Sustainable sourcing: Symrise future-proofs natural ingredients supply chain

04 Sep 2024 --- Natural ingredients supplier Symrise is taking its secure sourcing approach to the next level amid climatic and geopolitical factors that increasingly affect the production of agricultural raw materials and impact the availability and quality of food.

The company anticipates and addresses these challenges to ensure a secure supply of natural ingredients for its customers, leveraging expertise in agronomy and sustainability.

Symrise has designed its comprehensive program of sustainable sourcing strategies, in face of global climate changes and the related availability of food crops, to ensure business continuity for its customers. 

To this end, Symrise applies a combination of measures to mitigate the many different types of risk.

Sustainable sourcing strategies

For its program, the Symrise Food & Beverage Naturals Agronomy team conducted a comprehensive long-term risk assessment, started in 2022. It analyzed risks related to water, climate, access to labor and land, among others, for various types of fruit and vegetables, from mushrooms to bananas or strawberries, and prepared a forecast for the year 2030. 

Barbara Malmezat, global purchasing and risk director at Symrise F&B Naturals, summarizes the results: “This lays the foundation for imagining the future of sustainable agricultural landscapes, with both continuous improvements and disruptive innovations.”

Using this data, the agronomists developed tangible strategies to mitigate the risks, thus defining the “secure sourcing, sustainably” approach. 

The strategies can involve collaborating closely with partner farmers to transition to regenerative agriculture practices, using smart farming practices such as covering soil to sequester carbon, identifying drought-resistant varieties and more.

Solutions for the future

The “secure sourcing, sustainably” program is already showing promising results, for instance, in carrot cultivation. 

Symrise has designed its comprehensive program of sustainable sourcing strategies, in face of global climate changes.At a time when many farmers are shying away from growing carrots due to volatile fertilizer prices, Symrise supports them by helping implement regenerative farming practices. Among other things, they are offered alternatives to synthetic inputs, leading to improvements in biodiversity, carbon sequestration and water use efficiency. 

According to Symrise, farmers’ profitability risk is also reduced. These efforts directly benefit food and beverage manufacturers by ensuring a reliable supply of carrots and a reduced carbon footprint, which leads to greater sustainability in the agricultural sector.

Addressing environmental challenges

A look at global agricultural raw material production demonstrates the relevance of the program. The sector faces significant challenges, including climate change, geopolitical tensions, growing populations and regulatory requirements. 

At the same time, Symrise observes that consumers are increasingly looking for sustainably produced food products with clearly labeled and natural ingredients.

These factors are having an increasing impact on farmers and crops, as well as on the whole supply chain. Symrise’s program aims to support food and beverage manufacturers who face these challenges, secure supply, and satisfy consumer demand for popular products.

Working with a reliable partner can help turn future challenges into opportunities. Symrise believes that players capable of mitigating future risks will offer manufacturers a secure supply and will also open opportunities in terms of market share and competitiveness, as well as brand image.

“Symrise is making changes today to support its vision of a sustainable future,” concludes Malmezat.

Earlier this year, Symrise launched its Secure Sourcing program, an initiative designed to secure the supply of natural raw materials.