Many of you who support Canadian Foodgrains Bank may remember that this past fall we celebrated 10 years of partnership with Bunge (formerly known as Viterra). Over the past decade, this partnership has helped make it possible for Canadian farmers and communities to donate the proceeds of their crops at Bunge/Viterra terminals and to use donated land in Saskatchewan and Alberta for growing projects that support our work.
Recently, the international company Bunge LLC completed a merger with Viterra. As a result, the company is now operating under the global Bunge name and has introduced new policies for the whole operation.
Here is a message we received from Bunge:
Bunge’s current global community investment policies and guidelines preclude them from being able to support faith-based organizations like the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. This impacts all aspects of the Foodgrains Bank programs supported by Bunge, including growing projects, cash ticket donations and donation matching.
We thank you and the Foodgrains Bank for our years of partnership and support together.
This means that Bunge will no longer:
- Allow any crop proceed donations (i.e. grain donations) to be directed to Canadian Foodgrains Bank
- Provide the use of land around their terminals for growing project use
- Provide a matching donation of $5 a tonne to the crop donations directed to our organization
Many corporations have policies that limit or restrict support for faith-based organizations, and this appears to be the case here as well.
Yet, this does not change who we are. Our Christian faith reminds us to trust that God will provide, and we see that hope reflected in the people we serve through our members and their partners.
Our prayer is that God will continue to bring forward generous supporters like you and that compassion across Canada will keep growing for people living with the indignity of hunger around the world.
Although our partnership with Bunge has come to an end, we remain grateful for the 10 years we were able to work together and make a difference in the fight to end hunger.
