Packaging is an unsung hero of fresh produce accessibility and sustainability. Improvements in packaging have allowed more fruit and vegetables to make it to more consumers and last longer. Feeding more people and reducing food waste is a win-win born of continued innovation.
USDA recently announced it has awarded almost $10.5 million to fund continued improvements in produce packaging.
Western Growers received $486,000 of those funds as part of the 2025 Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops program. The funds will continue the work of the Sustainable Produce Packaging Alignment for North America (SPPA), a partnership between Western Growers and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association that started last year.
SPPA’s goal is to address the evolving landscape of packaging requirements across governments and retailers throughout North America, something Jeana Cadby, director of environment and climate at Western Growers, calls “an incongruent mish-mash of contradictory regulations.”
She explains that not only are there different regulations for sustainable packaging between the U.S. and Canada, but states often have varying standards for what can be recycled or counts as compostable. Even retailers have their own sustainability efforts.
“Say you have Produce Buyer A over here who wants only compostable packaging and Produce buyer B over there who only wants recycled content. You’ll have these different requirements, and you have to figure out how to ensure the packaging has the same functionality,” she says. “There’s need for harmonization here.”
SPPA is trying to bring that harmony to the packaging innovation landscape. It is developing guidelines for industry to align packaging development efforts with the disparate requirements while maintaining functionality.
“What the funding can do is really expand the work that we’re doing, so we can do more outreach and get more stakeholder input, which is always critical,” Cadby says.
All of this serves the paired goals of getting more healthy food to more people and reducing food waste.
“What’s unique about fresh produce is that it is alive. We harvest the fresh produce, and the job of the packaging is to keep it as fresh and alive for as long as we possibly can,” Cadby says.
She added that those working in produce packaging innovation are “being really intentional about being good stewards of the environment and also provide ... fresh, safe and affordable fresh produce.”
Other Awards From USDA
On July 29, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service additionally launched its Sustainable Packaging Innovation Lab, part of the Assisting Specialty Crop Exports Initiative. The effort is intended to help U.S. fresh produce exporters stay competitive with rapidly evolving international packaging requirements.
The lab will be led by Clemson University and the International Fresh Produce Association’s Foundation for Fresh Produce and will be administered by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research.
“This lab is all about enabling U.S. specialty crop exporters to succeed in markets that now demand sustainable packaging,” James Sternberg, assistant professor of sustainable packaging at Clemson and a leader of the initiative, said in a news release. “We’re building the future of ag packaging with real-world technologies that ensure compliance and competitiveness.”
The lab’s first round of funding has already been awarded to 22 grant recipients. They include:
- Akorn Technology Inc. — Validating an edible thin-film coating for cucumbers and bell peppers.
- Corumat Inc. — Piloting compostable bioplastic styrofoam-like packaging for berries, tree fruit and fresh-cut produce.
- Metalchemy — Developing biodegradable antimicrobial packaging to extend the shelf life of table grapes, berries, mushrooms and tomatoes.
- Nat4Bio — Finalizing a biopolymer coating apples, citrus, pears and blueberries.
- Nvirovate Materials — Testing compostable PLU labels for compliance with foreign regulatory requirements for apples.
- PeelON — Piloting compostable plant-based thin film and bags for leafy greens, citrus, grapes, blueberries and fresh herbs.
- Sway — Scaling compostable seaweed-based packaging for table grapes, cherries, citrus, apples and leafy greens.
- Vireo Advisors — Establishing a food-grade production process for cellulose-based food coating and achieving regulatory approval for cherries and blueberries.
For a full list of grantee winners and their projects, visit the SPIL webpage on www.fas.usda.gov.
