Hitting the Target

Analyzing the Ethics of Selling Lab Grown Produce

Process

▪ Beautiful Picture

▪ Step by step

Target’s Core Values COMPARE TO VALUES OF LAB GROWN TECHNOLOGY

▪ Guest needs

▪ Innovation

▪ Enhancing Community

▪ Nutrition

▪ Sustainability

Legal

9 billion people by 2050

UN FAO and many individual countries worried about how to feed everyone

Target can be a ahead of the political climate this staggering fact will change

Regulations to Consider

United States

1 MEMBER

• Produced without ionizing radiation, or sewage

• National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances

• Overseen by USDA

European Union

27 MEMBERS

• Sustainability

• No GMO’s

• Limits fertilizers, antibiotics, pesticides

• Locally Sourced

• Animal Welfare

A Balance of Policy

Public Policy

▪ Target is required to not violate resource usage laws

▪ Target ought to stay away from product liability

Target Policy

▪ Commitments to:

▪ Health and Sustainability

Food Waste Reduction Alliance

▪ Goal #1:

▪ Reduce the amount of food waste generated,

▪ Goal #2:

▪ Increase the amount of safe, nutritious food donated to those in need, and

▪ Goal #3:

▪ Recycle unavoidable food waste, diverting it from landfills.

Financial

$175 million lost each year at store level

15% of food wasted each day on Food perfection

Lab grown produce has a longer shelf life

And provides a better choice

Shelf Life

Lettuce

▪ Browns in 8-10 days

▪ It’s Target’s policy that it needs to be pulled off the shelf after 6 days

Lab Grown Lettuce

▪ Shows no signs of browning or wilting at day 15

▪ Doubles the shelf life

Traditional Supply Chain Costs

• Subject to Variables

• Price Fluctuations

• Diesel Consumption

Corporately Owned Farm

• 40% of Produce’s Cost

• May increase 4% from Proposed Wage Increases

Collecting and

Packaging

• 10% of Produce’s Cost

• Delivery fees, fuel surcharges, drop charges

Transport

Outdoor Farming Variables

▪ Water

▪ Land

▪ Transportation

▪ Machinery

▪ Emissions

▪ Growing Climate

▪ Traditional farming methods use a lot of financial capital

Ecologically Minded Consumers

▪ 55% of global consumers

▪ 42% in the United States

▪ Motivated by the presentation/packaging

▪ “[Consumers are] willing to pay more for products and services provided by companies that are committed to positive social and environmental impact.” – Nielson Consumer Study

Ethical

Target already commits itself to important relationships

Adopting this product in our stores can only enrich this commitment

Land Ethic helps see relationships in new ways

Preserving Capital

Social

Financial

Ecological

Ethical Issues for Lab Grown Produce

Are the plants grown through plant lab technology natural?

• Not Genetic modification, optimizing environment

• Consider greenhouses

What are the consequences for the environment?

• Labs won’t use new land, farming won’t further damage existing environments by going indoors

Will this technology do damage to those who eat these plants?

• Technology uses visible spectrum light

• Helps plants grow more nutrients

• Doesn’t modify or destroy cells for plants, or consumers of plants

• Eliminates need for pesticides

General Ethical Factors

▪ Diminishing Arable Land

▪ Wasting Resources

▪ Climate Change

▪ Population Growth

The Land Ethic

Stakeholders

▪ Moral relationship between individuals and the environment (biotic community)

▪ Cultivates relationship between consumer and supplier

The Community

▪ Social

▪ Ecological

▪ Economical

Tying it all Together

▪ Adopting a Land Ethic will provide Target with a framework to restore ecological capital while enhancing social and financial capital.

▪ Land ethic and lab grown plants parallel Target’s commitments to achieve sustainability, dedication to preserving renewable resources, and building powerful relationships among its consumers.

▪ Target can be a leader in technological and environmental innovation

Target’s Ethical

Commitments

Lab Grown

Produce

Land Ethic

Resources ▪ "AeroFarms is on a mission to transform agriculture." AeroFarms. http://aerofarms.com/.

▪ "FAO.org." Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://www.fao.org/home/en/.

▪ "FMI | Food Marketing Institute | Food Marketing Institute." FMI - The Voice of Food Retail. http://www.fmi.org/.

▪ "International Conference on Vertical Farming and Urban Agriculture." Conference 2014 - The University of Nottingham. November 2014.

▪ "Social Responsibility, Careers, Press, Investors." Target Corporate. https://corporate.target.com/.

▪ Adams, Anne-Taylor. "Global Consumers are Willing to Put Their Money Where Their Heart is When it Comes to Goods and Services from Companies Committed to Social

Responsibility." Http://www.nielsen.com/. June 17, 2014.

▪ Baraniuk, Chris. "BBC - Future - How vertical farming reinvents agriculture." BBC News. April 6, 2017.

▪ European Union. On Organic Production and Labelling of Organic Products and Repealing Regulation. By S. Gabriel . Luxemborg, 2007.

▪ Foley, Jonathan. "Feeding 9 Billion - National Geographic." Feeding 9 Billion . http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/feeding-9-billion/.

▪ Friedman, Milton “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profi ts,” New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970.

▪ FWRA - Food Waste Reduction Alliance. http://www.foodwastealliance.org/.

▪ "Good Stories, Good Business." Yale School of Management. January 16, 2014. http://som.yale.edu/good-stories-good-business.

▪ Ikerd, John E. Sustainable Capitalism: A Matter of Common Sense. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press, Inc., 2006.

▪ Lanes, Brian. "Understanding Plat Lab." Telephone interview by Owens, Lollar, Bernal. February 15, 2017.

▪ Lanes, Brian. "Understanding Plat Lab." Telephone interview by Owens, Lollar, Bernal. February 8, 2017.

▪ Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1966.

▪ Oliver, John, writer. "Food Waste." In Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. HBO. July 19, 2015.

▪ PlantLab. http://www.plantlab.nl/.

▪ Urban Crop Solutions. https://urbancropsolutions.com/.