How a European Dairy Producer Is Building PEF-Ready Data Infrastructure

🌍 Context

With the introduction of the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF), dairy companies are under increasing pressure to standardize how environmental impact is measured and reported.

For this organization, sustainability was already a strategic priority—but existing systems were not designed to support the level of detail and consistency required for PEF.

⚠️ The Challenge

The core issue was not a lack of intent—but a lack of structure.

Specifically:

• Sustainability data was spread across multiple systems and stakeholders

• Farm-level data existed, but was inconsistent and difficult to aggregate

• Reporting required significant manual effort across teams

• Data models were not aligned with emerging PEF requirements

“We had the data—but not in a way that allowed us to use it effectively.”

(Client statement – anonymized)

🔍 What Made This Difficult

In dairy, most environmental impact sits upstream—at farm level.

This creates practical challenges:

• Data originates from hundreds (or thousands) of independent sources

• Formats and quality vary significantly

• Updates are infrequent and difficult to standardize

• Internal teams rely on different interpretations of the same data

As a result, even basic questions—such as product-level impact—required significant manual reconciliation.

🎯 The Objective

Rather than focusing only on reporting outputs, the company defined a broader objective:

• Establish a reliable and structured data foundation

• Improve consistency across farm-level inputs

• Reduce manual dependency in reporting workflows

• Create a system that can adapt to PEF requirements over time

🛠️ The Approach

Sproutfull worked with the client to address the problem at its root: data structure and accessibility.

The implementation focuses on:

1. Data Structuring

Mapping existing data sources across the supply chain
Defining consistent formats and data models

2. Data Centralization

Bringing fragmented datasets into a unified environment
Creating a single reference point for sustainability data

3. Workflow Design

Reducing manual processing steps
Improving collaboration between sustainability and operations teams

4. PEF Alignment (Foundational)

Ensuring data structure supports future PEF calculations
Identifying gaps in required data early in the process

🚧 What Has Changed So Far

While the full platform is still being rolled out, several concrete changes are already visible:

• Clear identification of data gaps that were previously hidden

• Alignment across teams on definitions and data usage

• Reduction in duplicated data handling efforts

• Improved transparency on what is (and isn’t) measurable today

“For the first time, we have a clear overview of where our data stands—and where it doesn’t.”

(Client statement – anonymized)

💡 Key Insight

This project reinforces a consistent pattern across the dairy industry:

The biggest barrier to PEF readiness is not calculation—it is data readiness.

Companies often:

Underestimate the effort required to structure data
Overestimate the reliability of existing datasets

But in practice:

Without structured data → results are inconsistent
Without primary data → insights remain generic
Without integration → reporting does not scale

🔮 Looking Ahead

The next phase of the project focuses on:

• Expanding farm-level data coverage

• Increasing automation in reporting workflows

• Improving data accuracy through iteration

• Enabling more granular product-level insights

The objective is to move from:
data visibility → operational use → measurable impact

🌱 About Sproutfull

Sproutfull helps food companies build the data foundation required to turn sustainability reporting into actionable insight.

📩 Get in Touch

Preparing for PEF starts with understanding your data.
Let’s talk.