Tyson Foods realized it needed to do more to improve its use of water, so it partnered with the Center for Agriculture and Rural Sustainability at the University of Arkansas in order to conduct a study analyzing water usage in areas the brand works in. The first stage of the study analyzed the risk of water scarcity in 100 locations of production and the second stage determined water sustainability by an doing in-depth analysis of the availability of freshwater, yearly use of freshwater, impact of the industry and the quality of the wastewater outflow at eight production sites.

Stage I Results:

• 34 production plants are in areas where there is great risk for water scarcity
• 66 production plants are in areas where there is low risk for water scarcity
  

Stage II Results:

The brand included this chart in the study results because it believes that some of the production plants would have had improved scores if  all wastewater-qualiy data had been included when the study was conducted. Tyson Foods also notes that the area with the lowest score is probably due to it being in an area with great risk for water scarcity. 

Source of Study:

Burr, Jamie. Tyson Foods, Inc., Sustainable Water-Use Assessment: A Study Conducted by the Center for Agriculture and Rural Sustainability at the University of Arkansas. Springdale: Tyson Foods, Inc., 2012. PDF.

Comment on this page