Environment

Our Goals

As part of Our Food Journey™, we’re committed to continuous improvement. We have set 20 qualitative and quantitative goals to achieve by the end of 2030 to make the world a better place. Our new goals follow our previous set of sustainability goals in which we achieved significant reductions in our packaging, nonrenewable energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water use and solid waste sent to landfills. In addition to our new goals, each year we aim to achieve a 1 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, energy use and solid waste sent to landfills, and a 2 percent reduction in water use. We also aim to achieve a achieve annual efficiency gains of 1 percent in energy and water use. To learn more about our new goal set, please see our 20 By 30 Challenge.

Sustainable Agriculture

Hormel Foods recognizes the critical role that sustainable agricultural practices play in meeting the world’s food demands while protecting our natural resources. That’s why we have developed a Sustainable Agriculture Policy that applies to our direct suppliers, including our family farms and growers.

In calendar year 2017, we completed a comprehensive risk assessment of our company-owned operations and a high-level water risk assessment of our largest direct suppliers. The assessments were completed in partnership with a third-party sustainability consultant, Antea Group. Additional information about the assessment, analysis and our next steps will be provided in our corporate responsibility report.

Environmental Management System

We use a companywide, web-based environmental management system to track and monitor our progress toward meeting environmental requirements. This system includes compliance calendars, environmental policy and program information, training materials and formal internal environmental auditing protocols.

Knowledge Sharing and Training

To continually improve our practices and achieve our environmental goals, we look for ways to enhance internal information sharing.

For example, monthly conference calls with plant engineering and environmental staff facilitate ongoing conversations about environmental programs and sustainability issues.

We hold a biennial companywide environmental conference to discuss environmental compliance programs, sustainability initiatives and encourage knowledge sharing among environmental representatives throughout the company. In addition, annual environmental training covers key program areas such as storm water, wastewater and the proper handling and transportation of regulated materials.