The Sustainability Program is based on the premise that the very act of tracking progress will spur continuous improvement in a non-intrusive way. By establishing objective end-scores on different areas of your farm, you can track your progress year after year. No rules, just knowledge you can use however you see fit.
SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM
Our Farmers' Success Is Our Success
Sustainability helps everyone, so to us, it’s natural to help everyone do it. We are always looking at how we can champion the efforts of our growers. We genuinely value the farmers we work with and want to find ways to support their operations beyond the price we pay.
Grain Millers' Sustainability Program is a free and voluntary program that encourages our farmers to track different areas of sustainability across their entire operation (all crops, livestock, food safety, etc.). The insights they gain can help them identify and make valuable improvements year over year.
The insights we learn benefit consumers and put us on the same page with people who want to know where their food really comes from. And it’s all done without even requiring farmers to sell their grains to us. We just want to make things better.
That which gets measured, gets better.
Sustainability is a journey, not a destination.
But we have seen plenty of benefits along the way.
- High-quality grains
- Dependable and consistent supply
- Direct grower connections
- Environmentally conscious procurement
It’s the right thing to do.
Participation, knowledge, and improvements continue to rise, as these 2016 facts demonstrate.
- 76 total farms
- 188,000+ acres
- Improvement in 18/20 areas since 2013
Participating growers fill out an annual questionnaire based upon their operations. We made the questionnaire robust: Over 2,000 questions measuring 20 different areas of sustainability in 8 unique categories. But hold on—we also made it easy, employing simple yes-or-no and check-all-that-apply questions.
The questions are non-invasive, the information is kept completely confidential, and YOU decide the areas you want to focus on as you progress through the program. The aggregate data also helps Grain Millers direct our research and human resources dollars into areas where farmers need more support and education.
Eight Unique Categories
- Planning
- Record Keeping
- Environmental Protection
- Legal Compliance
- Economic Viability
- Training and Competence
- Food Safety
- General Farm Appearance
Sustainability is a
Journey.
