"We are excited to release the Pilgrim's 2016 Sustainability Report. The report is our most comprehensive effort to date to not only share our performance and what we do, but to provide details on how we do things and why we believe our approach aligns with your values as a customer, parent, consumer, shareholder, and stakeholder," said Pilgrim's CEO Bill Lovette.
The 2016 report details the company’s sustainability progress in the areas of team member health and safety, food safety, animal health and welfare, family farm partnerships, and environmental performance.
“Pilgrim's approach to sustainability encompasses both immediate and long-term performance goals to grow our business by satisfying the needs of today's consumers, ensure the efficient and appropriate management of resources, and improve the lives of Pilgrim's team members, family farm partners and the communities in which the company and its team members live and operate,” according to a company statement.
Areas of progress outlined in the 2016 report include:
- Team Member Health & Safety: Outperformed industry average in Total Recordable Incident Rates (TRIR) and Days Away, Restrictions, and Transfers (DART) rate;
- Environment: Outperformed eight out of nine 2015 targets, reducing energy use by 28 percent, greenhouse gas emissions by 33 percent, and water use by 34 percent;
- Animal Health and Welfare: 100 percent of team members and family farm partners trained in accordance with the Pilgrim's Animal Welfare Program, eliminated the use of antibiotics critically important to human medicine for disease prevention;
- Family Farm Partners: Compensated the more than 4,000 Pilgrim's family farm partners $6.39 million to raise Pilgrim's birds;
- Communities: Contributed $500,000 over five years to USPOULTRY Foundation to advance research in poultry production.
"We are confident that our progress to date, coupled with our ambitious goals for 2020, will continue to position Pilgrim's as a global industry leader in the production of high-quality, sustainable chicken products," Lovette said
The sustainability goals for 2020 include:
- Animal Health and Welfare: Achieve a combined score of 92.5 percent on the Pilgrim's Animal Health and Welfare Scorecard across all complexes, convert 25 percent of production to antibiotic-free by 2018, and maintain prohibition of the use of antibiotics critically important to human medicine;
- Family Farm Partners: Create expanded economic opportunities for family farm partners in on-trend markets including organic, vegetarian-fed and antibiotic-free;
- Team Member Health & Safety: Reduce Severe Incidents by 15 percent year over year;
- Product Integrity: Fully implement Pilgrim's Supplier Code of Business Ethics and Conduct;
- Water Use: Reduce water use intensity by 10 percent;
- Energy Use: Reduce natural gas use by 14 percent and electricity use by 12 percent;
- Climate Change: Reduce greenhouse gas emission intensity by 14 percent.
"At Pilgrim's, our unified team believes we are more than just a provider of great-tasting products. We believe in doing things the right way and holding ourselves to a standard that our customers, consumers, partners and shareholders can take pride in,” Lovette said.
The 2016 Pilgrim's Sustainability Report is available online at http://sustainability.pilgrims.com/.
