Hormel Foods Corp

The company mentions it completed a water risk assessment for its direct operations in 2018, and then it was refreshed in 2020. The company mentions using the WRI Aqueduct tool as well as an internal risk management process. The company includes both water scarcity and water quality issues in the risk assessment. The company discloses the risk assessment covers all the entities and groups over which operational control is exercised. Therefore, it’s assumed that the company covers its operations in China, Brazil and the United States. The company mentions it has two production locations in the US and three internationally that are in regions defined as high or extremely high water risk by WRI Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas. It discloses the main watersheds that receive its wastewater but it does not explain which ones are at risk from water quality.

The company discloses in its CDP Water 2022 report that it was subjected to an enforcement order. The incident was related to the excessive discharge of fats, oil and grease in a processing plant in the Wichita River Basin in the US. The company mentions corrective actions have been taken. The company discloses it has increased its water-related CAPEX a 10% in the reporting year, due to increases in water and wastewater treatment requirements and increased program fees and related expenses.

The company does not disclose information.

The company has mapped its turkey and pig sourcing areas to identify water risks. However, in the engagement call with FAIRR, the company mentioned that this assessment looks at broader regional levels rather than farm-specific locations. The company was part of the AgWater Challenge, an initiative led by Ceres, which ended in 2022. Through this initiative, the company committed to engaging with its largest suppliers, including feed grain growers, to meet best environmental practices for reducing water pollution risks, including with respect to the storage, transport and application of animal manure. While the company has created a sustainable agriculture policy which also includes feed suppliers, it seems it does not currently include feed as part of its assessment to identify its exposure to areas with water quality risks. The company mentions in its CDP report that it is currently working to improve data exchange for sourced maize and soy with a focus on water risks.

The company does not disclose information.

The company does not disclose information.

The company does not disclose information.

The company discloses the volume of wastewater that has undergone different levels of treatment. The company does not use wastewater for fertigation without any treatment. In the engagement call with FAIRR, the company mentioned that its manure management systems are usually pit management systems. It also noted having made a small capital investment in storage for turkey litter to better protect it from rainfall and reduce the risk of potential nutrient runoffs. It is unclear whether these pits are covered or not. The company does not disclose publicly available information on biogas production. In the engagement call with FAIRR, the company mentioned that it has explored a couple of projects for energy digestion processes for its own turkey farming operations. However, most of these farms do not have lagoons, and they have not found a viable system for methane capture yet. The company also mentioned that its operations in Colorado are geographically spread out, which makes getting the methane captured into the pipeline an economic and engineering challenge. FAIRR notes that this doesn¢â‚¬â„¢t preclude the use of the biogas at the farm itself.

The company had a target to reduce organic waste discharge from its facilities by 10% by 2030. It mentions that in 2022, it achieved a 21% reduction in organic waste discharge. The company also mentions starting in 2023, it would transition its focus on organic waste reduction to investing in wastewater-treatment projects in collaboration with municipal partners and reducing water use by 10% by 2030 from a 2022 baseline to systematically reduce the impacts of organic matter in waste discharges and water footprints of our business.

In the engagement call with FAIRR, the company said that its water quality risk mitigating actions are focused on its own farms. The company mentions manure from company-owned live production operations is managed to ensure protection from loss to the environment, including land application as a nutrient substitute overseen by licensed agronomists. In the engagement call with FAIRR, the company mentioned that it has an arrangement in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa by which it gives processing waste and some manure from its operations to a third-party contractor to be applied on fields. Through this, the company says it gains insights into how its facilities’ manure management processes are performing and which improvements need to be made. However, it’s not clear to what extent the company supports farmers in the improvements that are needed to reduce pollution. In 2022, the company became a lead sponsor of a 50,000-acre regenerative pilot project in Minnesota in collaboration with other partners such as the ESMC and The Nature Conservancy. Collectively, Hormel Foods and Target will provide $1.7 million for farmers to participate in the pilot and adopt practices such as cover cropping, reduced tillage and nutrient management. In the engagement call with FAIRR, the company mentioned that the project will be expanded to another cropping year to gather enough information to make market-based decisions on scaling up. Some results are also expected to be made publicly available by the end of 2024, pending review and approval by The Nature Conservancy.

The company´s Brazilian subsidiary Cidade do sol has sent 100% of the byproduct generated in the effluent treatment station to be transformed into organic fertilizers through composting.

The company does not disclose information.

The company does not disclose information.

The company provided a response to the investor letter and responded to the engagement questions. The company met with investors within the engagement period. The company acknowledged the FAIRR’s assessment but it did not provide feedback.