May Newsletter Article
When Innovation, Equity, and Supplier Diversity Collide
Historically, Black farmers haven’t been a part of major food & agribusiness supply chains. Their absence is a missed opportunity for American agriculture. A vital, sustainable agricultural sector must tap into the knowledge, talents, and abilities of all types of producers. Attempts to increase opportunities for Black farmers have been haphazard and poorly resourced, exacerbating the struggles of the Black agriculture community at large. Increasingly, food and agribusiness companies are recognizing the opportunities to influence environmental and social imperatives through their supply chains. The benefits of an effective supplier diversity and inclusion strategy are multiple and include fostering resilience, creating a positive differentiator for consumer- facing brands, and building goodwill within the communities that the company operates in. It is also the right thing to do. However, a major barrier across the U.S. agri-food sector has been how to incorporate more black farmers effectively and equitably into their supply/processing chains.
Amidst a range of metrics that could be adopted to measure diversity, Freedmen Heirs Foundation proposes the very first program that utilizes the Mass Balance concept as a base framework to support Black farmers and increase the share of black-grown agricultural inputs into agribusiness supply chains.
The Mass Balance concept has been utilized for decades across various industries that have complex supply/processing chains. Several agribusiness companies already employ the mass balance concept in the sourcing of inputs such as palm oil and cocoa, but none have employed this framework through the lens of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. A major advantage of the Social Mass Balance™ approach for agribusinesses is the ability to increase the share of agricultural inputs sourced by Black farmers into their respective supply chains without having to separately process volumes against other sourced products of the same quality. Our approach will assist in minimizing processing, production, and administrative costs while increasing economies of scale. As social mass balance makes it more equitable to source Black grown agricultural products, demand will increase, and more Black farmers will benefit from the social and economic advantages (including higher profit margins and long-term contractual agreements). An important benefit of using the Freedmen Heirs Foundation's Social Mass Balance™ approach is the ability to grow and diversify current and future supply channels while building strong, sustainable, diverse partnerships.