2023 Women in Produce: Tamara Muruetagoiena
Editor's Note: The Packer’s 14th annual Women in Produce issue honors eight industry leaders who play pivotal roles in the success of their own organizations, as well as the produce industry as a whole. Read about this year's other honorees at the end of this story.
The Packer recently met with Tamara Muruetagoiena, sustainability director for the International Fresh Produce Association, to learn more about what brought her to fresh produce, that initiatives that are on her plate and what’s exciting her most when it comes to fresh produce and sustainability right now.
Edited for length and clarity.
The Packer: Can you tell me a little bit about what you do at IFPA?
Muruetagoiena: IFPA is a little over 1 year old, and I was hired three months after the IFPA was created, along with the sustainability space in the association.
What we do for our members is, No. 1, inspire them in their journey to sustainability. And then we to guide them in that journey and provide tools for them to succeed in their path.
We also have a few tools that we create, and we host a big forum. We have the Sustainability Council. The Sustainability Council is very large and broad, so we have seven working groups in different areas of sustainability. For instance, we have packaging, regenerative agriculture and climate change working groups. These working groups are where members can talk about specific sustainability topics.
Can you tell me about how you arrived at where you are in your career today, leading sustainability
initiatives at IFPA?
Well, I never thought of myself as entering fresh produce sustainability, because I don’t think most people think of fresh produce and sustainability — our industry is very unknown.
I’ve always been concerned with the environment, and I’ve always wanted to make the world a better place. So, I started my career working in the European Union in environmental policy, agricultural policy and fisheries policy. I’ve always had an interest for the natural resources-type of industries, but I didn’t know enough about the environmental field. I wanted to become more of an expert, so I went back to school and received my second master’s degree at the Yale School of the Environment where I focused on forest ecology.
I became a scientist and did a lot of field work and scientific work with Yale University for a few years. Then an opportunity came to be: the sustainability manager at Driscoll’s — and that’s how I started in produce.
I was very curious about food and agriculture. I led sustainability for Driscoll’s, a global company, and I fell in love with the produce industry.
After that, I had an opportunity at Yale again. They had one of their forests that needed to be managed for carbon — they needed an executive director. So, I made my next career move going back to forestry.
Finally, I had a call for produce, and I came back to produce for the IFPA. It’s been a little bit of a dance between forestry and produce. I think they complement each other well.
I never thought I would be here, but the produce industry is an industry that I absolutely adore. Now I have the opportunity to not look at just one commodity or a few commodities, I look at everything — the whole industry — and that is an opportunity that I feel very privileged to have.
A lot of companies are thinking about nature-based solutions right now. My learnings from all these years are now becoming useful, and I never expected that. I thought I would have two brains — forestry and produce — and now these two brains are getting together and thinking cohesively.
What are you most excited about right now at IFPA and sustainability in the coming year?
What I’m really excited about is, No. 1, we are a global trade association, and although we have a big base in the U.S. and we have been U.S.-heavy, our commitment is global. Added to this, sustainability is a very global topic. The same issues, challenges and opportunities are basically the same whether you’re in the U.S., EU, New Zealand or in South Africa.
One thing that I’m looking forward to is expanding IFPA’s global presence — that global knowledge and global influence. I’m super excited about also bringing the voice of our industry to every global forum because we have been underrepresented for so long.
Agriculture has been over-represented by mostly the grains and corn, but also soy, palm oil and livestock. We, [in fresh produce], bring in a different voice with different production systems and growing seasons. We need to bring that voice to every forum right now, and that’s what I’m really excited about.
What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned in your career so far?
My favorite takeaway is that everything is interconnected. And everything that I have learned has helped me guide into this path and to sustainability.
It’s been 20 years in the field, and I am 100 times more excited about it now than I was when I first started. I have always loved it, but now sustainability is becoming mainstream, and I’m loving every bit of it.
[Sustainability is] not an outcast. We’re ingrained into companies. We’re ingrained into the conversation. We’re ingrained in the media and all that, all those concepts and sustainability in general, so that’s probably the most fascinating thing about all of this.
I really wanted to be the best professional I could be, so I needed all that education, all those experiences, and I need to keep having those experiences. That way I can be even a better professional and be able to guide more and more people, more companies and more groups and inspire them and be inspired by them.
What advice would you give to other leaders and women in the fresh produce industry?
In produce, it’s interesting because it’s a mostly male-dominated industry, and that’s tough, I think, to be a woman in. It’s a little harder for us to get to the top, to push through and to be seen that we can do every job that men can do. So, we need to change some expectations.
In sustainability, a lot of people say “Oh, well, sustainability is a very woman-heavy sector.” Well, that’s not necessarily true. I would say it’s half-and-half. Half-and-half looks to some like there’s a ton of women, and you know why? Because we’re 50% of the world population. It looks like there’s a ton of women in sustainability because there should be a ton of women everywhere else too.
I have the privilege for the first time in my life to have a woman CEO, which is a big deal to me, to have a female leader to look up to — that’s incredible. And it has never been that way before. I’ve always worked in companies or groups that had male leadership, which is wonderful, but I just want to know and see the nuances of being a woman leader, you know, and so it is great in that respect.
Any words of wisdom for fresh produce leaders looking to dig into sustainability?
I’d want to tell them that sustainability is a journey and not a destination. Embrace the journey, go with the flow, have a good plan and go for it. Sustainability is the ultimate continuous improvement process.
