Agricultural & Sustainability

- Agricultural | Sustainability Policy and Statement -

Collaboration & Partnerships

At Nature’s Mills, the teams understand advantage of having the right collaboration and partnerships to know and how our food ingredients are processed, produced, throughout the food cycle (agriculture systems) that make it possible to reach the end-user with better-for-you products. We believe small farmers and small supply-chain operators are the frontline of our food cycle system they are the ones driving the movement towards regenerative agriculture process and process adaptation to deliver healthier goods and services. So we’re partnering directly with these like-minded farmers and supply-chain operators by offering incentives that support and encourage regenerative practices, sustainability business practices and organic farming initiatives through The NATURE’S MILLLS FOUNDATION.

Through the foundation and the NMs brand team their goal is to establish relationships directly with small farmers, farming communities and small supply-chain operators to keep it going throughout the food cycle system in order to reach our urban, rural and suburban communities to provide better-for-you foods and ingredients - starting with the land and reaching the plate. (At Home and Away from Home, segments)

We actively seek farmers who use regenerative farming practices, sustainability business practices and organic farming initiatives along with agroforestry, intercropping and composting, which help improve soil health and protect biodiversity.

Farming and Supplier Diversity

We know diversity is the key to a healthier lifestyle and a healthier planet, to gain a more resilient planet and healthful community. By changing the type of foods that we harvest and eat, we can help create demand for greater crop diversity and better-for-you offerings to gain a positive change. Of course diversity is more than what we produce and how it’s produce it is also apply to diversification and inclusion among our farming community -- increasing our minority small family farmers, suppliers, distributors to gain access, participation and contribution within the entire food cycle system. (Up and Downstream) We realize that we have so much to do and learn – to increase equal participation and contribution throughout the food cycle, from growing, harvesting . . . up to and including the customer and consumer purchasing.

The business is excited to participate and contribute in this journey, to create real change throughout the food cycle. We encourage you to join the movement | learning and projects how to eat healthier; where how our food is produced and processed; and what we can all do to create a healthier planet through this process as part of the collaboration with The NATURE’S MILLS FOUNDATION's Acre-to-Plate Initiative.

Through the foundation and the NMs brand team we are working to increase participation | contribution and ensure the livelihoods of our minority farmers will need to play an important part to deliver diversity within the entire food cycle; our businesses and the industry ought to rely more upon minority family farmers, supply-chain operators participation and contribution. In fact, many minority family farmers continue to declined as contributors to the global food cycle despite the increase in minority food spending and consumption, at Home or Away from Home.

Regenerative Agriculture

Nature’s Mills is committed to supporting regenerative and organic agriculture initiatives. The NATURE’S MILLS Foundation and the Brand Team is committed to working with educating, mentoring, and sourcing from farmers and suppliers who use regenerative agricultural practices that are designed to improve soil, water retention and biodiversity.

Agricultural Policy

Opportunity

Efficient agricultural and farm policies encourage open markets, allowing farmers to make decisions based on supply and demand, and permitting food to be traded freely across borders to reach those who need it in urban, rural and suburban markets. Policies that raise barriers to trade and distort markets only serve to constrict the flow of food and subject farmers and consumers to risk. Policies that advance food security, organic and natural initiative and sustainability while protecting farmers’ livelihoods also are essential for addressing challenges posed by a growing maintain our finite natural resources.

Thoughts

The business believes minority farmers are best served when industry leaders, governments and regulators focus on creating internal and external policies that encourage farmers to grow the better-for-you crops they could grow best, so that healthful food can be provided in the most efficient manner to those who need it. Agricultural policies that increase or reduce production to serve short-term needs only disrupt markets—causing farmers to produce too much or too little, and ultimately reducing long-term profitability for farmers and agricultural businesses. We support government programs that help farmers manage short-term risk during market volatility due to weather, economic instability or other crises. Restrictive systems of farmer support—such as price floors and ceilings, quotas, and mandates that ignore market signals and distort trade and production—hurt farmers, their communities, and the businesses that depend on them.

The business encourages the various sectors to work together to provide incentives for minority: farmers, suppliers and distributor operators to adopt conservation measures that would help them manage risk, and increase their long-term economic health, market contribution and sustainability. For example, programs that encourage voluntary land conservation programs, and programs that advance conservation practices that improve water quality and soil health. We also support land tenure rights for minority farmers of all size, in order to maintain their land and encourage good stewardship. Moreover, to be collectively policy-wise, for the government to discourage land-idling by ensuring appropriate and suitable zoning of agricultural areas, vigorous commitment to appropriate market zoning conditions/plans and avoid far-sighted land conversion decisions that hurt small and minority farmers. Such as the practice of land-idling programs which ought to be avoided. (Regardless of the industry sector)

It is important for the industry and government (local & federal) policies to encourage agricultural research and development, and establish a regulatory framework for the introduction of innovations and advancement of more better-for-you ingredients that enable more sustainable, organic and productive agriculture adoption process (initiatives)in order to reach and supply urban, rural and suburban markets and minority communities, too. (At Home and Away-from-Home Channels)

Sustainability

The Business and the Foundation continuously working on developing a stainability agenda by considering our role in the food cycle and the impact businesses have as an organization contributing to the food cycle. (Acre -to- Plate) This is how we put sustainability at the foundation of how we do business and how we are working towards a future where both people and the planet will continue to advance forward and thrive. We are working to deliver on both flavorful and healthful taste from sustainable sources is also key to what we do. From our nutritious organic quick-bread mixes to our all natural ingredients - consumer enjoy our wide range of accountability produced packaged goods and better-for-you ingredients on a day-to-day basis.

Nature's Mills' Sustainability Strategy | Healthful Food branding is formulated to address the challenges for a better future for tomorrow . . . by starting with today. By infusing better-for-you packaged goods and ingredients within the food processing cycle from land-to-plate; by offering environmentally and sustainable foods and ingredients in all communities. To focus and build on three fundamentals:

Accessibility and Affordability
Healthful quality of Ingredients
Education on Sustainable Healthy Diets

Sustainable Expansion

Opportunity

The opportunity of future long-term food security relies on the industry ability to generate economic and agricultural growth with an increase of minority farmers, suppliers and distributor operators in a sustainable way while preserving and protecting limited natural resources. Sustainable, organic and natural agricultural development has the potential to improve healthful livelihoods and advance human health and nutrition in urban, rural and suburban markets, from land to plate. It can also fuel better eating habits and self-sufficiency and can serve as the bases to increase greater health and economic stability in fragile markets | domestic regions.

Thoughts

All people should have access to a sufficient supply of clean, safe, nutritious and affordable food ingredients; and throughout the food cycle industry (private & public) sector must work together to help small minority farmers to participate, contribute an attain their growing role in feeding a hungry society in a more sustainable way, too. Achieving sustainable development in order to improve our food security and alleviate unnecessary poverty will require the public and private sectors to come together to address a complex and interconnected set of issues related to agriculture, the environment, energy, along with (local & national) government policy and trade.

The brand team and the foundation is committed to support and enhance the participation and contribution across the agricultural supply chain (up and downstream) to collect and share beneficial insights, knowledge, data, trends to our farmers, supply-chain operators (suppliers and distributors) to assist in uncovering new ways to advance sustainable development, organic farming and better-for-you packaged initiatives, reduce negative environmental impacts and make better use of natural resources, from land to plate to gain a healthful meal experience at home and away from home sectors.

We supports sustainable agricultural development policies that drive farmer prosperity through training, workshops, mentoring and practical support, to improved market access, land tenure, and access to finance and risk management for minority farmers and supply-chain operators. The business and along with the foundation's mission and vision also believe governments (local & federal) must support open rules-based trade balance participation so food surpluses can reach and meet the needs low-income markets and community areas of food deficit. We also encourage the ideology of category food standards to ensure safety and transparency, and to help create a better efficiently process throughout the food cycle. (From Acre to Plate)

The Brand and the Foundation's vision is to increase better-for-you food production through greater investments in minority participation within the agricultural science, community education and extension; especially in developing urban, rural and suburban markets | communities, as well as supporting investments in physical infrastructure that are critical to agriculture food and beverage (system) to help reach the end user, such as access to:

Storage Capability
Transportation and
Distribution infrastructure.

The NM's Foundation Overall Objective, Goal and Mission will be achieve through its contribution in: Advocacy (Policy) | Education (Marketing) | Access (Market Participation) with small farmers and business up and down the food chain cycle from Acre -to- Plate.