2023 stewardship report
Showing Up &
Showing Our
Progress
Taking the initiative
We have always been willing to roll up our sleeves and put in the work. This past year was full of stories of individuals across our organization seeing an opportunity — reducing plastic waste, saving water or being more active in their community — and making it a reality.
OURIMPACTPROGRESS
Environmental Action
Reducing our impact on farms, in our facilities and across our fleet.
On the Farm
Giving farmers the tools they need to thrive well into the future.
Communities
Strengthening the connections between employees, neighbors and fans.
Scorecard
Measuring our progress and holding ourselves accountable.
Paper or Plastic?
Finding solutions to meet our packaging goals is a difficult balancing act. Since announcing our ambitions in 2021, we’ve experienced both breakthroughs and setbacks. Here’s where we stand.
MORE SUSTAINABLE SHIPMENTS TO STORES
Before products hit shelves at your grocery store, they get boxed up at one of our facilities and shipped to retailers. Though you rarely see it, these corrugated boxes make up 50% (by weight) of our cheese, butter and other rigid packaging. We’ve been able to increase the recycled content of these boxes to 38%, on average, cutting back on a significant source of virgin paper packaging. Increasing the recycled fiber in corrugated boxes makes them less durable and harder to print on so as we work to increase that number, we need to also ensure products don’t arrive damaged, and retailers can easily scan barcodes. It’s all about finding the right balance.
SOWING THE SEEDS OF A LONG-TERM PARTNERSHIP
We’ve joined forces with regional grocery store and fellow B Corp New Seasons Market to sequester carbon and restore habitats in Tillamook County.
REDUCING OUR
RESOURCE USE
Whether in service of meeting our Climate Action Plan goals or simply through our spirit of continuous improvement, we're constantly looking for ways to reduce our resource use on our farms, in our facilities and across our fleet. Here are the estimated results of our collective actions and projects over the past year.
Community highlights
A year of giving back
Community highlights
A year of giving back
2,891 hours volunteered by employees
130 community grants awarded
$180,000 in matched employee donations since 2020
$2.1M IN GRANTS AWARDED TO FARMERS THROUGH American Farmland Trust BRIGHTER FUTURE FUND SINCE 2020
$450,000 raised by TCCA for American Farmland Trust since 2020
Recommitting to B Corp
Every three years TCCA must go through a rigorous third-party verification process to recertify as a B Corp — a process that involves almost every department at TCCA. B Lab staff also visited our production facility, corporate office and Creamery facilities in Tillamook, auditing our practices and conducting private employee interviews.
According to B Lab, the median Business Impact Assessment score among over 50,000 businesses is 50.9 points. We are proud to announce that TCCA recertified with an improved score of 94.1 — an increase of 7.5 points from our initial 2020 certification! These hard-won points are a testament to our commitment to continuous improvement across the company.
Stewardship at Tillamook happens naturally, just as it has since our founding in 1909. It is part of who we are. Inspired by our farmer-owners, we take action wherever we can, whenever we see an opportunity. We still have a lot of work to do, but 2023 is a story of acts big and small that add up to us delivering on our Stewardship Commitments.
Stewardship Commitments
Helping farmers to be more efficient, economically sound and viable for generations.
Demanding a higher standard of excellence for great-tasting products that consumers love.
Conserving air, land and water, while reducing energy and waste on farms, in facilities and across our truck fleet.
Fostering a culture that’s enriching and fulfilling for all of our employees.
Strengthening communities with agricultural advocacy, food security and healthful children.