Climate crises, a global pandemic, and rising inflation are now table stakes for businesses. Vitasoy Australia MD David Tyack explains how the company has embedded its mantra “Let’s Grow a Better World” into all its operations.
As a business operating in today’s climate, we have wanted to better understand how the concept and importance of corporate responsibility has shifted over the years.
Internally, we have often noted or assumed that Australians’ expectations have evolved, demanding greater earnestness from large corporations in the sustainability space.
This has been one of many factors in influencing the shift towards our new business platform of “Let’s Grow a Better World”, something that we feel quite passionate about.
To further validate this platform and demonstrate its strength both socially and financially, we decided to find out exactly what Australians were thinking through a research survey.
Consumers want brands to do more
Our YouGov survey, accounting for a representative sample of 1038 Australian adults aged 18+, proved that corporate sustainability is not only important to consumers but is strongly influencing their purchasing decisions.
We found that seven in ten (69 per cent) Australians purposefully seek out brands or products that focus on sustainability, with one in five (18 per cent) saying that they always purchase the version of a product that is made sustainably.
However, less than a third (32 per cent) of Australians currently believe that manufacturers of grocery items are doing enough to be sustainable, revealing a high level of dissatisfaction among consumers.
This dissatisfaction is set to grow with Gen Z believing that manufacturers are not doing enough to be sustainable more than any other generation (52 per cent).
These findings not only provoked thought of what this means for Vitasoy, but also more broadly for the food and beverage manufacturing industry.
Futureproofing Australian farms
Vitasoy Australia employs an “Australian first” sourcing strategy for all the nuts, grains, and beans used to make our range of soy, almond, oat, and rice milk.
Consequently, we are tightly connected with regional farmers throughout Australia and therefore need to consider how we can play a role in giving Australians access to healthier, nutrient dense food.
We have experienced first-hand that sourcing local ingredients presents a host of advantages, but it also demands contingency planning for unforeseen circumstances.
When Australia was experiencing severe drought in 2019, for example, Vitasoy Australia had several soybean crops compromised forcing us to go far and wide for a short period to be able to deliver product to the marketplace. We were fortunate to be able to rebound and recover from this due to having a strong and localised supply chain from farmers across New South Wales, Victoria, and southern Queensland.
However, it has highlighted resilient landscapes as being important to everyone, not just a plant milk brand. This is especially true in a country where – in many parts – more water evaporates from the land than the annual average rainfall.
Commitment to growing a better world
As a leader in developing sustainable, plant-based foods, we have a vested interest in ensuring sustainable farming and land management practices become the norm.
Anchoring our commitment in and around the catch cry of “Let’s Grow a Better World” has been terrific in driving awareness and buy-in across all levels of our business.
Often goals, values, and objectives within a business can be easily forgotten or feel quite convoluted. This simple approach has been great in unifying our position with the mantra moving beyond an end frame in a TV commercial to being our manifesto.
This mindset has shone a light on our intent and desire to develop more sustainable practices and look at how we can improve nutrition, reduce sugar levels, reduce fats, and use less energy and water. It truly drives total business decisions within the company from top to bottom.
We are no longer satisfied with doing only the bare minimum required when it comes to a more sustainable approach to manufacturing, and instead see being a key leader as a competitive advantage.
Words into actions
Playing that key lead role is incredibly important to us, so we are always looking for ways to be leaner, greener and tread light on the environment and then anchoring them in our
whole business strategy.
We are not only looking to develop the right products but want to ensure we are developing the right products in the right way.
This has translated to policies and initiatives across the key sustainability pillars from economic to environmental and social.
Economically, this is evidenced by our 100 per cent commitment to the manufacturing of plant-based products with a relatively lower environmental footprint compared to their animal-based counterparts.
Environmentally, this has most recently been realised through our partnership with the Mulloon Institute, which aims to shine a light on how Australian land can become more resilient to climate extremes.
Working with partners to create resilient farmland
The Mulloon Institute is a not for profit, research, education, and advocacy organisation, thatis recognised globally as a demonstrator of sustainable agriculture and environmental regeneration.
Their work demonstrates innovative land management approaches that create healthier landscapes with more resilience to climatic extremes. By supporting transformational change in the way landscapes are managed, the institute’s work benefits Australia’s farmers and communities and ultimately our planet.
In committing to growing a ‘better world’ through sustainable investments, we have pledged $1.25 million overthe next five years to help rehydrate Australian catchments through the work ofthe Mulloon Institute.
This pledge will work to restore thousands of hectares of land.
In effort to protect and future proof our Australian farms, we encourage all food companies to make similar pledges and commitments.
This story first appeared in the August issue of Food & Drink Business magazine.
