Denver, CO— Ardent Mills has found a new corporate partnership with U.S. nonprofit corporation Partners in Food Solutions. Ardent Mills, a premier flour-milling and ingredient company, will be joining Partners in Food Solutions which connects corporate volunteers with businesses in eight African countries that are still small and growing in the hopes of improving nutrition, food security and economic development across the continent of Africa. Since the population of Africa is expected to double by the year 2050, it is hoped that strengthening the processing sector of the local food system will promote a stable market for the small businesses and farmers, job growth and the accessibility of healthy and nutritious foods to consumers there. Partners in Food Solutions has developed a model of remote consulting which has been recognized by leaders around the world and Ardent Mills' volunteer experts will utilize that model to assist African client businesses with business expertise and technical issues.
“Our social responsibility efforts are focused on ending hunger and educating people on the value of grains to a healthy, balanced diet in the communities where we live and work across North America. By joining hands with Partners in Food Solutions, we are expanding our reach with these efforts on a truly international scale,” said Dan Dye, Ardent Mills CEO.
Partners in Food Solutions CEO Jeff Dykstra underscored the importance of this effort. “We believe that supporting the development of a robust local food industry in Africa is at the heart of building stable and thriving communities,” he says. “Africa is home to more than 1.2 billion people and that population is expected to double to 2.4 billion by 2050. Harnessing the power of the private sector can have a significant impact on increasing food security across the continent for a rapidly growing population.”
Partners in Food Solutions, a five-year-old nonprofit, is hoping that the addition of Ardent Mills’ volunteer experts will assist it in its aggressive growth plan over the next few years. With 980 volunteers, Partners in Food Solutions has assisted over 700 food companies through 75,000 hours towards consulting and training projects as well as technical support. Since its start in 2011, Partners in Food Solutions has doubled the amount of countries it has helped from four to eight in 2017. First starting out as an internal volunteer program, which was a part of General Mills in 2008, Partners in Food Solutions began as a nonprofit organization in 2011 which was joined in 2015 by companies such as DSM, Buhler and The Hershey Company.
