Processor Handbook - Innovation Center for US Dairy

Glossary of Terms and Definitions
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Terms
Indicator
An indicator is qualitative or quantitative information about
results or outcomes associated with the farm or company
that is comparable and demonstrates change over time.
It is a communication about performance of a farm or
dairy company related to a particular sustainability topic,
characteristic or condition that enables people to make
decisions or value judgements about this performance.
Metric
A metric is data or information that indicates or reflects the
condition of an indicator. It gives the definition on how to
measure and respond to the indicator. It supports producers
or processors to measure the sustainability outcome.
Primary indicator
Primary indicators are those indicators identified in the
Guide to be of interest to most stakeholders and assumed
to be relevant unless deemed otherwise on the basis of the
GRI Reporting Guidelines (to be used by dairy companies) or
as indicated by the tools for producers.
Secondary indicator
Secondary indicators are those indicators identified in
Sustainability Measurement and Reporting Guide that
represent emerging practices or address topics that may
be relevant to some farms or dairy companies but not
generally for a majority. Or, these indicators can be used
to communicate best practices and stories to support the
primary indicators.
Supply chain
The supply chain is the network that produces, handles, and
distributes a product. The dairy supply chain can be broadly
divided into eight stages: feed production, milk production,
delivery to processor, processing, packaging, distribution,
retail, consumption and disposal.
Sustainability
Sustainability means providing consumers with the
nutritious dairy products they want, in a way that
makes the industry, people and the earth economically,
environmentally and socially better — now and for
future generations.
Sustainability report
Sustainability reporting is the practice of measuring,
disclosing and being accountable for organizational
performance while working towards the goal of sustainable
development. A sustainability report provides a balanced
and reasonable representation of the sustainability
performance of the reporting organization, including both
positive and negative contributions. (GRI G3.1)
Resources
Dairy Fleet Smart TM
Dairy Fleet Smart TM is an Innovation Center-led initiative
for the industry to calculate and measure its GHG
emissions from transportation. This tool can be used in
conjunction with the Guide and Plant Smart, but may not
be useful for processors and manufacturers that do not
operate their own fleet. (www.USDairy.com/FarmSmart)
Global Reporting Initiative
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a non-profit
organization that promotes economic, environmental
and social sustainability. GRI provides all companies
and organizations with a comprehensive sustainability
reporting framework that is widely used around the world.
GRI’s framework served as the basis for developing the
indicators in the Guide. (www.globalreporting.org)
Carbon Disclosure Project
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is an international,
not-for-profit organization providing the only global
system for companies and cities to measure, disclose,
manage and share vital environmental information.
CDP works with market forces to motivate companies to
disclose their impacts on the environment and natural
resources and take action to reduce them. CDP now holds
the largest collection globally of primary climate change,
water and forest-risk information and puts these insights
at the heart of strategic business, investment and policy
decisions. (www.cdproject.net)
Special Acknowledgements
From the beginning the Innovation Center for U.S.
Dairy ® — through the Sustainability Council and its many
partners — has modeled a new way of working together
pre-competitively to encourage innovation.
Teams of dairy industry experts have invested their time
and resources to develop and implement actionable
projects to reduce GHG emissions and build business
value across the entire dairy value chain.
The Innovation Center would like to especially
acknowledge the individuals and organizations that
contributed to the development of the Stewardship
and Sustainability Guide for U.S. Dairy. A full list of
Guide contributors is available at www.USDairy.com/
SustainabilityGuide.
Special acknowledgments go to the Sustainability Guide
Task Force and the Environment, Economic and Social
teams — as well as the Sustainability Council, Innovation
Center team members, report reviewers and field
testers — for their valuable contributions.
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