What kept me thinking though wasn’t my step count, but that all these brilliant developments were happening in isolation. The collective potential of the animal feed sector’s talent, ingenuity, and technical brilliance deserves more collaboration if we want it to create impact.
Our footprint
Our GMP+ Community, the 19,000+ companies that make up the largest collective for feed safety in the world, can make a difference. And if I think about the big challenges our sector should be tackling, environmental sustainability is right up there.
As a standard-setter, our primary purpose will always be feed safety - but it’s a myth to think that is incompatible with being responsible and sustainable, while remaining profitable.
Standards can make it easier for a diverse sector to be more sustainable. For example, two of our current standards were a response to market demand; our MI 5.1 - Production and Trade of RTRS soy helps companies show that they support the production, trade, and use of responsible soy, and our MI 5.4 - GMO controlled helps companies show that they facilitate non-genetically modified crop production.
Our standards are a collaborative creation. As GMP+ certified companies you help make and maintain them, and we truly want your involvement as we review them every year.
Combining forces
But there’s more we can do. We want to harness our collective innovation and talent to make two new standards for; regionally-sourcing your feed materials, and measuring your carbon footprint.
Both of these new standards will help us in our sustainability journey. We could just wait, watch, and not move until the market demands us to make these kinds of practices commonplace - but I think it’s better to begin this work now, make progress, and build on the innovation in our sector.
That is why we want to host the discussion - hearing your ideas, and even getting in the same room together - to harness the collaborative power of forward-thinking companies. As GMP+ International we can facilitate the discussion, but also stimulate, encourage, and foster it. This is our invitation to you to lead the way and shape these standards from the ground up.
Get in touch
By working together we can take a collective step towards leaving an environmental legacy, and walk tall as part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Do you want to join us and combine our ideas, forces, and actions? Please let me know.
Before you know it, you’ll be blown away at how far we’ve come.