Longer-term sustainability goals come into focus for produce operators
Decarbonization of fresh produce production and logistics, achieving zero waste and seeking more sustainable growing methods are among the long-term goals for produce companies surveyed by The Packer.
The Packer’s May survey of produce operators on sustainability asked this question: “In the next three to five years, what are your company’s sustainability goals related to the environment?”
“We plan to continue our waste management programs, recycling more and moving to a paperless office,” said Scott Howarth, director of research and development at label company Sinclair International, Fresno, Calif. “Additionally we are working to provide products and services that also reduce our environmental footprint, such as reducing travel and (producing) certified compostable products.”
Santa Paula, Calif.-based Limoneira would like to be 100% off the electrical grid in a few years, said Alex Teague, senior vice president and chief operating officer. Currently, the company has 56% of its power off the grid.
Robert MacArthur, president of climate remediation consumer reward shopping platform Soli, Cambridge, Mass., said the company aims to offset CO2 for every SKU.
Village Farms is focusing significant efforts on sustainability goals on packaging, said Helen Aquino, director of brand marketing for the Delta, British Columbia-based company.
Using technology to conserve water at the farm level is a continuing objective for Viva Tierra, said Chris Ford, business development and marketing manager for the Sedro-Wooley, Wash.-based company.
Salinas, Calif.-based Taylor Farms is looking for gains in resource conservation, packaging and sustainability reporting, said Wyatt Maysey, sustainability manager.
Meeting consumer needs and moving as close to zero impact as possible is the goal for Montana-based greenhouse operator Local Bounti, said Gary Hilberg, chief sustainability officer.
“Some of our sustainability dreams are being net zero, zero waste and an even better Fair Trade program and impact projects,” said Olga Borquez, sustainability manager for Wholesum, Amada, Ariz.
Himanshu Gupta, CEO and co-founder of ClimateAi, said the company wants to continue to “enable food and ag companies to build more resilient supply chains and ultimately improve yields, revenues, profits, and environmental sustainability (as well as farmer income sustainability plus resilience) all at the same time.”
Gupta said the easiest way to drive progress with sustainability is to intertwine it with other benefits that people can’t turn away from, such as higher yields, higher revenues, less costs, less risk, and optimized profits.
Improvement in its sustainability goals while continuing to be a community and industry leader is the long-term goal of Watsonville, Calif.-based California Giant, said Eric Valenzua, director of food safety and sustainability.
David Bell, chief marketing officer for greenhouse grower Houweling’s, Camarillo, Calif., said the company will look toward continued optimization of sustainable packing solutions with automated pack line integration.
“Labor savings can help to fund sustainable packaging premiums,” Bell said.
San Francisco-based Veritable Vegetable is working toward operating all electric vehicles in the company’s fleet, both for local and regional runs, said Jennifer Doan, director of marketing.
“We are eager to understand the results of our carbon footprint measurements to see what goals we can deploy around that,” said Brianna Shales, marketing director for Stemilt Growers, Wenatchee, Wash.
“We will also continue to explore sustainable packaging solutions, keeping in mind that there is a lot of factors to solve with fresh products like ours. It’s not just what the package is made out of, but also how it maintains product quality and how the consumer might be able to recycle it at home. Finally, we will continue to deploy continuous improvement projects in order to bring small changes to our operations, which often results in a positive environmental or social impact.”
Michael Agostini, owner of Miago Produce Industry Services, said the firm can offer produce operators a number of ways to look at environmental impacts.
“Now that we have established fairly accurate data points and baselines, we look toward improving from those baselines in a number of environmental impacts.”
That list, he said, includes CO2, water, waste, chemical use, and, added recently, protection of bees and other beneficials in the process.
Dane Dickerson, marketing director at produce supply chain management platform provider Fusionware, Heber, Utah, said the company hopes to add end-to-end visibility of water usage, land usage, transportation and carbon footprint to better eliminate wasteful steps in the supply chain.
“Measure, measure, measure,” said Oren Jaffe, sustainability manager for SCS Global, Emeryville, Calif.
He said the company aims to establish more ESG (environmental, social, governance) metrics to track and publicly report on.
Carlos Lopez Flores, president of Chiquita Brands, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said the company is continuing to invest in precision farming and “embracing the fourth industrial revolution is the best way to maximize carbon efficiency from agriculture.”
“Chiquita is committed to leading the way in adopting new ideas and approaches that are essential if our remaining carbon sinks and high value ecosystems are to be preserved,” he said.
“Alongside the decarbonization of our production and logistics operations we are committed to eradicating food waste, preserving biodiversity and globally promoting the role that Chiquita bananas play in a sustainable low carbon, plant centric diet. As a global citizen, Chiquita is committed to help feed planet earth in 2050 within a carbon footprint that is science based and aligned to international agreements. For Chiquita, this 30BY30 engagement marks an exciting milestone in our long-standing commitment to sustainability and positions Chiquita at the leading edge in the fight against climate change. In the coming years, Chiquita will continue to work closely with SBTi to ensure we are on track to reduce our carbon emissions by 30% by 2030.”
Steve Roosdahl, vice president of operations for Vancouver, Canada-based The Oppenheimer Group, said the company will invest in water, energy use and socially responsible business practices.
“These goals will place greater emphasis on measurement to create benchmarks for future improvement, as well as rely on creating dynamic public-private partnerships,” he said.
“Oppy recently formed joint venture New Wave Berry with agribusiness Red Dog Management and agricultural investment firm Farmers Gate to bring a hydroponic tabletop strawberry line to market. One of the main reasons we pursued this is to seek a more sustainable growing method in strawberries with a stronger focus on water conservation, soil health and worker welfare.”
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