OREANDA-NEWS. By 2050, there will be 5 billion people in Asia and the Pacific. As the region’s economies advance and people become more affluent, diets change and consumers become more sophisticated and concerned about what they put on their plate. This places increasing pressure on the food industry to ensure that this generation has access to safe, nutritious and affordable food without compromising the needs of future generations. As an industry leader, Cargill believes that companies have a fundamental responsibility to address the social and environmental impact of doing business.

On October 9, Cargill is hosting an event – Supply Chain Matters 2015 (www.responsiblesupplychains.com) – to address the importance of sustainability across the food and agriculture supply chains, the challenges businesses are facing to integrate sustainability into their business agendas and the opportunities ahead in the Asia Pacific region. Singapore Minister of Trade & Industry (Trade) Lim Hng Kiang and Cargill Chairman & CEO Dave MacLennan will open the session with keynote speeches, followed by a panel discussion hosted by leading industry leaders. Panel members include MacLennan, Olam Co-Founder, Group MD & CEO Sunny Verghese, NTUC Fairprice Co-operative CEO (Singapore) Seah Kian Peng and WWF SVP (Sustainable Food) David McLaughlin. The panel discussion will be moderated by NTU Senior Fellow (Food security) Professor Paul Teng.

Participants range from business entrepreneurs in Asia, corporate business leaders, government officials and non-government organizations. “We wanted to bring together stakeholders across the food and agriculture supply chains, including our peers and our customers. We all play a crucial part in the value chain and need to work together if we are going to be successful,” said MacLennan.

In 2015, Cargill began developing a new sustainability roadmap for Cargill, focusing on four specific areas where we believe we can make a strong and positive impact. These four areas are land use (including deforestation), water use, climate change and farmer livelihoods. 

Cargill works closely with its customers and partners to ensure the sustainability journey is factored into the business. Dhaval Buch, Chief Procurement Officer at Unilever, which is a close customer and partner of Cargill said: "Sustainability is at the center of our business agenda. One of the reasons we have made so much progress in sustainability is because we work with partners like Cargill, who share similar intent, who have similar ambitions, and who have similar capabilities across a wider spectrum of the supply chain."

MacLennan said: “We are in a unique position thanks to our 150 years of experience and leadership in food and agriculture, our breadth of solutions and services, and our ability to take a long term view of the industry to ensure that our customers continue to grow and succeed alongside us for the next 150 years.”