Salinas, Calif.-based Naturipe will highlight its sustainability efforts at IFPA’S 2022 Global Produce & Floral Show in Orlando, Fla.
In particular, Naturipe will focus on its advances in the area of environmental sustainability and breeding, according to a news release.
“The IFPA show is a big event for our industry, and a terrific opportunity to tell our story,” CarrieAnn Arias, vice president of marketing, said in the release. “Since our last in-person event three years ago, our growers have made tremendous strides, investing in the future of their farms through sustainable practices, variety development and technology. You may have heard about many of our initiatives before, but this year, our goal is to show the breadth of our owners’ forward-thinking efforts and the impacts they have made.”
Sustainability guides decisions and actions related to environmental protection, resource conservation and ethical business practices, as well as the health and safety of Naturipe’s employees and community, the release said.
Also featured at this year’s show, the release said, will be Naturipe’s expansion of their owners’ state-of-the-art berry breeding program.
Naturipe’s Cultivate with Care program was established in 2015 to reinforce the organization’s commitment to operating its business in a way that minimizes environmental impact and simultaneously supports local and global communities, according to the release.
To further strengthen this commitment, in 2019, Naturipe named Janis McIntosh as their first director of marketing innovation and sustainability to lead all of Naturipe’s sustainability efforts. McIntosh currently sits on the Consumer Good Forum’s Environmental Sustainability Working Group, as well as the IFPA Sustainability Council, the release said.
Since this program’s inception, Naturipe and their grower owners have made substantial advancements in packaging optimization. Recently they just passed the over 1 million pounds mark for reduction of plastic in their fresh blueberry line, are currently on track to have industry compliant wash away labels and have added the How2Recycle logo on all their corrugated boxes and wash away labels, the release said.
In addition to their packaging having an extremely high level of post-consumer recycled content (PCR), they are also now using certified ocean bound plastic where possible.
“Sustainability is driven by our growers,” McIntosh said in the release. “They love what they do, the land they farm and the community they thrive in. But most of all they want their families to have a future in farming. For this reason, they continue to innovate, from solar energy to pollinator habitats, they’re driving the positive change. This purpose-driven focus is also seen in the significant investments our owners have made in their proprietary breeding programs.”
Naturipe’s owners’ breeding programs utilize both conventional and genomics-assisted (DNA-based) breeding methods to develop unique varieties that meet the needs of our growers and consumers, the release said.
With eight R&D facilities and over a dozen experimental farms across five continents, Naturipe is innovating at an accelerated pace, according to the company.
“With 55 varieties released over the last 15 years, our owners’ recent investments will exponentially increase the pace of and quality of our proprietary varieties”, Jim Roberts, president of sales, said in the release. “Growers, retailers and consumers all have characteristics they look for in their favorite berry, and Naturipe will continue to strive for that pursuit of the best berries year-round.”
