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FROM FARM TO FORKLIFT
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upstream
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Our impact begins with the decisions made by our partners and suppliers, well before products reach our distribution centers. While we don’t directly control these processes, we take those impacts very seriously. We’re investing in programs and partnerships that will help build a more equitable system and carry our values further upstream.
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What does 'upstream' refer to?
When we say ‘upstream’, we’re referring to all of the activities that happen before products get to our distribution centers. This includes the people involved in growing, making, and moving food, including our manufacturers and suppliers.
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Making Sustainability More Accessible
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Building A More Inclusive Supply Chain
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Inspiring Climate Action
Making Sustainability More Accessible
The traditional system of food distribution is incredibly complex and tough to break into, and brands led by people with less capital or privilege can struggle to grow and get on the shelf.
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We’ve proactively invested in nurturing new and emerging supplier relationships and creating structures to add value and create efficiencies within our current relationships, like our recently expanded Supplier Diversity action plan, our Marketplace program, and our UpNext program, which offers mentorship to selected suppliers. We’ve also deployed tools like the Climate Action Hub and Climate Action Partnership to help our suppliers better manage their own climate impacts and make credible commitments.
The UNFI Produce team is also engaging with suppliers more directly to reduce the inherent redundancy in the conventional distribution model, make it more affordable and efficient to distribute produce grown with regenerative, organic practices, and most importantly, deliver the freshest produce possible. Given current limits in scale, organic produce is often slower and more costly to get to stores, but this facility is proving that there are advantages to consolidating it with conventional produce.
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Produce from Rainier Fruit, one of UNFI’s many suppliers.
Building A More Inclusive Supply Chain
In addition to sourcing from suppliers with certified social and environmental practices, we will use our buying power to support a more diverse set of suppliers.
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Because of the many systemic inequities in the modern food system, we can’t expect our pool of suppliers to suddenly diversify overnight. We clarified our supplier diversity action plan to reflect our evolving commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and better integrate our mission into sourcing activities, spending levels, customer services, sales tactics, and more. Doing so can provide opportunities for historically underrepresented business owners and their communities and contribute to economic inclusion along our supply chain.
This is how we will ACT on our mission to build a more inclusive supply chain:
Apply…supplier diversity into our everyday business practice
Commit…to building connections with our customers and ease navigation through the UNFI network
Transform…the procurement process through greater transparency and accountability
What is a Diverse Supplier?
We define diverse suppliers as small businesses or those that are at least 51% owned by Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), women, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, veterans, and/or other historically marginalized groups.
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Inspiring Climate Action
We know we have work to do and that we can influence the broader industry and inspire others to take action. That said, it would be considerably more difficult to meet our emissions reduction ambitions without collaborating with our partners along the value chain.
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So, we’ve deployed tools like the Climate Action Hub to help our suppliers better manage their own climate impacts and to help us set the stage for future action. We also launched a new Climate Action Partnership to encourage our suppliers to make credible climate commitments and provide innovative resources in the food system. We hope these evolving partnerships will help us fast-track collective action toward a decarbonized future by providing a platform for conversation, learning, and, of course, climate action.
Engaging our suppliers helps us to better understand the hurdles suppliers face, including consistently tracking emissions, introducing or scaling new agricultural practices, and minimizing the impact of packaging.
What is climate-smart agriculture?
Suppliers and their farmers hold the keys to so many climate solutions. We need to pool our resources to support innovation that ensures a resilient, climate-friendly food system. Enter climate-smart agriculture – an integrated approach to agriculture that reduces emissions, draws down carbon, and supports greater climate resiliency for all of the participants in our food supply chain.
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As we learn more about our upstream impacts, we also recognize the need to institute policies that promote transparency and traceability. We have an opportunity to engage our suppliers in reasonable and actionable requests, which we know can take some time to come to fruition.
Climate Action Partnership
Continuing our partnership with the Climate Collaborative, which started with the Climate Action Hub and the Climate Action Guide for Business, in 2023, we launched the Climate Action Partnership to encourage our suppliers to make credible climate commitments and provide innovative and scalable resources specific to the food system. Visit the Climate Action Hub now!
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NMSDC Acres Program
We collaborated with Cargill and Walmart to support the “Acres: Cultivating Equity in Black Agriculture” program, launched by The National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC). Our $80,000 contribution will help NMSDC provide strategic business support to future cohorts of Black agricultural professionals and reversing disparities that Black farmers face.
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New Deforestation Policy
We published a formal policy designed to support the goal of zero deforestation across our primary deforestation-linked commodities by 2025. To establish our internal baselines and account for land sector emissions, we plan to collaborate with third-party organizations to increase traceability and improve data quality and connect with suppliers to help them address barriers.
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A Position on Animal Welfare
We published a position statement and action plan for animal welfare standards in our supply chain. The first steps in our action plan include educating internal and external audiences on credible third-party certifications, engaging with the industry on species-specific efforts, and giving preferred placements in our publications and ordering systems to higher welfare products.
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UNFI UpNext
Through UpNext, we look for emerging brands, diverse suppliers, and category disruptors whose visions inspire us. Suppliers who meet our criteria are mentored – at no cost to them – by UNFI Supplier Development Managers and guided on how to best leverage UNFI’s marketing programs, sales channels and tradeshows.
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Meet the Grower
Our UNFI Produce team highlights a different grower every month to increase awareness about our partners’ various practices.
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