Hirshberg: Stonyfield Farm Blends Profits with Saving Planet

By Nariman Ahmed

Gary Hirshberg, CEO of Stonyfield Farm, spoke Feb. 8 at the McCombs Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Speaker Series.

Hirshberg said Stonyfield Farm was born from an epiphany he had while visiting an exhibit at Kraft Foods that demonstrated to him the possibilities of the food business.

Hirshberg tried to avoid a career in business and instead envisioned studying ecology. But he felt the pull to business after the visit to Kraft.

"Mom, I surrender," Hirshberg recalled thinking. "I have to become Kraft Foods and develop the kind of power they have."

With Stonyfield Farm, Hirshberg shattered the myth that environmental concerns and economics can't mix. Stonyfield's net margins are stronger than competitor Dannon's and equal to Yoplait's, Hirshberg said.

"What I am telling you about is not philosophy or the ravings of a child of the '60s, but that this really works," he said.

In 1994, Stonyfield was the first manufacturer to offset 100 percent of its carbon emissions. However, Hirshberg said, reducing energy use is even more important.

"Offsets are controversial, but the reality is unless we are reducing first, offsets by themselves are irrelevant," he said.

Hirshberg attempts to help the environment and battle global climate change by improving the energy efficiency in three areas of Stonyfield's business: the direct burning of vehicles and boilers, electricity use and the energy used in the supply chain.

"We are constantly measuring these metrics," he said.

To combat pollution, Hirshberg built an anaerobic facility that produces a useful biogas and produces only about one truckload of sludge in four years.

Hirshberg also created Climate Counts, a scoring system that determines if companies are committed to climate change. Climate Counts ratings are accessible to the public, and Hirshberg hopes to educate consumers about which companies are working to fight climate change and which are not. His long term goal is to draw increased attention to companies that are climate-protection innovators and encourage the rest to work harder at sustainable business practices.

"This is where we enact our power," Hirshberg said. "I am not saying these companies are good or bad, but we are doing them a favor by encouraging them and that it is profitable," he said.

Hirshberg's initial goal of becoming Kraft Foods has come full circle. Stonyfield has passed Kraft Foods in yogurt sales, and a colleague recently showed Hirshberg a package of certified organic Kraft Singles American Slices.

"I realized I didn't have to become Kraft—they became me, which is very nice," he said.