PotashCorp, the world’s largest producer of crop nutrients, recently launched a first-of-its-kind website designed to inspire the agriculture industry to embrace sustainable business practices. The site profiles ag retailers from across North America who are leading the way in local sustainable development programs.
“Through our Enriching program we hope to provide greater visibility to the kinds of activities that our customers are conducting that will help our industry, and our planet, long into the future,” said Betty-Ann Heggie, Senior Vice President of Corporate Relations at PotashCorp. “And by doing so, we hope it will inspire others to do the same.”
PotashCorp officials say the Enriching website is designed to function as a virtual best practices forum for their customers, by profiling unique safety and environmental stories, community outreach stories and local economic development stories from ag retailers across North America.
“If you look closely, you will see all three bottom lines of sustainable development at work here,” Heggie said. “But at the same time, we were mindful of not being too academic with this site. There’s already a lot of textbook language out there describing sustainable development, which can sometimes confuse or intimidate people. So, our goal with the Enriching program is to put a face on sustainability and to make the subject matter more approachable.
“Ultimately, we feel we’re going to have a greater impact by making this site more inspirational than instructional.”
With the launch of the Enriching program, PotashCorp salutes ag retailers’ efforts to mentor inner city school children, promote grain silo safety and show farmers how to decrease their impact on the environment while they increase their productivity.
To fuel content for the website, PotashCorp is sending production crews into small towns throughout North America to document the unique ways ag retailers are improving the communities in which they operate. They then produce the photo essays, human-interest videos and animated sequences that are featured on the site. The company hopes to add new ag retailers, which are resellers of PotashCorp’s products, to the site each year.
Over the years, PotashCorp has emerged as a leading company in the arena of sustainability reporting. In 2004, the Saskatoon-based company was voted the top sustainability reporter in Canada by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. In 2005, it received an honorable mention for excellence in sustainable development reporting from the same organization.
The company views the Enriching program as a natural extension of the kind of stakeholder engagement that’s been fueling their own sustainable development efforts.
“Over the years, some of the best lessons we’ve learned about sustainability have come from simply asking other companies – especially our customers – how they go about it,” Heggie said.
“You will never stop learning as long as you’re listening, and this website is dedicated to that very basic principle. The best part is that the entire ag industry can listen, and learn, right along with us.”
Via: (PotashCorp)
