McCain Foods Limited on January 25 released its 2022 Sustainability Report, which demonstrates its priority on enhancing soil health and farming partners’ transition to more regenerative practices. Key strategic investments have enabled the growth of plant-forward product innovations. The report is reinforced by a strengthened approach aligning to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard.
As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of frozen potato specialties and a major producer of frozen appetizers, vegetables and desserts distributed to restaurants and retail stores in more than 160 countries, McCain’s continued focus on innovation in agriculture reinforces its role as a global leader in food production.
Working with farmers, the Florenceville, New Brunswick, Canada-headquartered company has accelerated regenerative agriculture ambitions by providing technical assistance and financing opportunities that can help tackle the escalating impacts of climate change on yields and crop quality.
McCain has also achieved its water-efficiency target three years ahead of schedule, made marked improvements in CO₂ emissions reductions and enhanced its usage of renewable electricity. The business has also made significant contributions to support the communities where it functions through donations and volunteering.
“Environmental and social stewardship are part of our DNA,” said McCain Foods President and CEO Max Koeune. “The escalating climate and nature crises illustrate the fragility of our global food system with wide-reaching impact on consumers, growers, the land and communities. We believe agriculture can and must be transformed to safeguard our future and we are encouraged by the progress we are seeing in our sustainability journey. While much work remains, we are determined to continue to advance on our commitments.”
Highlights of the Sustainability Report include the following:
Smart and Sustainable Farming
• In the past year, McCain launched Farm of the Future Africa, where it will test regenerative farming in a Southern Hemisphere environment. The first crop of potatoes has been planted at the farm in Lichtenburg, South Africa. McCain has also implemented its Regenerative Agriculture framework to support farmers and measure adoption of regenerative farming practices in priority regions, established financing partnerships for regenerative farming in France and Canada, achieved an 8% reduction in CO2 emissions per tonne from potato farming, storage and freight and improved water-use efficiency by 11% in water-stressed regions.
Resource-Efficient Operations
• McCain’s use of renewable electricity is now up to 18.5% of its total electricity use with absolute CO₂ emissions reduced by 6% from 2017 (Scope 1 and 2) and a 17% reduction in CO2 per tonne of product produced. Also, 98% of paper packaging and 90% of its plastic packaging is now designed for recycling.
Good Food
• In 2022, McCain developed strategic partnerships with plant-forward food producers Strong Roots and The Simple Root while strengthening its partnership with innovative vertical farm GoodLeaf. All of the company’s facilities are now GFSI-certified, there has been noted sodium reduction and artificial ingredients removed from key products and McCain has achieved 100% voluntarily implementation of Nutriscore in France, Belgium and Germany and Health Star Rating in Australia.
Thriving Communities
• Over the course of 2022, McCain donated the equivalent of 10.9 million meals to food banks and NGOs, supported more than 1,200 staff in 19 countries in providing 6,432 volunteer hours and reached 2,921 new beneficiaries through community projects and partnerships.
“We have made marked improvements through action and collaboration and will continue to embrace climatic challenges as opportunities to innovate and make meaningful change to the food system,” said Charlie Angelakos, the company’s vice president for global external affairs and sustainability.
