9 sustainability trends to watch in 2024

As 2023 came to a close, The Packer spoke with key stakeholders in sustainability to talk about trends they think are in store for 2024.

Tamara Muruetagoiena, vice president of sustainability with the International Fresh Produce Association, says that a list of trends implies that these themes or topics might be something here today and gone tomorrow, but that’s not the case with sustainability.

“Sustainability is always a long-term type of endeavor,” she said. “Sustainability is filled with buzzwords. What really changes is the words we use to define the concepts. The work itself is identical, and it has been for a while.”

Here are top trends experts say you’ll likely hear more of in the coming year.

1. Economic sustainability

David Magaña, senior horticulture analyst for Rabobank, said the economics of agriculture will play a big role in sustainability in 2024. Growers face downward price pressures, increased production costs and a squeeze from profit margins. This is where economic sustainability plays a role.

“Sustainability makes business sense because you need to do more with less,” he said. “You need to be more efficient in terms of water usage, in terms of how you use the labor that you have available. And anything like packaging and using less plastic.”

While inflation was a buzzword the past few years, Magaña said it played less of a role in the fresh produce industry in 2023 as prices stayed relatively stable. He added that high prices drove many growers to plant crops in areas less suited to production, and as prices start to stabilize, it will help the industry overall.

“The industry needed this shake-up,” he said. “Some people will consider it a healthy shake-up. But now, there will be a point where we are producing only in areas that make sense because you have the resources. You’ve got the best use of the resources that you have, and not trying to force something where it’s not environmentally economically sustainable.”

2. Food in climate conversation

Muruetagoiena, who recently attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), said a trend worth monitoring is how food and agriculture are a part of climate talks. 

“Up until now, the climate plans were all about fossil fuels and transitioning to renewable energy,” she said. “Now, food is going to be added to the climate plans. There’s going to be a lot more pressure on food systems to be more climate friendly. I see this as an opportunity for us to be supported in our climate-friendly practices in our climate-smart agriculture.”

3. Regulations

Expect regulations — even at the state level — to play a major role in sustainability in 2024, says Kieran Ficken McNeice, director of sustainability programs at Measure to Improve.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed S. 253 into law requiring companies with $1 billion in revenue or more in the state to disclose greenhouse gas emissions.

“We’ve also seen an expansion around buyer requirements for reporting,” Ficken McNeice said. “Large buyers are asking their suppliers for more sustainability information and data to back it up.”

4. Packaging

Going hand-in-hand with regulations is a push for more sustainable packaging, something Muruetagoiena said happens without a true understanding of its implications for the produce industry.

“They’re giving us timelines that are not realistic. They’re also not taking into consideration what packaging does in terms of food safety,” she said. “That is obviously a sign that regulators don’t understand our industry and they don’t understand why we need packaging.”

Ficken McNeice said she’s also seen
an uptick in buyers and retailers pushing
for standardized recycling labeling on packaging. 

“These labeling requirements are possible, but they take work and planning,” she said. “And if you want the label to say ‘recyclable,’ that can take more work and more planning, even a re-design of the packaging. That doesn’t happen overnight.”

Xinnan Li, a packaging and logistics analyst for Rabobank, says sustainable packaging often comes at a higher price for the consumer. She said this is an opportunity for the industry to find sustainable solutions that aren’t cost-prohibitive. She pointed out that the Netherlands took a different approach to sustainable packaging by adding a tax to nonsustainable packaging with strict definitions of what is and isn’t sustainable. 

“Even if it’s paper-based but has a traditional kind of petroleum-based lining or coating, that wouldn’t be counted as sustainable,” she said. “Now, it’s cheaper to go with a more sustainable option because of the tax that’s already added on it.”

5. Regenerative ag

Expect to hear more about regenerative agriculture or climate-smart farming in 2024, says Ficken McNeice.

“There’s not solid consensus on what we mean when we say regenerative,” she said. “But there are efforts to get stakeholders aligned on this term as well as related ones like climate smart.”

She said the USDA offers funding to help spur climate-smart or regenerative farming, while adding that the results of regenerative or climate-smart farming will not be instantaneous.

“As we’re thinking about these trends, we also want to be thinking about when we see the results and the payout from implementing new practices around regenerative agriculture,” Ficken McNeice said. “You don’t see the results overnight. This is a long-term trend and an investment in soil health.” 

6. Sustainable production

Magaña says sustainable production will play a bigger role in the future. This means more efficient varieties that require fewer inputs and water and grow higher-quality fruit — doing more with less.

“For example, in blueberries, you have a lot of varieties. You have four different climates,” he said. “You have high-chill, low-chill or no-chill requirements. [Researchers are] working hard to create these varieties that can be mechanically harvested.”

7. Cracking down on food waste

Muruetagoiena says food waste played a big part in the conversation at COP28. 

“Because we have a highly perishable product, food waste is on their radar,” she said. “We need to be spending more time focusing on eliminating food waste from happening.”

Muruetagoiena says she sees endless opportunities for the fresh produce industry to take great strides in this area thanks to data.

“We recently had a virtual town hall on food waste, and data is being really helpful here for diverting food waste to not go into landfill,” she said. 

Without data, Muruetagoiena says a produce company would struggle to understand how much food waste it generated to work with a company to upcycle its food waste.

“There are a lot of upcycle-food-type of companies that, through developments in data, can predict exactly their supply,” she said. “And producers can predict their waste. So, I’m very hopeful in that area. I think we could do much better much sooner.”

8. Transparency

Ficken McNeice says while transparency touches on reporting and carbon emissions, it’s essentially how a business shares its sustainable practices.

“Find ways to talk about the work that you are doing in sustainability to a variety of audiences,” she said. “The amount and type of information you want to give to each stakeholder is going to be different.”

She says it’s easy to think about what buyers and customers want, but employees are also stakeholders. Produce industry businesses need to communicate sustainable practices and goals to employees.

“Employees like to know that they work for a company that is thinking long-term, that is thinking about sustainability and that is trying to have a positive impact,” she said. “Our internal stakeholders, our team members, employees and staff also have a stake and are interested in knowing how we can [and plan to] do better.”

9. Social sustainability

Along with transparency comes social sustainability, says Magaña; this means providing good working conditions for employees that keep them coming back, which is critical for production tasks on farms.

“Good workers also want good employers,” he said. “This goes through respecting the workers, providing good working conditions and things like that.”

Xi agrees, noting consumers now expect more from the companies they purchase from, which includes treatment and fair pay for its employees.

“There is a lot of pressure on the employer to reflect and see what they can provide [to the employee],” she said. “While the worker is providing great value for the company, is the company giving an equal amount back to the employees?”