You would think earning Equitable Food Initiative certifications during the year of the COVID-19 pandemic would be … not the most convenient time.
But Rainier Fruit Co., Selah, Wash., already met a lot of the standards required, so it wasn’t the worst, said Steve Branch, field services manager.
“We finished up our EFI training and certifications right as COVID was really ramping up back in March of last year, and that added a layer of complication but also an opportunity to hone our program right out of the gate,” Branch said. “There were impacts almost immediately.”
Management and workers could use EFI’s communication and problem-solving methods to develop responses to the pandemic, and it’s helped keep Rainier employees safe to this day, he said.
About 1,500 employees in two key Rainier locations are affected by the more than 300 standards solidified by the EFI certification. Certification standards include labor conditions, food safety and pest management.
For example, Rainier must create a social responsibility leadership team, which includes non-management employees, representing all genders, cultures, abilities and backgrounds, and they must meet regularly to discuss workplace issues and solutions.
These members are to be known around the company, and they cannot be penalized in any way, official or unofficial, for calling out EFI standard violations.
“To us, social responsibility means doing the right thing, because it is simply the right thing to do,” Branch said.
Rainier certified Zirkle Fruit Co.’s Harrison facility, which has six packing lines, 100 controlled-atmosphere storage rooms and 29 shipping bays in more than 1.5 million square feet.
Also certified is one of Rainier’s largest ranches, the Mattawa in Wenatchee, with more than 2,300 acres. These orchards are home to organic and high-flavor varieties such as Honeycrisp, Envy, Pink Lady, Jazz, and organic cherries and blueberries.
In late spring of 2020, while the pandemic was raging, several Washington fruit-packing plants had labor strikes over COVID-19 safety and pay. It was a tumultuous time for managing labor, when the guidelines from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local guidelines kept changing and not matching.
“Beyond problem solving real-life scenarios and driving toward solutions, we also spent significant time evaluating what our COVID response should be in the facility, throughout the orchards and in transportation,” Branch said.
Rainier had started aligning the EFI standards with existing culture and standards at Zirkle about two years ago, but it took a while, as Zirkle was the first tree fruit grower in the state to get the certification, Branch said.
“Most of our certification through EFI was just making things official. This company was founded on the idea of ‘growing people as well as fruit,’ and that is still a core value to this day,” Branch said.
“Without the people who work here — no matter the job — this company would be nothing.”
