Noble Foods identifies its 4 sustainability focus areas

Noble Foods’ Graham Atkinson describes sustainability as “the most used word in the agriculture dictionary in recent years,” yet the word’s exact definition means different things to different people and different businesses.

Roy Graber Headshot
(Courtesy Noble Foods)
(Courtesy Noble Foods)

Noble Foods’ Graham Atkinson describes sustainability as “the most used word in the agriculture dictionary in recent years,” yet the word’s exact definition means different things to different people and different businesses.

Atkinson, who serves as Noble Foods’ agriculture director, producers, spoke of the 101-year-old U.K. egg production company’s idea of sustainability during the Poultry Partner Spotlight of the Alltech One Ideas Conference on June 22. First, he said, it was important for Noble Foods to have a more specific approach to sustainability.

“There’s no point and there’s no value in a scattergun approach to looking at sustainability, but we must accept and treat the project with an open mind,” said Atkinson. “The journey will doubtlessly change direction and have some unplanned destinations along the way, but for us, after much thought and consideration, we want to focus on four key areas.”

Those areas are:

  • Food loss: Noble Foods is examining how it can restore and recover more usable, first-class egg product into its supply chain.
  • Carbon footprint: The big question, Atkinson said, is can Noble Foods reduce the impact its feed regimes have from a carbon footprint perspective.
  • Land use: Noble Foods must reduce and replace the raw materials that dramatically impact global land use, he said.
  • Bird welfare: While this is the last of the four areas Atkinson mentioned, he said it is definitely not the one of least importance. Noble Foods intends to increase, develop and drive the welfare and fulfillment of life for its laying hens.

Atkinson acknowledged that the sustainability initiatives are still “a little bit skeletal,” but knows in order to be as successful as possible, Noble Foods must consult with key players and “bring together knowledge streams.”

“It’s essential that collaborative work is taken, through which we can then educate both internally within our own business and externally to our key partners and beyond,” he said.

Atkinson recognized Alltech as a key partner and a like-minded business with which Noble Foods is partnering.

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