How Sodexo, Ford, And Others Use Sustainable Farming As CSR Platforms
4 Companies Championing
Social Responsibility With Sustainable Farming
More than ever, it’s important for companies to show that they don’t only just care for their customers and employees, but for the health, well-being, and prosperity of their community as well. We’ve seen many institutions use container farming as a way to provide people with access to healthy food, education, and jobs. See how four of our corporate customers–Sodexo, Everlane, SEFCU, and Ford–are using container farms in their corporate social responsibility initiatives. (Header image: Times Union).
1) Sodexo champions sustainability on campus
With over 420,000 employees at 34,000 sites in 80 countries, Sodexo is one of the largest multinational corporations. Over the past several years, Sodexo has dedicated countless resources to promoting nutrition, health, and wellness to its customers and employees.
One concrete way Sodexo works to bring sustainability and wellness to its global customer base is through the Better Tomorrow 2025 plan. The plan is Sodexo’s commitment to protecting and rehabilitating the environment, supporting local community development, promoting health and wellness, and developing their team to promote diversity. To achieve these goals, Sodexo partnered with Alliance for a Healthier Generation, Fair Trade USA, the Marine Stewardship Council, the Sustainable Food Lab, the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops, and Freight Farms.
“Our ‘Better Tomorrow Plan’ specifically focuses on individuals, our communities, and our environment…Freight Farms has given us a great opportunity to have that engagement with students on a higher level, especially with sustainability.”
— Heather Vaillete, District Manager, Sodexo Campus Services & Independent Schools
Since 2016, Sodexo has worked with multiple universities and high-school customers (Clark University and Cumberland High School to name just two) to place Freight Farms on their campuses. The presence of the farm on these campuses is a sure way to add sustainable and fresh produce to students’ everyday diets. Sodexo found that using Freight Farms container farms can continuously provide students healthy fresh food options year-round without reliance on resource-inefficient fresh food supply chains.
2) Everlane & Saitex provide employees with food-safe greens
Everlane is a relatively new company (founded in 2010) which is taking huge strides in reforming the fashion industry. With a focus on “radical transparency”, Everlane’s mission is to sell high-quality clothing with fair pricing and ethical sourcing practices from factories around the world. In doing so, they seek to forge a stronger connection between the end purchaser and the people making the luxury goods in the hopes of instilling consumers with a greater sense of community and transparency.
While Everlane commits to its values all year round, they go above and beyond for their Black Friday Fund. On a day where other retailers focus on making profits, Everlane dedicates Black Friday shopping proceeds to benefit one of their factories.
In 2016, they used the Black Friday Fund to donate motorcycle helmets to workers at the Saitex denim factory in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to protect them while commuting.
In 2017, Everlane and Saitex raised $300,000 for the Black Friday Fund and used the money to gift Saitex factory employees Freight Farms containers.
Everlane video to promote Black Friday Fund donations to benefit the workers at Saitex Denim in Vietnam.
The hydroponic farms serve an important function for the factory employees. As a result of virtually non-existent regulations, Vietnamese food supplies have been repeatedly doused with dangerous pesticides that are unsafe for consumption (see source). The hydroponic container farms are protected from pests and require no pesticides, making the fresh crops growing inside much safer to eat. With the three hydroponic container farms, Everlane will make a huge difference in the lives of hundreds of Saitex employees by providing them with two fresh and pesticide-free meals a day. You can learn more about the initiative in our joint press release!
Since 2017, Everlane has continued to champion important causes. In 2018, the company partnered with the Surfrider Foundation clean up across the U.S. In 2019, they continued on the theme by partnering with Oceania to help reduce single-use plastic.
3) SEFCU & Boys & Girls Club educate kids about farming & nutrition
SEFCU is a powerful name in the banking world. Established in 1934, it is one of the 50 largest credit unions in the United States, with more than $3 billion in assets. Not only does SEFCU have a lot of money – they also have a lot of heart. From their headquarters in Albany, NY, they are dedicated to making a positive difference in the communities they serve. They assist thousands of organizations through their 2008 Banking with a Purpose initiative and give millions of dollars towards community financial education programs.
They don’t limit themselves to just helping with financial matters but also work hard for food reform to prevent obesity and food insecurity. Over the past three years, they purchased two hydroponic container farms. One resides at the Albany office, where it grows food for the employee cafe and various non-profits in the area. The company also introduced a Produce Shuttle to transport donated fresh food from the farm, restaurants, and food pantries to those in need.
SEFCU’s second farm was donated directly to the Boys & Girls Club chapter in Troy, NY to give kids access to healthy and fresh food, teach them about farming, and–eventually–become a revenue driver for the program.
4) Ford Motors & Cass Community Social Services provide important community access to fresh food.
In 2017, the Bill Ford Better World Challenge awarded $250,000 to the Ford Mobile Farm Project in Detroit. The project involved donating a Freight Farms container farm (named the Ford Freight Farm) and a Ford F-150 pickup to Cass Community Social Services (CCSS) with the goal of bringing fresh food access and nutrition education to at-risk Detroit residents. CCSS was founded in 2002 to fight poverty in the Detroit area. The non-profit focuses on democratizing food access, health services, housing, and jobs to Detroit residents living below the poverty line.
“The greatest feature for us is the ability to have fresh, free, organic food all year long.”
— Reverend Faith Fowler, Executive Director of CCSS
The contents of the Ford Freight Farm will be used to supply the CCSS community kitchen with a variety of fresh leafy greens to provide important nutritional benefits to the 700,000+ meals served each year. In addition to supplying the kitchens, the Ford Freight Farm will provide part-time employment to adults with developmental disabilities. Starting in 2019, CCSS has been using the farm as a revenue stream to fund other projects, selling high-quality greens to restaurants in the area.