RTRS strengthens its membership

RTRS strengthens its membership with 8 new organisations When it was conceived in 2004 and founded later in 2006, RTRS was the first global multi-stakeholder discussion forum on responsible soy in the soy world.

Fifteen years later, the Association still carries its mission to generate and promote an open and inclusive dynamic forum for dialogue, agreements, collaboration, and actions.

Today we are more than 190 members and everyday more join to achieve a more sustainable future for food, people and planet.

Meet them:

Abbelen Gmbh is a leading player in the European convenience-goods sector. As the market leader in the category meatballs, the company supplies almost all large and well-known retailers, nationally and

internationally. Also, they produce burgers, nuggets, escalopes and meatless convenience products. As a manufacturer of meat products, soy plays a major role, especially in the meat value chain.

Dr. Dirk Gloy, CEO at Abbelen, explained: “ESG criteria are an integral part of our corporate philosophy. Sustainability means to us, acting in an efficient and resource-saving manner along the whole supply chain from supplier to customer. We are now delighted to be an RTRS member which allows us to further support our customers’ targets.”

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. is the world’s largest independent Mc Donald’s franchisee, operating the largest quick service restaurant chain in Latin America and the Caribbean.

As a company they developed the “Recipe for the Future Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) platform”, a strategy aimed at having a

positive impact on issues with the most promising opportunities to achieve significant change.

Sustainable sourcing is an important element of their success and an essential factor in this strategy, and soy included on the chicken feed their chicken suppliers use is one of the workstreams of it.

Carola Baglietto, Manager of Social Commitments & Sustainability Development, explained: “At Arcos Dorados, we support food sustainable production, forest conservation and we commit to promote the transformation of the industry. We focus our efforts in guaranteeing that priority raw materials (coffee, meat, soy

for chicken feed, palm oil) are sourced in a sustainable way. When they are available we comply with specific internationally recognised certifications schemes that guarantee traceability, responsible production and social and environmental management of each ingredient.”

“Guided by our commitment with sustainable sourcing, this year we decided to join as RTRS members to strengthen the work the round table is doing and to remain close to their stakeholders.” added Carola.

Camilo Ferrón Chile S.A. is a refinery of plant and animal oil and a manufacturer of butter and margarine, among other products. They are located in Chile and their mission is to position itself as a leader in their local and regional market for fats with high quality, safety and sustainability standards.

DLG is one of Europe's largest agribusiness companies and is owned

by Danish farmers. Today, they are an international company with activities in 18 countries and they import around 900.000 tons of soybean meal yearly.

They have a sustainable soy trading plan to help guide their transition to more sustainable sources and achieve the goal of having 100% soy sustainably sourced by 2025. Also, DLG is a member of the Danish alliance for Responsible Soy.

Kaufland Stiftung & Co. KG is a supermarket chain based in Germany and represented in seven countries of Europe; Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, and the Republic of Moldova, with more than 1,350 stores.

Kaufland is part of the Schwarz Gruppe. They are committed to making the use of soy as animal feed more transparent and helping to reduce the impacts. They aim to use

McCormick & Company, Inc. is a company that creates herbs, spices, and other flavorings for food manufacturers, food service operators and restaurants. McCormick's business strategy is Purpose-Led Performance which is the company's guiding sustainability framework. One aspect

only soy feed that has been produced without deforestation and conversion of valuable ecosystems from 2022 onwards for the supply chains of their own-brand products of animal origin.

To achieve these goals they joined RTRS to participate in the multi-stakeholder dialogue, discuss, and develop solutions and further promote responsible soy production.

of this is sustainable sourcing. They are aware of the risks associated with soy and are interested in joining RTRS to learn more about reducing the environmental and social risks associated with this supply chain and ensuring that their soy volumes are responsibly and sustainably sourced.

Nutri-Potential Biotechnology Co., Ltd was founded in Taiwan in 1974, and since, has maintained a leading position in the research and development of natural, antibiotic-free feed products (their brand is called

Grobest) for environmentally friendly and sustainable aquaculture. The company´s mission is to feed the world by improving health and growth of aquatic species through advanced nutrition.

“Respecting nature for healthy aquaculture is integral to Grobest’s approach to sustainability. With soy-based ingredients providing a significant part of the inputs into our high performance aquafeed products, it is essential that we source from

responsible

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environment matches our own. We are committed to a continuous and long-term approach to building capacity and capability across the sector. Consequently, our membership of RTRS is a key part of that.” said Edena Low, Group Chief Legal, Compliance and ESG Officer.

Nuveen Natural Capital - Latam is a land-focused asset management platform with over 35 years of land-based investing experience and specialists in combining expertise across farmland and timberland investment based in Brazil. The company strives to reduce the impact of farming and timber production across the properties they manage,

whilst supporting local communities and promoting efficient production.

They joined RTRS as a member because they believe it is one of the few groups that still manages to discuss sustainability by bringing together the different stakeholders in the soy supply chain, including producers.

Henrique Americano Carvalho de Freitas, Head of Nuveen Natural Capital Latam, elaborated on this: “Nuveen NC joining RTRS is an important part of our sustainability strategy, as more than 50% of our portfolio in Brazil produces soy, which reflects the relevance of this crop to our business in the region. We also strive to monitor and encourage our producers to be connected to market trends and best practices related to sustainability, and the RTRS is an excellent tool in this regard. We also believe that dialogue across all links in the soy production chain is the key to transforming it into an even more sustainable production model”.