US – The Hershey Company, one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world, is taking sustainability efforts to the farm level through a new partnership with one of its main dairy suppliers Land O’Lakes.
According to a statement from Hershey, the partnership will see the two companies work on a new initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at Pennsylvania dairy farms and improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
At least 119 Land O’Lakes member dairy farms in Central Pennsylvania that ship at least half of their milk to Hershey are expected to embrace agricultural conservation practices thanks to the new partnership dubbed Sustainable Dairy PA initiative.
To make the initiative a reality, Hershey is providing US$300,000 in initial funding and plans to increase funding in the future, the goal being to grow the number of Land O’Lakes farms to more than 400.
The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, a partner in the initiative, will tap into additional grants to enact other on-farm environmental practices that can address emissions and protect water in the region.
Hershey has been working to improve the sustainability of all of its ingredients sourcing and currently has a goal of reducing its direct and indirect emissions by more than 50% by 2030.
Through the partnership with Land O’Lakes, Hershey will have made another step towards realizing this goal given that Dairy is a major ingredient in its chocolates and candies.
Geetika Mehta becomes MD for Hershey India
Meanwhile, Geetika Mehta- a former executive of Hindustan Unilever – has been appointed as the new Managing Director for Hershey’s operations in India.
Mehta who has more than 18 years of experience in commercial and consumer marketing will be reporting to Herjit Bhalla, VP, India and AEMEA.
She has held important leadership roles in FMCG and food businesses for more than a decade and has managed various categories, including soups, noodles and spice mixes.
In her previous role at Hindustan Unilever as the general manager for the Home and Hygiene business, she had set up the business for sustained growth.
“With a proven track record of building and nurturing small businesses and leading growth for large businesses and driving profitability and turnaround, I am confident that Geetika will successfully lead the Hershey India team into the next phase of growth, scale and evolution,” Bhalla said.
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