Our 20 By 30 Challenge

In continuing with our corporate responsibility leadership, we will strive to achieve 20 corporate responsibility goals by 2030 and will report on our progress annually.

Our new goals follow our previous set of sustainability goals in which we achieved significant reductions in our packaging, nonrenewable energy use, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water use and solid waste sent to landfills. We developed our new goals based on our robust key topics assessment process that identifies and prioritizes the topics most relevant to our business and our stakeholders. In addition to this process, we aimed to set goals that helped support the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

1-3 Products

GOAL 1

Continue to offer high-quality, safe and convenient products that meet a wide range of consumer preferences and needs.

20232 PROGRESS

We launched more than 500 new retail and foodservice items to continue to meet consumer preferences and needs.

GOAL 2

Continue efforts to reduce added sugars and sodium in our products and review our items for opportunities to shorten ingredients lists, prioritizing ingredients that are familiar to consumers.

2023 PROGRESS

We continued to focus on efforts to reduce added sugars and sodium in our products throughout the year, including the launch of reduced-sodium options in our Dinty Moore^® beef stew and Jennie-O^® turkey product lines. The reduced-sodium Jennie-O^® products are specifically formulated for K-12 students.

GOAL 3

Achieve 15% of sales from new products each year*

2023 PROGRESS

In 2023, 12% of our sales came from new innovative items.

*Based on net sales for new items launched within the previous three years and the projected sales for items scheduled to launch in the next two years, divided by total reported sales for the year.
**Includes MegaMex Foods.

UN Sustainable Development Goal #2

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

UN Sustainable Development Goal #3

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

UN Sustainable Development Goal #12

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

4-6 Supply Chain

Goal 4

Maintain high standards for animal care and handling throughout our supply chain.

2023 Progress

We conducted more than 2,600 hog, turkey, beef and chicken audits to ensure our standards are being met.

Goal 5

Advance our antibiotic stewardship efforts and pilot an antibiotic use measurement and reporting system.

2023 Progress

We continued to share our efforts and progress through our annual Antibiotic Stewardship Report.

Goal6

Continue to increase our purchasing spend annually with small and diverse businesses.

2023 Progress

We spent more than $1.3 billion with Tier 1 and Tier 2 certified small and diverse suppliers in calendar year 2023. These certified businesses include small, small disabled, women-owned, minority-owned, veteran-owned, veteran disabled, LGBTQ and HUBZone businesses.

UN Sustainable Development Goal #3

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

UN Sustainable Development Goal #8

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

UN Sustainable Development Goal #10

Reduce inequality within and among countries

UN Sustainable Development Goal #12

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

7-13 Environment

In addition to the environmental sustainability goals listed below, each year we aim to achieve a 1% reduction in GHG emissions, energy use and solid waste sent to landfills, and a 2% reduction in water use. We also aim to achieve annual efficiency gains of 1% in energy and water use.

Read the Press Release

Goal 7

Match 100% of our energy with renewable sourcing.

2023 Progress

In 2023, 89% of our U.S. and 85% of global electricity usage were matched with renewable sources.

Goal 8

Demonstrate climate leadership by establishing a science-based target (SBT) for the reduction of GHG emissions by 2023.

2023 Progress

Our science-based targets were approved by the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi), formalizing our 1.5 degree Celsius-aligned 2030 emissions reduction targets for Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

Goal 9

Advance our water stewardship efforts through initiatives in our top six priority watersheds.

2023 Progress

We completed our support for the second cropping year of the Minnesota regenerative agriculture project coordinated by the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). We will extend our participation in the program for another year to help accelerate the adoption of sustainable agriculture programs, and measurement and verification of positive environmental and water stewardship outcomes.

Goal 10

Invest in wastewater treatment projects in collaboration with municipal partners and reduce water use

2023 Progress

We reduced water use by 2% in 2023 compared to the prior year.

*Starting in 2023, we will transition our focus on organic waste reduction to investing in wastewater treatment projects in collaboration with municipal partners and reducing water use by 10% by 2030 from a 2022 baseline to systematically reduce impacts of organic matter in waste discharges and water footprints of our business.

UN Sustainable Development Goal #6

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

UN Sustainable Development Goal #7

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

UN Sustainable Development Goal #12

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

UN Sustainable Development Goal #13

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

11-13 Environment

Goal 11

Support regenerative agriculture initiatives.

2023 Progress

Our Applegate (Bedminster, New Jersey) subsidiary has set a goal that 100% of all Applegate^® beef hot dogs will be sourced from certified regenerative farms by the end of 2025.

Goal 12

Focus on packaging sustainability efforts through research, innovation, on-package communications, and optimizing package weight and shipping efficiencies.

2023 Progress

Our packaging team’s sustainability initiatives resulted in nearly 1.7 million pounds in material savings. In addition, we added How2Recycle logos onto 326 items.

*Savings are based on an annual rolling average and include all projects captured by the corporate packaging development group.

Goal 13

Work toward zero food waste.

2023 Progress

We prioritized waste minimization in our processing plants, made food donations and provided helpful household food waste reduction tips to customers.

UN Sustainable Development Goal #6

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

UN Sustainable Development Goal #7

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

UN Sustainable Development Goal #12

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

UN Sustainable Development Goal #13

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

14-18 People

Goal 14

Promote and protect human rights within our operations and our supply chain.

2023 Progress

In 2023, we established a human rights advisory committee that oversees company practices, programs and policies aimed at safeguarding the inalienable, fundamental rights of all people.

Goal 15

Provide the opportunity of a free two-year college education for all our team members’ dependent high school graduates.

2023 Progress

We provided the opportunity of a free two-year college education to more than 200 students through our Inspired Pathways program.

Goal 16

Foster a sense of belonging for everyone, where people feel respected and valued, by empowering them with opportunities, equitable treatment and a voice to make Hormel Foods better for all.*

2023 Progress

The company’s total population of team members from underrepresented groups is 59% across our U.S. workforce. On our 2023 engagement survey, we met our goal of achieving a belonging score of 72, which is based on a global manufacturing industry benchmark.

*Hormel Foods has updated its Goal No. 16 to be more reflective of the company’s broader commitment to inclusion and belonging for the enterprise.

Goal 17

Provide a safe workplace for all team members and reduce our injury rates each year.

2023 Progress

We reached a recordable incident rate of 2.2 incidents per 100 full-time team members, representing an 18% improvement from the prior year and the lowest incident score in company history.

Goal 18

Invest in our team members by providing an average of at least 25 hours of training per team member annually.

2023 Progress

We provided at least 19 training hours per U.S. team member.

UN Sustainable Development Goal #4

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

UN Sustainable Development Goal #5

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

UN Sustainable Development Goal #8

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

UN Sustainable Development Goal #10

Reduce inequality within and among countries

19-20 Community

Goal 19

Provide the equivalent of 70 million meals to those in need through cash and product donations.*

2023 Progress

We continued our commitment to boosting worldwide food access by donating more than 9.2 million meals to food-security efforts.

*Using the Feeding America estimations of $1 donated = 10 meals and 1.2 pounds donated = one meal.

Goal 20

Create a food-secure community program and share blueprint and findings globally.

2023 Progress

We continued investing in the Hometown Food Security Project by activating action teams, opening a home office in Austin, Minnesota, and releasing the Hunger and Food Insecurity Community Assessment Report.

*Using the Feeding America estimations of $1 donated = 10 meals and 1.2 pounds donated = one meal

UN Sustainable Development Goal #2

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

UN Sustainable Development Goal #10

Reduce inequality within and among countries