US – American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise, Pizza Hut, has teamed up with Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) and dairy suppliers to provide participating farmers with the technology and data needed to help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Pizza Hut, known for cheese-centric innovations, and its parent company, Yum! Brands will leverage their national scale by partnering with DFA and dairy suppliers to help make their supply chain more environmentally friendly by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The chain has begun working alongside DFA and dairy suppliers to enroll interested dairy farm families within their supply chain in the joint dairy project.
In the project, the farmers will participate in annual farm-level greenhouse gas and energy foot printing through the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management and Environmental Stewardship (FARM ES) evaluation over a three-year period.
By 2025, the end of the three-year period, Pizza Hut aims to source 50% of the dairy used to make its pizza cheese from dairy farms enrolled in the FARM ES program.
The International Franchise explained that once enrolled, farms will receive an SCiO cup, the world’s fastest lab-grade dry matter analyzer.
The analyzer will allow farmers to access instant dry matter analysis of their cows’ feed, helping deliver precise nutrition and in turn, producing milk more efficiently, creating less waste and reducing on-farm greenhouse gas emissions.
The farms will also be eligible to apply for funds to implement sustainability projects while continuing to actively recruit DFA members throughout the partnership.
In addition to using SCiO cups, farmers participating in the program will have the chance to adopt other practices and technologies such as feed management enhancements and energy-efficient lighting.
“With this sustainability initiative, we’re able to utilize technology along with our dairy partners in a way that helps the environment while still delivering the iconic taste that pizza lovers have come to expect from our offerings,” says Penny Shaheen, head of food innovation and technology at Pizza Hut.
The project is also part of a broader strategy that will help all parties reach additional long-term sustainability goals.
In the announcement, Yum! and Pizza Hut is said to be able to decrease GHG emissions by 46% by 2030 with a focus on restaurants and supply chains and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
This partnership will also help Dairy Farmers of America achieve a 30% GHG emissions reduction across the supply chain by 2030.
This effort by DFA will strengthen its push, which the company was able to earn the title in 2020, of being the first US dairy cooperative to set a science-based target to reduce both direct and value chain GHG emissions.
This farm-level project builds on existing industry collaborations and partnerships like Innovation Center’s Dairy Sustainability Alliance that both Yum! Brands and DFA have been members since 2019 and 2010 respectively.
The multi-stakeholder group consists of companies and organizations from across the dairy community and others who want to contribute to dairy’s social responsibility journey to be greenhouse neutral or better by 2050.
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