KANSAS CITY — Consumer demand for food and beverages to be produced more sustainably has been gaining momentum for years. Increasingly, sustainability has become a catalyst for powerful and enduring partnerships between flour millers and their suppliers and customers.

Josh Sosland, editor of Milling & Baking News.
Source: Sosland Publishing Co. 

The idea of flour millers partnering with their customers rather than just selling flour to their customers is hardly new. In addition to assurances of quality, consistency, dependability and value, millers have offered a range of solutions, ranging from risk management services to assistance with product formulation. The hope for millers is for “stickier,” less transactional relationships. Still, there have been times over the past 25 years when the partnering concept has seemed more an aspiration than a reality.

How this is changing was discussed in a recent Milling & Baking News interview with Tedd Kruse, president of ADM Milling & Baking Solutions, that followed Kruse’s election as the new president of the North American Millers’ Association.

Reflecting on a time earlier in his career at Stratas Foods, an oils and shortenings supplier, Kruse said customers in the 2010s urgently needed to partner with suppliers to navigate challenges posed by labeling rules and ultimately a ban (effective in 2021) by the Food and Drug Administration on partially hydrogenated oils. He said the experience has become a model.

“It’s what we see with sustainability and regenerative agriculture,” Kruse said in the interview. “You have the pull coming from the consumer and others with the food manufacturers saying, ‘How am I going to do it?’ You’re going to do it by partnering with an ADM, with a Bunge, with a Cargill, whoever it might be, and then you put together a whole regen program in your supply network.”

Public pledges by food companies to lower water usage and/or greenhouse gas emissions necessitate such partnerships.

ADM has publicly announced such arrangements with companies that include PepsiCo, Inc., Nestle SA, Grupo Bimbo SAB de CV and Campbell Soup Co. Ardent Mills LLC’s publicly announced partnerships include Nestle, Bimbo and Campbell Soup. Grain Craft said it has “partnered with producer groups and key customers to build a high-engagement regenerative ag program.” Others of the largest as well as regional milling companies have announced programs.

The initiatives are highly involved. Ardent Mills said it operates regenerative agriculture programs in 12 distinct geographic regions to ensure it can supply customers with flour from all wheat classes, from soft wheat from the Pacific Northwest, spring wheat from the Dakotas, hard winter from the Southwest, soft wheat from the Southeast, wheat from Canada and so on. ADM said its program has spread across 15 states, 3 provinces in Canada and into Europe.

Regenerative agriculture partnerships require a well-choreographed alignment of acreage enrollment with growers and graduated commitments with consumer packaged goods companies to purchase the flour milled from the sustainably grown grain, which requires monitoring and documentation.

Millers emphasize the need for education and focus, pointing out that CPG companies under pressure to publicly commit to sustainability goals often are not fully informed about the intricacies of the wheat supply chain. Regenerative agriculture practices vary by region, based on local conditions. The key is not whether one farming technique is employed but ensuring practices measurably enhance soil health, decrease greenhouse gas emissions and achieve other objectives tied to regenerative agriculture.

Similarly, growers need a clear path to a satisfactory return on investment before committing to changes and investments needed for regenerative farming.

Data published last year by Kearney, a management consulting firm, showed the percentage of consumers always or nearly always considering the environment when making food buying decisions climbed to 42%, up 18 points from the year before. Partnering with suppliers and customers, the milling industry is poised to play a pivotal role in helping satisfy this rising demand.