It was a whirlwind tour that provided a unique window on the world of stewardship. Yves LeClerc, head of agronomy for McCain Foods, was back in his Florenceville, New Brunswick office after stops in Belgium at the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative meetings and in China checking in on the company's processing facilities.

With a front-row view of food industry progress both at home and abroad, spanning from the farmer level to the international negotiating table, LeClerc has unique insight on where things are headed in stewardship as it relates to agriculture and food.

One thing he sees is an issue that has moved quickly to the front burner in recent years. Environmental stewardship, or more broadly 'sustainability,' has become a major focus particularly at a 'Big Food' level among the world's major multi-national food companies. At a more grass-roots level, progress is also being made through initiatives such as the Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) in Alberta and other provinces.

Overall it's an area where industry responses, including the potential for internationally recognized standards, are in a rapidly evolving, embryonic stage of discussion and development.

"There's no doubt it's a critical time where the pathways to the future are being determined," says LeClerc. "The clear thing is, for anyone in this business at any level, the emerging expectations are something that shouldn't be downplayed or ignored. We need to work together and look at this area as part of good business. It's best to be involved and help shape the future in order to be a part of it."

Part of good business

Here are a few other key insights and perspectives from LeClerc's worldview.

Critical time. By now farmers, industry and the public in general have heard plenty about the importance of "green this, green that," and related issues such as food safety, corporate responsibility and the big catch-all term sustainability. For environmental stewardship as it relates to agriculture and food, that talk is fast turning into action including increasing demand for transparency and standards. "These are all realities we've been aware of in the past 10 years but I would say it's now that they are really coming home to roost."

Shared responsibility. One thing LeClerc strongly believes in is the advantages of the agriculture and food industry both in Canada and internationally working together to meet the emerging expectations. "We clearly don't see sustainability as a competitive advantage. We see it as a shared responsibility."

World working together. A leading example of this teamwork at an international level is the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative that McCain Foods is involved with. The effort involves a who's who of the world's major food companies and is primarily a forum for them to come together to discuss sustainability issues and related opportunities for collaborative approaches.

Coordinated responses. Closer to home, a major effort LeClerc has been involved with is a coordinated potato industry effort to meet rising stewardship expectations among the major quick service restaurant chains. A key example is from a few years back when McDonald's Corporation shareholders raised the issue of environmental stewardship standards for suppliers.

McCain helped drive a joint effort by potato grower associations, McCain Foods, other processors and McDonald's, to provide a response that included thorough benchmark information on current industry practices, along with clear targets for progress. Information was gathered through an in-depth grower survey and the Environmental Farm Plan that many Canadian growers had completed, which provided a solid foundation to the effort in Canada.

This not only met shareholder expectations but helped McDonald's boost its public image as an environmentally responsible company. "The response was very positive among everyone involved," says LeClerc. "We all saw it as simply doing what was needed to meet the requirements of the marketplace."

Profit potential. From both a grower and food industry perspective, LeClerc believes a good mindset for these and other stewardship initiatives is to equate sustainability with efficiency. "I think there's a recognition by a lot of companies that we need to reduce our footprint, whether it's carbon, whether it's water, whether it's inputs – you can go down the list," says LeClerc. "We just need to become more and more efficient in what we do to benefit not only the planet but also the growers and customers in general. It's going to be something that's going to evolve but we can find the right path by looking at areas where the stewardship and profit go together."

We're all in it together. At the end of the day it's all about collaboration as the key to success, he says. "The last thing we want to do is use it as a competitive advantage because I don't think that would favour anybody. What we do is work together as an industry at a local, national and international level, to be able to make sure that we are producing in the most sustainable way possible and in the most economical way possible. That profit part of it is important for growers and for everybody really. When you talk sustainability, it all goes hand in hand."

More information on the Alberta EFP initiative is available at www.albertaefp.com.