
Agro-industrial and food conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Foods now puts its soul and brain power into ensuring sustainable production for the ever-growing population and changing environment.
"In our everyday life, food and energy matter to us. Food, especially, is essential. Without it, we can't survive. That means we have to safeguard our food, and to do that we have to safeguard the environment," said Wuthichai Sithipreedanant, senior vice president of CSR and Sustainable Development at CPF.
Over the years, CPF has been working to reduce the costs associated with its operations by reducing its consumption of water, energy and fuel. But it was doing this without realising the efforts were also benefiting nature. It started simply with changing light bulbs and later developed into installing solar panels.
From a small start, the company has integrated environmentally-friendly conduct into several aspects of its operation, including farming, sourcing supplies and the final food products that reach the consumer. It operates on what Wuthichai termed the three pillars of sustainability: secured food supply, self-reliant society, and earth, water, and forest preservation.
The process begins with careful selection and auditing of its supply chain so that all suppliers are aware of and ready to observe the same environmental concerns and policies adopted by CPF.
Zero waste is possible if a company really put its mind to the task. At CPF's swine farms, animal manure -- previously viewed as pollution-creating waste -- is now used to generate biogas for the factory. This, in turn, reduces the cost of energy while also getting rid of waste. According to its Sustainability Report 2017, this biogas has reduced the need to buy electricity by 53%.
By 2020, the company aims to further reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 15%, as well as reducing water consumption by 25%.
Wuthichai Sithipreedanant, Senior Vice President of CSR and Sustainable Development of CPF
Innovation can also play a role. CPF now utilises innovative animal feed to reduce nitrogen emissions in swine manure. This helps the carbon situation. Opting for a new kind of animal feed has reduced nitrogen emissions in the form of ammonia by 25,000 tonnes a year, according to Wuthichai.
"Our innovation aims to help with sustainability. To achieve our goal, we have to see how we're going to take care of our society, the environment and the economy.
Now we're moving the company ahead with our innovations leading the way."
"These new ideas could cause concern at the beginning, and may be complicated in practice but if we give them a try, arrange training, and lay down well-designed systems, we can increase our own production potential," he insisted.
The company now plans to reduce the use of plastic in packaging by continuing to seek alternative materials and finding ways to reuse and recycle their own packaging. Reusable containers are already adopted in current storage and transport instead of disposable plastics.
Food waste is another area the company plans to minimise. Wuthichai said food on shelves that is approaching its expiry date could be given to those in need instead of being thrown away.
"The sustainability of the world depends on the behaviours of everyone consuming the resources. We have to know the resources' values and realise what should or shouldn't be used. What can be shared should be shared. This will make the world a happier place. If we only think of ourselves, in the end we won't be able to survive. Our families, too. The world could go to war fighting for resources. Everyone will be unhappy. Not just humans but also animals. We tend to overlook
them but we have to co-exist because they're apart ofthe ecosystem and our environment," Wuthichai said.
"Circular economy is a new way of making the most of the resources we have," he continued. "The number of people on the planet never decreases but we can't match consumption to it because the planet itself stays the same size. When that limit is reached, how are we going to live?"
"The world is beginning to tell us already that it has had enough. Symptoms are showing. So circular economy is essential. From households to corporates, we have to figure out what we're going to do to make the best use of the available resources in order to be sustainable. This is essential for all of us."
As a follow-up process, CPF has organised reforestation and rehabilitation of existing forest watersheds. The company has grown 400,000 rai of trees to rehabilitee Phraya Dern Thong forest in Lop Buri province, replanting 6,000 rai there as part of a five-year project. The company also has a mangroves reforestation project where the mangrove it plants have a 70% survival rate thanks to careful monitoring and a certain type of breakwater that it constructs to prevent coastal erosion and stop trash destroying the growing forest.
