Agricultural News
McDonalds Proud to be a Part of Continuous Improvement in Sustainability in the Beef Value Chain
Fri, 03 Jan 2020 12:29:02 CST
Townsend Bailey is the Director of Sustainability for McDonald's in North America, and he's also a member of the Board of Directors for the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef.
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays sat down with Bailey to talk about why it's so important for McDonald's to be a player at the table of improving the sustainability story for all segments of the beef industry, "Beef is one of our iconic products, and we're a proud hamburger company, and we're committed to working with the beef industry. Also, our customers want to know the brands that they support share their values. So one way that we can demonstrate that is by working with the beef industry, and to support continuous improvement on sustainability topics. We know that it's not going to be anyone, no single one player is going to address these shared topics of concern, whether it's climate change, water, animal welfare. It's going to require all of us, and that's why efforts like the roundtable are so important to make sure that multiple views throughout the entire value chain are represented at the table as we kind of plot the path forward."
Bailey goes onto say that he's encouraged and positive about the way the process is progressing, "I couldn't be more optimistic about it. I'm so proud of the work of the roundtable and what they've done. The diverse perspectives that come together challenge one another, the trust that's been built there between the different value chain sectors. You know we don't always see eye to eye, with diverse perspectives, but that's what makes the work even better, that creative tension. So publishing the U.S. beef industry sustainability framework, and all the content that's got, and resources that's got for restaurants, and every sector of the value chain is so important. Then just recognizing the complexity of the agricultural system. There's no silver bullet, there's no single one solution, and that's why frameworks and tools that have that kind of flexibility are so important."
Bailey says in looking at the framework report, they will have to see how it's going to play out, "I think there's still a lot to be seen there in terms of how it's going to play out. I think that's the value of the framework. It provides a lot of opportunity for innovation. One thing that the U.S. roundtable has done is gotten the recognition framework that kind of provides an opportunity to benchmark and validate that companies involved are aligned with the framework, so that's one way they can kind of invite participation with it. We're creating self-assessment tools. We recognize projects that are aligned, so there's a lot of innovation going on throughout the whole value chain. We're trying to figure out how do we continue to encourage all of that."
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear the complete interview with Townsend Bailey as he talks With Ron Hays.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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