Corporate Head of Agriculture Hans Jöhr's mind raced in anticipation of
the executive board meeting that afternoon. Jöhr recognized the meeting
as a key opportunity to strategize far into the future, reexamining how
his team's efforts in sustainable agricultural sourcing supported
Nestlé's position as the world's leading nutrition, health and wellness
company. The company had undertaken to impact three of the world's most
urgent challenges - nutrition, water and rural development - and Jöhr's
team was fundamental to each of these pillars. Yet the forces changing
the global food system were formidable: unprecedented levels of hunger,
obesity and chronic disease; land degradation, frequent natural
disasters, and critical threats to water supply; population growth by
the billions in the coming decades, along with increased urbanization;
and a volatile and tentative world economy. In the face of such threats
and complexity, how could Hans Jöhr ensure that Nestlé's agricultural
raw materials were safe, high quality, of consistent supply, and
sustainably and ethically and economically produced? How can the
procurement process enable the small scale producer to become a viable
partner in the milk production models that Nestlé has developed in the
developing world? Further, how could his team excel beyond the company's
day-to-day business and enable Nestlé's visions for the future?