Vital Farms Sets Three ESG Goals and Celebrates Progress Towards Improving the Lives of People, Animals, and the Planet Through Food in 2023 Impact Report

AUSTIN, Texas, March 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- When Vital Farms (Nasdaq: VITL) began as a single-family farm in Austin, TX, we had one mission in mind: bring more ethical food to the table. Over the past 15 years, we’ve remained committed to that mission in partnership with our stakeholder community, which continues to grow. We’re now grateful to work with over 300 family farms, crew members in over 30 states, thousands of retail and foodservice customers, and millions of people across the country who cook with our eggs and butter.

As a mission-driven company, we’re committed to creating sustainable, positive outcomes for all of our stakeholders. Last year, we released our first-ever Sustainability Report, which recognized the impact we’ve made through areas of environment, social, and governance (ESG). With the release of our second report this year – recast as our Impact Report – we’re taking this work a step further by laying out a series of measurable, meaningful impact goals.

This year’s report recognizes the progress we’ve made embedding impact into our business and defines short- and medium-term goals that are grounded in our purpose to improve the lives of people, animals, and the planet through food. We’re aiming to hit three notable goals over the next five years:

1. First, we’re planning to achieve zero waste-to-landfill at our egg washing and packing facility, Egg Central Station, by the end of 2023.
2. Next, we’re scaling regenerative agriculture practices to all farmers in our network by 2026.
3. And finally, we’re reducing carbon intensity in our operations by 25 percent by 2027.
   

“The goals we’ve laid out in this year’s report are steppingstones to building an increasingly resilient Vital Farms,” said Joanne Bal, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Head of Impact, Vital Farms. We’ve embedded this impact framework into our business and are focused on consistent, steady progress towards meaningful outcomes.”.”

This report also shares clear, tangible progress we’ve made addressing a wide range of issues like climate change and ecological impact, crew member professional development, our diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and farmer welfare goals, and supply chain management. Highlights from the report include:

• We have aligned our reporting framework with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures to increase transparency.
• We have advanced diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the farming community through our first Inclusive Farmer Open House, and we’re taking other steps to reach out to prospective farmers from communities that have been historically marginalized in agriculture.
• We have thoughtfully and responsibly doubled our processing capacity at Egg Central Station and added increased water recycling capabilities and additional solar panels.
• We are advancing the circular economy with 99 percent of our products coming in recyclable packaging, and we’re transitioning our 18-count carton from PET to a lower-impact hybrid carton.
• We have intentionally created a gender balanced Board of Directors and invested in strong female leaders on our senior leadership team.        
  

“Our ESG strategy – like all good things at Vital Farms – has grown from our commitment to creating sustainable, positive outcomes for all of our stakeholders,” said Russell Diez-Canseco, President and CEO, Vital Farms. “This long-term, stakeholder-focused perspective guides every decision we make and forces an element of pragmatism and accountability that differentiates how we drive impact through ESG.”

In tandem with this year’s report, we recently renamed our ESG team the Impact team to better reflect the breadth of work ESG touches on, and the ways ESG creates an enduring impact across our business.

To read our full 2023 Impact Report, visit: www.vitalfarms.com/impact-report

ABOUT VITAL FARMS 
Vital Farms (Nasdaq: VITL), a Certified B Corporation, offers a range of ethically produced foods nationwide. Started on a single farm in Austin, Texas, in 2007, Vital Farms is now a national consumer brand that works with over 300 family farms and is the leading U.S. brand of pasture-raised eggs by retail dollar sales. Vital Farms’ ethics are exemplified by its focus on the humane treatment of farm animals and sustainable farming practices. In addition, as a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation, Vital Farms prioritizes the long-term benefits of each of its stakeholders, including farmers and suppliers, customers and consumers, communities and the environment, and crew members and stockholders. Vital Farms’ products, including shell eggs, butter, hard-boiled eggs, and liquid whole eggs, are sold in over 22,000 stores nationwide. Vital Farms pasture-raised eggs can also be found on menus at hundreds of foodservice operators across the country. For more information, visit https://vitalfarms.com/.

CONTACT:

Media:
Rob Discher
Rob.Discher@vitalfarms.com  

Investors:
Matt Siler
Matt.Siler@vitalfarms.com