NRF pushes food industry toward ‘net zero’ for a sustainable future

These goals have been shared among business leaders, who have been pouring in effort to restructure their work processes and supply chains, from upstream to downstream, to ensure their operation is sustainable. Leading organizations are also working with partners and SMEs to increase their resilience to adjustments while ensuring they can contribute efficiently to efforts to mitigate climate change.

Also following this trend is NR Instant Produce Public Co Ltd (NRF), a global food industry leader and producer of food for the future. NRF’s chief executive officer announced the company’s commitment to sustainability at a recent international forum in Bangkok hosted by the United Nations Global Compact Network Thailand (UNGCNT).

Speaking under the topic “Building Supply Chain Resilience” at the GCNT Forum 2023: Partnership for Human Capital 5.0, NRF’s CEO Dan Pathomvanich underscored the company’s goal of achieving a net zero target by 2030.

Net zero stands for zero emission of greenhouse gases.

Dan pointed out that as many as 60% of NRF products, which include seasonings, sauces, curry pastes and alternative protein foods, come from suppliers. Hence, the company’s sustainability strategy focuses on pushing products toward the net zero goal as soon as possible.

Net zero starts at organizational culture

Dan said NRF has been working with its upstream suppliers, namely over 1,000 local farmers, in transitioning from traditional agriculture to organic farming, while reducing the burning of harvest leftovers.

The company has also encouraged its midstream and downstream partners, namely factories and retail shops, to set the goals for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and waste.

“At the end of the day, the food industry cannot renounce the use of energy,” he said. “However, we have been trying out methods that minimize greenhouse gas emission as much as possible.”

Dan said NRF has incorporated the concept of net zero in its organizational culture, by educating every unit on the meaning of net zero, its objectives, as well as steps to achieving these goals, such as turning waste into fertilizers for agricultural communities and installing solar panels.

“We also promote the practice of green manufacturing and food innovation among our midstream and downstream partners to drive our products towards a net zero goal,” Dan said. “Our best product for sustainability is plant-based food, whose manufacturing process has a lower emission rate than the traditional livestock industry.”

Dan went on to say that NRF’s priority mission is to identify areas in the company’s supply chain that can be further improved to achieve net zero goal. One of the most challenging projects is to convince suppliers to stop using chemical insecticides and to urge farmers to refrain from burning leftover crops.

Crops burning is responsible for over 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gases per year, or about 10% of Thailand’s total emissions, he added.

“In the past decade, NRF has also launched several initiatives to help local farmers, including buying produce at 20-30% higher than market prices, providing training, and investing in large-scale operators to help them further expand their enterprises,” Dan said.

“We also piloted a program in Chiang Rai province to turn the leftover crop into biomass instead of burning them, generating extra income for farmers while also reducing emission from crop burning.”

Good value chain is key to sustainability

The CEO said he believes that the best value chain in the food industry is to purchase products from suppliers at higher prices to motivate farmers on the path of sustainability and improve the overall supply chain system, leading to sustainable business operations.

“However, the food industry’s competitiveness is determined by downstream partners like supermarkets, who use price cutting as a technique to undercut rivals. This, together with inflation, has made it harder for the supply chain to achieve net zero goal,” he said.

Dan said this conundrum has prompted NRF to start investing in the downstream part of the supply chain. Through its subsidiary Bamboo Mart, the company has acquired two Asian supermarkets in the United Kingdom, enabling NRF to export fruits and vegetables from Thailand worth over a million baht per week without going through any middlemen.

The supermarkets offer higher profit margins to farmers, while motivating them to adjust their practice under sustainability principles, essentially pushing NRF’s products toward net zero, Dan concluded.

“We are in the middle of a climate crisis. If no effort is taken to achieve the net zero goal today, by 2050 one growing season will disappear,” said Dan. “All it takes is one company, one industry, and one country to take the first step and be a pioneer for others to follow.”