19: What does sustainability look like in agriculture?

Anna-Marie Slot:
Hello, and welcome to the latest episode of 30 For Net Zero 30. I'm Anna-Marie Slot, Global Sustainability and ESG Partner at Ashurst. And this is the series in which we talk to 30 change-makers around the globe on steps to take now in order to reach 2030 goals.

Anna-Marie Slot:
Today, I am very pleased to be joined by Lynette Ryan, Head of Sustainability at SunRice, a global food business and one of Australia's leading branded food exporters. Lynette has a fascinating background, she's a reformed lawyer who wised up and got out of private law. Maybe, Lynette, could you tell us a little bit about how you came to work with SunRice and the work that you're doing there?

Lynette Ryan:
Yeah, of course. Hi, I'm Anna-Marie and thanks for having me. Yes, as you mentioned, I'm Head of Sustainability now at SunRice based in Sydney. I started my career as a lawyer. In fact, I'm an Ashurst alumni. I started as a lawyer and then moved pretty quickly into in-house roles, legal roles. But about 15 years ago, in one of those roles based overseas, working for PepsiCo as a lawyer, I got involved in a project that was really focused on community impact, and in those days was called corporate social responsibility, CSR.

Lynette Ryan:
And I really transitioned into that role and realized how much I was using my legal skills to do that role. I haven't looked back since. And I've gone on from those roles, being corporate social responsibility roles, into this current role that I have, which is a head of sustainability role at SunRice, focused on all of those sustainability strategy pieces.

Anna-Marie Slot:
You came to this role when people thought about this from a CSR perspective. Have you seen that shift, particularly the last two years?

Lynette Ryan:
I think it's changed significantly over the last two years. So when I first got involved in this space, back when it was corporate social responsibility, we were looking at it as a strategic driver, absolutely. But it wasn't thought of that way by many companies. And now I would say most companies look at what they call sustainability or corporate social responsibility or shared value, there's multiple names for it, but there's a real understanding now. And it's taken off in the last 18 months that a really robust sustainability or ESG agenda can drive value creation.

Lynette Ryan:
And that is a real shift I think that's happened over the last 18 months to two years. In some ways we've moved from the why to the how. Why would we do this, convincing companies that it's the right thing to do, to companies asking and knowing that it's a must-have, it needs to be embedded in your strategy. And it's absolutely intrinsically linked to how you create value as a company.

Anna-Marie Slot:
Yeah, really interesting. And as a food exporter, what does that look like in terms of just day-to-day? Because we talked to lots of different people, but I think it'd be really interesting for people to understand what sustainability looks like. Agriculture is such a huge part of delivering on sustainability.

Lynette Ryan:
I think one thing I'd say about my role, and it's probably quite similar to the legal roles, no day is the same. We are an agricultural company, but that's one of our main supply chains. It's just one of our main supply chains. So one of our greatest focuses obviously is on farm sustainability, but that's not us. We have to find ways to influence our agricultural supply chain to ensure sure that it maintains a level of sustainability and continuous improvement.

Lynette Ryan:
We're really lucky because SunRice, as an Australian company, started as a co-op of Australian rice-growers. And with that history we have amazing connection and relationships with our rice-growers in Australia, a very well connected supply chain in that space. They're doing a lot of work that's been world-leading. We use 50% less water than the global average, for example.

Lynette Ryan:
Now my job is to make sure that we understand that impact of those practices, and that we're, one, able to continue to improve. But how do we connect that to the conversation we have with other stakeholders? What does that mean to our customers, the people we're selling to? The retailers, to our consumers, the people that are buying it on pack. We really need to be able to connect that story from the farm all the way to the consumer who's buying it in the store.

Lynette Ryan:
That supply chain is a really significant supply chain. There are a number of other what we call priority areas in SunRice, but all of them have a body of work around them. We're doing all of our work around climate resilience and the path to net zero. The taskforce on climate-related financial disclosures is a really key part of our strategy and our work. How do we make sure we've got a path that makes sense? How do we make sure that we are looking for risks and opportunities that come about as a result of climate change?

Lynette Ryan:
And then there's a whole raft of additional priorities, looking at sustainable packaging and additional things that all link into that story and that impact that we have as a company. But at the heart of it, as you say, is agriculture and how we make sure that that's sustainable and we can continue to feed as many people as we can in the most sustainable way that we can.

Anna-Marie Slot:
Good aim, certainly, I think that everyone would agree with. I think one of the things that people struggle with at this point, I think, is trying to figure out where to start and how that works, and how you build that into your different aspects of your company.

Anna-Marie Slot:
I guess if you were to pick one action that you think really changes the dial on that delivery of sustainability, in particular across that supply chain. You raise a question that a lot of companies have, because, "I don't control this end and I don't control that end." So how do I deliver on commitments across the whole scope of what I'm doing as a company?

Lynette Ryan:
I think what I've really come to understand, particularly in the last 12 months, is you have to start. Everyone knows that perfection can be the enemy of progress and you just have to get started in that. And collaboration is key. So what we try and do, if I think about it from an external perspective, is who can help us achieve this goal and who do we need to work with? And it doesn't have to be perfect to get started. So really ambitious goals are important, because it gives you a destination you want to head to, but really understanding who you need to collaborate with in order to achieve that is really important. And you need to just get started on a path.

Lynette Ryan:
And then you think about how do I hold myself accountable for what I'm doing? And that's the internal piece. I talk a lot to people in our teams about what their superpower is. The marketers need to understand what they bring to that sustainability, ESG agenda. They are excellent at moving consumer sentiment. They know how to inspire consumers and there is a role for that. So helping every level of an organization and every function in an organization understand what their role in that is. And lighting that passion that actually all of us really have, most of us have, to use their day-to-day skills to deliver that objective is really important as well.

Lynette Ryan:
As a ex lawyer, I know that there is that skillset within the legal team as well, to be able to understand what they can bring. And even internally in our business, what do the lawyers bring to that? Quite often they're the voice at a table for negotiations with our suppliers where they can ask the question. It's actually part of the contract negotiation. "What's your agenda, supplier? Can we incorporate that in the way we measure and track our performance against the contract?" And understanding those sorts of really tangible things like measurement, accountability is really, really key.

Anna-Marie Slot:
Yeah. We do a lot of work actually with Chancery Lane, which is a group of lawyers working together, believe it or not, to come up with language that people can use in contracts to be able to amend those contracts if those relationships aren't working in a way that is delivering on commitments. Things like that, it's a fair point.

Anna-Marie Slot:
A question I always ask for people who are working in this space, because that distinction between work life and personal life that people make, what is your own commitment to net zero over the next 12 months or so?

Lynette Ryan:
Yeah, I think that's a really interesting and important question to ask people that are in this space. I don't think it's one of those things where you can have a distinction between your commitment at work and your commitment at home, and you have to lead by example.

Lynette Ryan:
From my perspective, it goes from very small things in the office, like being that person who's always using the reusable cups and the reusable ... It's really important and if you don't do that and you don't walk the talk, people know and people notice. So just from a really small level, I'd say those things. But then at home, we have solar electricity and my big commitment over the next 12 months is to move ... We still have some gas in our house for cooking and for heating. And that can be changed over to electrify that heat source and we can get more solar panels on our roof. Something that a Australian roof is quite handy. So that's my big commitment over the next 12 months, is to improve our footprint at home really.

Anna-Marie Slot:
In light of what you're doing at home, in light of what you're doing at the office, in light of how you're working across that network of all those growers, if you could give people a takeaway. I mean, I think we've talked about it in a little bit of detail. I really like this idea of just get started now, this is something that we hear and that we talk about a lot, that don't let perfect be the enemy of the good.

Anna-Marie Slot:
What is that thing that, if somebody's listening, and what do you think they could do from where they're sitting here? Noting that our listeners are from a wide-ranging background in business and law.

Lynette Ryan:
One of the really key things that it's really going to make a change, is to understand your role in that footprint and think about how you can and measure and hold yourself accountable for the changes. Many people in the corporate sector are in a really fantastically, privileged position, that we have a power and an influence just by the role that we have. And I think being that voice in conversations, even if the conversation is not about sustainability, is not about net zero, be the voice that asks the question around, "What could we do in this space that can deliver against that impact?"

Lynette Ryan:
It might not be that that conversation is meant to be around net zero, but quite often I say to people, "I can't be in every conversation within our own business. I can't be there. I can't be that voice in every single conversation." But what our teams have committed to do is to ask the question in every conversation. And I think that's a really good call to action, no matter what your role is. Be that voice, be the person who's going to ask the question. And also be the person who's willing to ask what role can you play in solving it. Because it's actually, everybody's got to have a role in it. If not you, then who?

Anna-Marie Slot:
Excellent. No, definitely good, good points. I mean, be the voice, bring it to the table. I think solving the problem and also finding the opportunities there. Because that is a huge aspect going forward as more and more companies are going to realize that they need to look through their chains, that connectivity between both ends of the spectrum, or in fact, the circle of the business cycle, is a really critical point to bring out.

Anna-Marie Slot :
Any last comments for our listeners, anything you want to leave people with?

Lynette Ryan:
I think that you made that really good point. And I think that's a really good one that I'd like to leave with people, which is the opportunity piece. There is a huge opportunity on the table in relation to this work. And the companies and organizations that get it right, not only will they have a massive impact on the planet and it's something that we need, not only will they have some personal satisfaction in it, but they're actually going to do well. Companies are not going to succeed if they can't take advantage of these opportunities.

Lynette Ryan:
That would be my parting comment, is change your perception. This isn't about risk management. This isn't about any kind of right to operate. It's actually an opportunity on the table, and the people who get it right are going to do really well.

Anna-Marie Slot:
Great. Thanks so much, Lynette. I really appreciate you joining us today.

Anna-Marie Slot:
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