Our team developed a Sustainable Agriculture and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program for Sysco’s processed fruit and vegetable products to encourage responsible use of pesticide and nutrient inputs, reduce waste through recycling and reuse, and promote energy and water conservation. Since its launch in 2004, the Sustainable Agriculture Program has expanded to include fresh produce and now incorporates the Sustainable Food Group Sustainability Standard™ certification, furthering Sysco’s commitment to responsible sourcing.
Challenge
Sysco is a leading global food service distributor, operating in 90 countries with 730,000 customer locations and 76,000 colleagues. The company offers a broad range of food and non-food products, supplying restaurants worldwide. In 2002, Sysco partnered with us to develop a Sustainable Agriculture / IPM program for their processed fruit and vegetable supply chain.
As consumer and regulatory expectations for sustainability continue to evolve, Sysco aims to maintain its leadership in sustainable agriculture and IPM by continuing to adapt program criteria and expectations, metrics for measuring and reporting progress, and methods for engaging suppliers and tracking compliance.
Our Role
Our work with Sysco began in the early 2000s with a baseline survey of processed fruit and vegetable suppliers, laying the foundation for what is now Sysco’s Sustainable Agriculture Program. The program began in 2004 as an IPM initiative focused on canned and frozen produce and began expanding into fresh produce in 2019, and with that expansion, evolving from an in-house Sysco program to a third-party verified standard, Sustainable Food Group Sustainability Standard™.
We continue to support Sysco with implementation and evolution of the Sysco Sustainable Agriculture Program, including providing direct support to suppliers, monitoring compliance, measuring outcomes and impacts and maintaining program criteria and standards. Our team facilitates supplier engagement and participation through open communications, training webinars and supplier meetings, creating a shared understanding of Sysco’s goals and program expectations. In support of measuring and reporting program impacts, we also manage the annual data collection and analysis of key sustainability metrics, such as pesticide use reduction, water conservation, and waste reuse and recycling to support Sysco’s annual sustainability report.
The Outcome
The Sysco® Sustainable Agriculture Program has been successfully implemented on over one million acres, delivering measurable environmental benefits.
Since its inception in 2004, growers participating in the program have avoided more than 158 million pounds of pesticides and 202 million pounds of fertilizers and conserved over 1 trillion gallons of water.
As the only foodservice distributor with a dedicated sustainable agriculture program, Sysco continues to set the standard for responsible sourcing and environmental leadership. The IPM Institute remains a key partner, ensuring continued progress and innovation in sustainability.
For more information, explore the Sysco 2024 Sustainability Report or visit Sysco’s Sustainability Website.
