Results

The Food Lab was founded in 2004, and we are already seeing powerful results. One of the largest retailers in the US, for example, has tackled head on, the question of economic returns for the small scale farmers that provide them with produce from Central America (and is already spreading this work to other parts of the world where they source other product). A leading food service company has developed new integrated pest management standards for its suppliers in order to reduce pesticide use, a move that has had an immediate impact on thousands of farm workers and hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland.

Perhaps the most promising development is a Call to Action that has been endorsed by our corporate members. These businesses are individually signing the Call to Action and committing themselves through it to a process of self-assessment and continuous improvement of both procurement practices and internal operations. As leading food companies sign the Call, we expect its impact to spread through the industry, accelerating the pace of positive change.

These are just a few of our other highlights:

  • A major cities initiative will convene early next year, hosted by the city of Amsterdam. The potential for this initiative emerged in a Food Lab learning journey and meetings between Rome and New York City, and specific proposal was confirmed during the Sustainable Food Lab meeting at London City Hall, February 14, 2007. This initiative paves the way for millions of meals served daily to feature healthier and fresher food through improved contracts and specifications.
  • Responsible Fishing Alliance was publicly launched during the Economic Business Summit in Brussels on March 15, 2007
  • The Framing work has spread from the US to France, Belgium and the UK, enabling better messaging to influence policies and practices throughout the system. Experts completed research and model development in the US and France. Work is now ongoing in Belgium and the UK. Read How and Why Americans Don't Think about Food Systems or A Cross-Cultural Simplifying Model for Food Systems.
  • The Food Lab is addressing the economic viability of small and medium scale agricultural enterprises in the global food industry in a number of ways
    • Capacity Building and Market Opportunities in the Dominican Republic: A set of rural coopertatives are partnering with a major buyer to design a new and socially conscious line of products. The project amounts to a new and potentially replicable business model.
    • Developing Indicators for Poverty and Hunger: How do you know if corporate "good deeds" actually result in poverty allieviation or other benefits?? Green Mountain Coffee decided to tackle this question and found research partners to help them through their membership in the Food Lab. Field work looking at 5 supply chains in Guatemala and Mexico was completed this summer. View the report.
    • Presidential Commission of Rural Development in Guatemala: The Food Lab recieved a grant to partner with CIAT to do an assessment of a value chain that the presidential commission established. The value chain delivers chamomile for shampoo to be sold in Wal-Mart. This assessment will look at the impact on producer livelihoods, as well as the structure and performance of new systems that the presidential commission has setup as a way to reduce poverty in Guatemala.
  • Benchmarking Tool: Our Responsible Commodities Team created a Benchmarking Tool for Commodity Standards.
  • Public Food Service System in Rome, Italy: Dr. Toni Liquori of Columbia University has written a briefing paper documenting the process by which the public school food service system in Rome, Italy has achieved a remarkable transformation toward sustainability in a very short period of time.