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Inside General Mills - April 16, 2010

When it comes to making green claims for the upcoming 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the Green Giant message practically rolls off the tongue: “Green is more than part of our name. It’s how we think about everything we plant, produce and package.” 
 
That opening statement on the Green Giant website is more than a slogan. It’s actually true. And it can be argued that few brands can lay claim to as green a legacy as Green Giant.

Hence, the “Green for over 50 Years” campaign the brand is promoting this month on its boxed vegetables and canned Niblets Corn.

The highlight of the Earth Day campaign is a $200,000 contribution Green Giant has made to The Nature Conservancy to improve agricultural practices in the Root River watershed in the ecologically sensitive region of southeastern Minnesota. The Nature Conservancy is a leading, global conservation organization that works to protect ecologically important lands and waters.

The bluff country is home to some of the best trout streams in the Upper Midwest. And the unique geology of the area – which features many sink holes that lead directly to underground aquifers – requires special care to help ensure that surface water does not contaminate the ground water supply.

The Nature Conservancy is working with area farmers – including some who grow vegetables for Green Giant – to develop the best ways to mitigate agricultural runoff.

But the Green Giant green heritage runs far deeper than its ties to The Nature Conservancy. Throughout its century-long history, Green Giant has worked to reduce its environmental footprint through many measures, including:

• Reducing the amount of land and water needed to grow vegetables.
• Packing vegetables in smaller, lighter cans, so it takes less fuel to deliver them to supermarket shelves.
• Using traditional seed breeding methods over the last 35 years to double the amount of sweet corn grown on an acre of land.
• Teaming up with growers to install a more efficient irrigation system that can reduce water use by more than a million gallons a year.
• Switching to more earth-friendly paperboard to package frozen vegetables, saving approximately 54,000 trees annually in the process.

  Inside General Mills