William Burgess, ceo of Produce World, has called on the food industry to develop better partnerships, and a greater understanding of the grass roots, in order to deliver sustainable supply chains.

Burgess was speaking at a recent conference run by the Ethical Corporation, entitled How to Engage Suppliers in Sustainability.

“Delivering sustainability is, like so many things in the supply chain, about developing mutual trust and respect,” said Burgess. “We are looking for long-term commitment from our retail customers, and we expect to make the same commitment to our suppliers. That applies through thick and thin. There will undoubtedly be challenges along the way, but we have to face them together if we are to overcome them.”

He urged a shared strategy on long-term sustainability. “To make that work the grower, the processor and the retailer have to develop a better understanding of the issues that apply at grass roots level,” said Burgess.

Responsible sourcing is one of the four pillars of Produce World’s corporate social responsibility programme, which has been in operation for the past two years. The other three pillars are Environmental stewardship, community impact and workplace culture.

Produce World is one of the UK’s largest suppliers of fresh vegetables. It employs over 1,200 permanent staff in the UK and Spain, and supplies a variety of root vegetables, potatoes, brassicas, onions, garlic and leeks.

Burgess said: “As well as long-term relationships, and commitment across the supply chain, we also need the opportunity to manage the fresh vegetable category for our customers. This enables us to understand our customers’ needs better, so we can deliver sustainability and give them a competitive advantage.”

Long-term commitment from Waitrose has enabled Produce World to invest in extending and modernising its potato plant. This has allowed the company to improve the sustainability of the supply chain, while reducing costs for the retailer. And a shared strategy with Sainsbury’s has resulted in significant investment in cool-chain technology, and new field harvesting and packing machinery.

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