Blue Diamond Growers touts sustainability achievements in new report

Blue Diamond Growers has released its first-ever sustainability report, “Growing a Better Tomorrow,” highlighting the cooperative's accomplishments.

"We are proud of where we are on our sustainability journey," Blue Diamond Growers Director of Sustainability Dan Sonke said in a news release. "Because we are a cooperative, for 112 years we have enabled family farms to compete in a volatile world. Our almond expertise extends from the orchard to processing facilities and the consumer. And through our stewardship program, we lead the world with more acres of almonds in a sustainability program than any other company."

Sacramento, Calif.-based Blue Diamond’s sustainability efforts focus on six key pillars, Sonke said in the release, including sustainable agriculture, water stewardship, biodiversity and pollinators, climate and energy, people, and resilient communities.

2022 achievements spotlighted by the cooperative include:

• USDA awarding $45 million in funds to Blue Diamond Growers as part of a climate protection partnership activation that will be used to help growers expand existing implementation of cover crops, conservation plantings and hedgerows, and whole orchard recycling.
• More than $1.74 million paid directly to growers through the Blue Diamond Growers Orchard Stewardship Incentive Program. The program now covers 40% of all Blue Diamond member acres, representing more almond acres in a sustainability program than any other company in the world.
• Ninety-five percent of Blue Diamond member orchards in the stewardship program report using efficient micro-irrigation systems, nearly two times the rate found in other California crops.
• Twenty-nine percent of Blue Diamond orchards reported planting cover crops for soil quality and pollinator benefits.
• An 18% reduction of materials going to landfill at the Salida, Calif., facility through increased recycling.
• A new project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the replacement and modernization of a steam boiler system at the Sacramento plant. The project is expected to reduce natural gas consumption by more than 30% and water use by 20%.
• Committing $140,000 in community grants to 14 organizations, along with $25,000 donated in matching funds to contribute to 807 FFA jackets for high school students.
• Providing 190,000 pounds of almonds and almond products — valued at more than $700,000 — given in product and in-kind donations to food banks and other nonprofit organizations.

"We are certainly proud of the accomplishments so far, but we know that sustainability — in all its facets — is an ongoing journey," Sonke said in the release. "We look forward to continual progress in the days, years and generations ahead."

The grower-owned cooperative represents roughly 3,000 of California's almond growers and is the world's leading almond marketer and processor, according to the release. Blue Diamond employs more than 1,800 people throughout its processing plants, receiving stations and gift shops.