With the climate, nature, and health crises rapidly climbing the business agenda, many food companies are already working to adopt a more holistic approach across their supply chains to tackle the multiple issues of responsible and sustainable sourcing. Compassion supports these efforts and recognises that food companies can be pivotal to effecting change at scale within the food and farming industry.

Compassion encourages companies to support and invest in a positive, nature-friendly farming transition, with a focus on robust, systems level transformation. Suggestions include:

Take a holistic view of positive farming – farming systems must benefit animals, people and the planet. Avoid ‘carbon tunnel vision’ or focusing on a narrow set of outcomes.
Make a commitment – commit to shift towards positive, nature-friendly farming within company sustainability and CSR policies and buying strategies. Animal welfare plays a crucial role in this commitment.
Empower farmers to engage on positive, nature-friendly farming – work with farmers in ways that can support and empower them to take ownership of their own positive farming transition / journey, recognising the importance of observation and an adaptive, context-specific approach.
Support a positive farming transition – help address the common barriers to uptake (e.g., access to knowledge, funding to support the transition, sharing of risks e.g. insurance support, providing a market for positively farmed / transitioning products). Commitment to buy and offering longer-term contracts to farmers is key to support farmer transitions, while also providing reliable supply.
Integrate farm animals within higher welfare, nature-friendly systems where they have the potential to experience a high quality of life and become an integral part of diverse, outdoor, extensive farming ecosystems.
Measure, track and report on positive farm-level outcomes so that claims so that claims can be substantiated, and report in line with current guidance and any relevant legislation (see next section).
Provide a market for positively farmed products – including long-term commitments to buy and long-term contracts to give farmers and suppliers the confidence to invest.
Collaborate on positive, nature-friendly farming – wherever possible collaborate on positive, nature-friendly farming initiatives – no business can achieve this transition alone!
Bring consumers on the journey – engage consumers to help build understanding and support for the shift to positive, nature-friendly farming.
Take action but be adaptive – act with urgency but also take an adaptive approach – aim to learn, improve, and ultimately scale positive outcomes.

Compassion can support food businesses on their positive, nature-friendly farming journeys, including providing animal welfare advice, sharing regenerative farming resources (e.g., case studies), supporting corporate policy development, exploring the barriers and opportunities for positive supply, and recognising outstanding company achievements, via the CIWF Awards. Contact Compassion in Food Business.

For more information about how Compassion is assessing company progress towards more positive farming, please read about our Food System Transition Spotlight.