Tyson to use more best-practices beef
Tyson Foods plans to process more beef from ranchers who use best practices in caring for animals and the land.
It is doing this with help from Where Food Comes From, the largest provider of certification and verification services to the food industry.
Through this partnership, Tyson said it will purchase cattle that have been verified by BeefCare, a third-party auditor that checks for best practices among farmers and ranchers. More than 200 ranches are enrolled in the program that promotes soil and animal health.
"Our goal is to work with ranchers to verify and, when possible, improve those practices so that we can be transparent with our customers and consumers about how cattle in our supply chain are raised," Steve Stouffer, group president of Tyson Fresh Meats, said in a statement Wednesday.
In 2018, Tyson said it was the first meat company to license Progressive Beef, a quality management system for cattle feeding operators that sell to companies like Tyson. Operators in the program follow best practices for animal welfare, food safety and responsible antibiotics use. Tyson said more than half of its cattle will be Progressive Beef-certified this year.
-- Nathan Owens
Walmart to aid firms in green energy use
Walmart Inc. said Thursday it will give its U.S.-based suppliers greater access to renewable energy through a collaboration with Schneider Electric.
The Bentonville-based retailer and the energy management firm will work on an initiative to educate Walmart suppliers about buying renewable energy through aggregate power purchase agreements. The program aims to speed up suppliers' adoption of renewable energy, the companies said in a news release.
The Gigaton PPA Program supports Walmart's Project Gigaton, which seeks to eliminate one gigaton of carbon dioxide emissions from the company's global value chain by 2030. To date, suppliers have reported reaching more than 20% of that goal.
Schneider Electric's Energy & Sustainability Services, which will run the program, has advised companies including Walmart on renewable energy purchases.
-- Serenah McKay
State index loses ground to 438.03
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Thursday at 438.03, down 3.55 points.
"Equities were unable to sustain an early rally and retreated through the day to close back slightly above Tuesday's low as the S&P 500 50-day moving average is viewed as possible near term support around the 3,317 level. said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.