McDonald’s Europe to showcase “sustainable farming”

Potemkin potato growers?: McDonald’s Europe has launched a PR campaign to highlight those of its suppliers using "sustainable agricultural practices." The Flagship Farms program will showcase innovative farming practices on seven (to start) of the 500,000 European farmers supplying the company. (That's a fascinating statistic. How many farms in the U.S. supply the company, we wonder?) “Our customers care about where food comes from and we want to build on that trust,” said a McDonalds Europe rep. Among the seven starting farms are a UK chicken producer with 48,000 free-range birds, and a Dutch dairy farm cites for cow welfare improvements such as "grooved anti-slip flooring, weekly foot bathing and tri-annual foot trimming." Now that's sustainable. (Farmers Weekly Interactive; hat tip to Sustainable Industries blog)

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Comments

By Belinda on June 23rd, 2009 at 11:04 am

This is exciting news...for all the bad publicity McDonald's gets, it's often easy to overlook their efforts to effect positive change in our food system. Whether we like it or not, McDonald's is a familiar place for many. Overseas, McDonald's often holds a different image.