General Mills was awarded the prestigious 2018 Citizen’s Award by the Corporate Citizenship Center of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation in the category of Best Community Improvement Program.
Editor’s note: This is the fifth story in a series focusing on our commitment to sustainably source our top ten priority ingredients used in General Mills products.
by Jerry Lynch, Jerry Lynch, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at General Mills
Article
When I speak about our work in soil health, I will often see a head tilt with a questioning look. Why would a food company have any interest in soil? That’s when I take a step back and share that 99 percent of our food comes from the soil. Being a food company, the connection is instantaneously made.
Editor’s note: This is the latest post in our “You Grow, Girl!” series highlighting female farmers – from the northern reaches of Canada to the heartland of the U.S. From the western coast of Africa to the rolling hills of France and beyond. The series amplifies the voices of female farmers, who play vital roles in agriculture worldwide. Here, they share their unique perspectives on food, family and farming.
Most of us don’t think too closely about dirt, but perhaps we should. After all, it’s the foundation of all life on Earth.
Beyond sustaining plant life—and the rest of the food chain along with it—soil itself is very much alive. One handful of dirt contains up to 50 billion bacteria and hundreds of thousands of individual fungal cells. As these microorganisms move through the soil, they feast on minerals and dead organic matter and leave nutrients behind, allowing plants to grow and ecosystems to thrive.
New program has potential to save 55-60 million pounds of food per year
Press Release
October 16, 2018 /3BL Media/ - Today, on World Food Day, Feeding America announced the national expansion of a pilot program to rescue food, in partnership with manufacturers and their carriers on the road. Each year, 40 percent of food in the United States goes to waste. This program, known as MealConnect Logistics, has already facilitated the donation of more than 580,000 pounds of food to the Feeding America network of food banks in the pilot phase.
Tuesday is World Food Day, yet 1 in 11 households in Minnesota struggle with hunger. The issue is as pervasive as it is quiet, and many of our neighbors endure the challenge of putting enough food on the table. At the same time, 40 percent of food in the U.S. is wasted each year. Over the past year, General Mills and Feeding America partnered to create an innovative solution to connect surplus food in the delivery system with families in need.
One billion pounds of perfectly good food given to hungry people instead of landfills is life changing for those who face hunger. And according to Feeding America, that’s one in eight people in America.
With wasted food in landfills being one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas going into the atmosphere, every pound of food we can use to feed hungry people – rather than send to a landfill – really helps the environment.
