Smithfield Foods supports North America’s largest environmental education program with $89,000 sponsorship

Event theme 2024 underlines the importance of renewable energies for a sustainable future

SMITHFIELD, Va. – Smithfield Foods is sponsoring the National Conservation Foundation (NCF) 2024 Envirothon Competition, an international environmental and natural resources problem-solving competition that provides leadership experience to high school students, with a grant of $89,000.

“Empowering youth through educational programs and competitions like NCF-Envirothon is key to solving our planet’s most pressing environmental issues, such as the need to generate clean, renewable energy,” said Stewart Leeth, Chief Sustainability Officer at Smithfield Foods. “Sustainability is a long-term priority for Smithfield and we are proud to support Envirothon to inspire students to take action in their local communities.”

Smithfield provided $30,000 in scholarships to the top three teams in the national competition and an additional $59,000 to support 51 state competitions held across the country earlier this year.

“The NCF Envirothon and the student teams from around the world participating this year are grateful for Smithfield’s continued support of the National Conservation Foundation and our programs,” said Jeremy Peters, NCF Executive Director. “Smithfield’s sponsorship helps support the 50,000 high school students worldwide who participate each year and makes it possible to offer opportunities like the NCF Envirothon on a global scale and in many of our partner nations.”

The NCF-Envirothon 2024 competition theme is “Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Future,” highlighting the ongoing work to build a dynamic renewable energy industry. Students will learn about different sources of renewable energy, learn about the challenges of transitioning from traditional fossil fuels to renewable energy, learn about the environmental, economic and social impacts of energy use, and how individuals can create change in their communities.

Smithfield is a partner in two renewable natural gas (RNG) joint ventures: one with Dominion Energy, known as Align RNG, and a second with Roeslein Alternative Energy and TPG Rise, known as Monarch Bioenergy. These projects convert methane from hog manure into carbon-negative renewable natural gas (RNG) on farms.

The company’s food processing plants in Grayson, Kentucky, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Tar Heel, North Carolina also produce biogas from wastewater, which is used on-site as a substitute for natural gas or refined into RNG that is fed into a local natural gas pipeline.

For more information about Smithfield’s sustainability efforts and the 2023 Sustainability Impact Report, visit smithfieldfoods.com/sustainability.

About Smithfield Foods, Inc.
Smithfield Foods, Inc., based in Smithfield, Virginia, is an American food company since 1936, employing more than 54,000 people in seven countries and working with thousands of American farmers. As one of the world’s leading vertically integrated protein companies, we are committed to making “Good Food. Responsibly.”^®“to feed a growing global population. We believe in the power of protein to end food insecurity and have donated hundreds of millions of servings of food to food banks, disaster relief and social service programs in all 50 U.S. states. Smithfield has a portfolio of high-quality iconic brands like Smithfield^®Eckrich^®Gwaltney^® and Nathan’s famous^®among many others. For more information visit www.smithfieldfoods.com and follow us on Facebook, Xformerly known as Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Threads.

About NCF-Envirothon:
NCF-Envirothon is a hands-on leadership development program in environmental problem solving that includes an annual competition for high school students in the United States, Canada, China, and Singapore. Participating teams complete training and testing in five natural resource categories: soils/land use, water ecology, forestry, wildlife, and contemporary environmental issues. The program combines classroom instruction and field-based experiences to provide an E-STEM program for students in environmental education, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

NCF-Envirothon works in partnership with local conservation districts and their state associations, forestry associations, educators, school officials and cooperating natural resource agencies to organize and conduct competitions at the local, regional, state and/or provincial level. The winning teams from each state and province qualify for a final competition and have the opportunity to compete for recognition, scholarships and prizes, as well as their understanding of natural resource issues. For more information about this exciting program, visit www.envirothon.org. Also, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.