According to an informal survey conducted by the American Feed Industry Association, the US feed industry finds there to be sizable value in the act of philanthropic giving and its correlation to a sustainable future. Results of the organization's ‘Community Involvement and Charitable Giving Survey’ showed the companies polled logged nearly 300,000 hours of community service and donated close to US$90 million to charitable organizations of their choosing last year alone.
The 2014
survey, which experienced a boost in respondents from 2013, showed a
significant increase in giving--of both funds and volunteer hours.
"We could
not be more impressed by our members' desire to give. Their support of local
communities is not only motivational, but is helping to work toward a
sustainable future by making the area where they work and live a better
place," said AFIA President and CEO Joel G Newman.
The term
"sustainability" is defined by the feed industry as: The ability
to provide a continuous, safe and nutritious feed supply for poultry,
livestock, fish and pets in a manner that optimizes environmental quality and
the use of natural resources, while positively affecting the social and
economic well-being of customers, their communities and the industry.
AFIA members
identified agricultural and food-related charities as key causes to contribute
both funds and volunteer time to, with 79 percent of respondents engaging in
ways to better FFA and 4-H programs in their communities. 69 percent of
respondents said both education-based and hunger relief efforts were equally
important when it came to philanthropic involvement, while collegiate
scholarships and county/state fairs and livestock exhibitions--67 percent
respectively--rounded out the top five.
According to
the survey, the largest charitable contribution from a sole AFIA member in 2014
was US$59.6 million. The data collected also reported the largest contribution
of community service by an individual company was 250,000 hours.
"In 2013,
the National Philanthropic Trust estimated the dollar value of volunteer time
to be US$22.55 per hour. If their model was applied to our highest grossing
company's volunteer hours that would equate to more than US$5.6 million,"
said Mr Newman.
AFIA established
a Sustainability Task Force in 2009, which identified four key sustainable
focal points, designed for communication and collaboration between
organizations, companies and associations. "Support the Community" is
one of the four focal points AFIA asks its members to participate in as part of
its sustainability initiative. The remaining focal points are optimize the use
of energy and natural resources for feed production; enhance production
efficiency and productivity; and promote understanding and appreciation of US food
production.
To learn more
about sustainability in the feed industry, visit AFIA's
website.
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine GFMT
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
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