Cobb sustainability report achieves GRI ‘A’ grade

The first sustainability report from poultry breeder, Cobb-Vantress, entitled ‘Our Role in Building a Sustainable Future for the World’ has been awarded an ‘A’ grade by the Global Reporting Initiative.

The report details the company’s commitment to building a sustainable future for employees, customers and communities where it is located – adhering to its core values not only to achieve economic growth but to care for animal well-being and adopt responsible environmental management. The core values encompass Family, Integrity, Being the Best and Innovation.”Cobb’s extensive research and development efforts not only sustain the company and the poultry industry, but are critical to helping feed a global population projected to reach nine billion by 2050,” says Jerry Moye, president of Cobb.

He states: “At Cobb, our values serve as a moral compass to guide our actions on important global issues such as hunger relief, protection of the environment, conservation of resources, animal well-being and ethical business practices. Cobb Team Member involvement in the One Egg project in Rwanda is just one great example of these efforts.”

Maximum genetic progress is seen as a broad term, embracing not only economic factors but a multitude of thoughts allowing for sustainable contributions that promote genetic diversity, animal well-being, healthy food products and contribute to conserving resources.

Notable accomplishments highlighted in the report:

During fiscal 2013, our average hourly US wage was 88% higher than the federal minimum wage. In the Philippines Cobb pays 35% more than the national hourly minimum wage and in Brazil the average earnings are 42% higher than the national weekly minimum wage.
Cobb global operations increased man-hours worked by nearly one million hours from fiscal 2011 through 2013, yet had a decrease in its Days Away, Restricted, and Transfer (DART) rate by nearly 1%. During this same period, US operations increased man-hours worked by 13% and had a reduction of 1.08% in its DART rate.
Cobb and a private entity, Ikiraro Investments, support a project aimed at easing the hunger of the local people of Musanze in Rwanda. Cobb supplies technical expertise in poultry production and husbandry to enable Rwandans to become more knowledgeable and self-sufficient in the production of food.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a non-profit organisation that promotes economic sustainability and produces one of the world’s most prevalent standards for sustainability reporting.

The full report can be viewed here