AUSTIN, Texas — When Vital Farms began as a single-family farm in Austin, Texas, it had one mission in mind: bring more ethical food to the table. During the past 15 years, the company notes that it has remained committed to that mission in partnership with its stakeholder community, which continues to grow. Vital Farms works with more than 300 family farms, crew members in over 30 states, thousands of retail and foodservice customers, and millions of people across the country who cook with its eggs and butter.
“As a mission-driven company, we’re committed to creating sustainable, positive outcomes for all of our stakeholders. Last year, we released our first-ever Sustainability Report, which recognized the impact we’ve made through areas of environment, social, and governance (ESG),” Vital Farms said. “With the release of our second report this year – recast as our Impact Report – we’re taking this work a step further by laying out a series of measurable, meaningful impact goals.”
This year’s report recognizes the progress the company has made embedding impact into the business and defines short- and medium-term goals that are grounded in its purpose, the company said.
Vital Farms notes that it’s aiming to hit three goals during the next five years:
- First, we’re planning to achieve zero waste-to-landfill at our egg washing and packing facility, Egg Central Station, by the end of 2023.
- Next, we’re scaling regenerative agriculture practices to all farmers in our network by 2026.
- And finally, we’re reducing carbon intensity in our operations by 25 percent by 2027.
“The goals we’ve laid out in this year’s report are steppingstones to building an increasingly resilient Vital Farms,” said Joanne Bal, general counsel, corporate secretary, and head of impact, Vital Farms. “We’ve embedded this impact framework into our business and are focused on consistent, steady progress towards meaningful outcomes.”
This report also shares clear, tangible progress we’ve made addressing a wide range of issues like climate change and ecological impact, crew member professional development, our diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and farmer welfare goals, and supply chain management, the company said.
Highlights from the report include:
- We have aligned our reporting framework with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures to increase transparency.
- We have advanced diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the farming community through our first Inclusive Farmer Open House, and we’re taking other steps to reach out to prospective farmers from communities that have been historically marginalized in agriculture.
- We have thoughtfully and responsibly doubled our processing capacity at Egg Central Station and added increased water recycling capabilities and additional solar panels.
- We are advancing the circular economy with 99 percent of our products coming in recyclable packaging, and we’re transitioning our 18-count carton from PET to a lower-impact hybrid carton.
- We have intentionally created a gender balanced Board of Directors and invested in strong female leaders on our senior leadership team.
“Our ESG strategy — like all good things at Vital Farms — has grown from our commitment to creating sustainable, positive outcomes for all of our stakeholders,” said Russell Diez-Canseco, president and CEO, Vital Farms. “This long-term, stakeholder-focused perspective guides every decision we make and forces an element of pragmatism and accountability that differentiates how we drive impact through ESG.”
In tandem with this year’s report, Vital Farms reports that it has renamed its ESG team the Impact team to better reflect the breadth of work ESG touches on, and the ways ESG creates an enduring impact across the business.
For the full 2023 Impact Report, visit: www.vitalfarms.com/impact-report.
