Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Final Thoughts
The Global Conference on Produce Sustainability will wrap up soon, and following evening reception the attendees will head back to their respective places of business.
This United Fresh offered so many great opportunities to learn new things about the industry - whether through the educational sessions, general sessions or conference. I hope you'll take what you learned back and use it to innovate your business.
The mood at this show was upbeat - it appears that people are starting to come out of the economic funk that has been going around, and that's a good sign for buyers and processors.
I'd like to thank the sponsors of the Fresh Cut blog and Twitter feed - Key Technology, Northern Star Engineered Products, Jarvis, Reyco, Heinzen Manufacturing International and FTNON USA. I had the chance to meet with them all to see their new products, and I hope you did too.
Next year's show is moving to New Orleans, so I'll look forward to seeing the industry get back together again for another great show in the Big Easy May 2-4.
This United Fresh offered so many great opportunities to learn new things about the industry - whether through the educational sessions, general sessions or conference. I hope you'll take what you learned back and use it to innovate your business.
The mood at this show was upbeat - it appears that people are starting to come out of the economic funk that has been going around, and that's a good sign for buyers and processors.
I'd like to thank the sponsors of the Fresh Cut blog and Twitter feed - Key Technology, Northern Star Engineered Products, Jarvis, Reyco, Heinzen Manufacturing International and FTNON USA. I had the chance to meet with them all to see their new products, and I hope you did too.
Next year's show is moving to New Orleans, so I'll look forward to seeing the industry get back together again for another great show in the Big Easy May 2-4.
Transportation Sustainability
The last breakout session of the Global Conference for Produce Sustainability featured speakers from three produce shippers - Sysco, CH Robinson and OK Produce. Each approach sustainability a little differently, but the end result is eliminating greenhouse gas emissions and reducing costs.
Brady Matoian from OK Produce had an interesting story to tell. He's the CEO of the company now, but he's third generation and before he came on the business was conservative and risk-averse. But Brady, who calls himself a hippie, wanted to clean up and green the company. In 2002, a solar roof was installed that generates 238 kWp and will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1,800 tons over 30 years. The company had never recycled, either, but with Brady's leadership has reduced the amount of garbage sent to landfills by 94 percent. He's also upgraded vehicles. The sales fleet is made up of seven Toyota Prius hybrid cars and in 2006 he bought 12 new tractors that improved mileage by switching to automatic transmissions and have good aerodynamics. The company also just received a grant that will allow it to purchase 14 new tractors - Volvos that get up to 7 mpg.
Matoian said the sustainable initiatives weren't essential to the company, but they're now part of its DNA and everyone is involved. The takeaway message from many of the sustainability presentations is that companies need leaders that value sustainability and pass that enthusiasm on to employees.
Brady Matoian from OK Produce had an interesting story to tell. He's the CEO of the company now, but he's third generation and before he came on the business was conservative and risk-averse. But Brady, who calls himself a hippie, wanted to clean up and green the company. In 2002, a solar roof was installed that generates 238 kWp and will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1,800 tons over 30 years. The company had never recycled, either, but with Brady's leadership has reduced the amount of garbage sent to landfills by 94 percent. He's also upgraded vehicles. The sales fleet is made up of seven Toyota Prius hybrid cars and in 2006 he bought 12 new tractors that improved mileage by switching to automatic transmissions and have good aerodynamics. The company also just received a grant that will allow it to purchase 14 new tractors - Volvos that get up to 7 mpg.
Matoian said the sustainable initiatives weren't essential to the company, but they're now part of its DNA and everyone is involved. The takeaway message from many of the sustainability presentations is that companies need leaders that value sustainability and pass that enthusiasm on to employees.
Sustainability at Gills Onions and Crunch Pak
Nikki Rodoni from Gills Onions and Tony Freytag from Crunch Pak spoke about what their companies are doing that is sustainable during the Sustainability in Fresh-Cut Processing session of the sustainability conference.
Gills Onions used to apply the onion waste to nearby fields, but that was becoming expensive. It cost nearly $500,000 a year in labor, transport and liability, so the company built an energy system that uses all the juice from the onion skins to create 600 kilowatts of power. The leftover skin, from 300,000 pounds of waste a day, are sold to cattle farms as feed. The energy system cost $10 million to build, but Rodoni said the payoff was only six years due to state and federal grants and cost savings ($700,000 a year alone from electricity cost savings).
Gills also is working with universities in the area to go zero waste, and already has seen landfill diversions go from 25 percent to 53 percent, and water usage cut by 30 percent. Onion waste was 99 percent of the waste generated by the company, but the company is trying to eliminate the last 1 percent.
At Crunch Pak there are environmental initiatives - GAPs increasingly include sustainable practices, energy savings, using rail - but the company is focused on social sustainability. The agricultural area the company is based in usually has seasonal fluctuations, but Crunch Pak has grown and created year-round jobs. Education is important to everyone at the company, so it donates $250,000 a year to local schools and charities, because growing the community helps grow the business, Freytag said.
Processing plants can benefit from sustainability initiatives, and even a small effort can result in big savings. Freytag said the installation of a second door into a processing room resulted in an energy savings (because the one door wasn't always opened) and increased efficiency by 20 percent in getting people in and out.
There's always more to be done, but as Rodoni said, "It feels good to do the right thing." These two companies should feel good as a result of the sustainable initiatives they've put in place.
Gills Onions used to apply the onion waste to nearby fields, but that was becoming expensive. It cost nearly $500,000 a year in labor, transport and liability, so the company built an energy system that uses all the juice from the onion skins to create 600 kilowatts of power. The leftover skin, from 300,000 pounds of waste a day, are sold to cattle farms as feed. The energy system cost $10 million to build, but Rodoni said the payoff was only six years due to state and federal grants and cost savings ($700,000 a year alone from electricity cost savings).
Gills also is working with universities in the area to go zero waste, and already has seen landfill diversions go from 25 percent to 53 percent, and water usage cut by 30 percent. Onion waste was 99 percent of the waste generated by the company, but the company is trying to eliminate the last 1 percent.
At Crunch Pak there are environmental initiatives - GAPs increasingly include sustainable practices, energy savings, using rail - but the company is focused on social sustainability. The agricultural area the company is based in usually has seasonal fluctuations, but Crunch Pak has grown and created year-round jobs. Education is important to everyone at the company, so it donates $250,000 a year to local schools and charities, because growing the community helps grow the business, Freytag said.
Processing plants can benefit from sustainability initiatives, and even a small effort can result in big savings. Freytag said the installation of a second door into a processing room resulted in an energy savings (because the one door wasn't always opened) and increased efficiency by 20 percent in getting people in and out.
There's always more to be done, but as Rodoni said, "It feels good to do the right thing." These two companies should feel good as a result of the sustainable initiatives they've put in place.
Sustainability Center Stage
The Global Conference on Sustainability kicked off this morning in a full ballroom at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.
Jeff Dlott, president and CEO of SureHarvest, started the discussion by talking about why sustainability matters in 2010. As leaders in the marketplace (the Amazons and WalMarts of the world) seek to connect to customers in deeper ways - while at the same time consumers have more options about how to express demand, compare and buy - sustainability will continue to be part of the equation. Dlott prompted questions from the audience, many of whom agreed that growers are already sustainable and didn't see then need for sustainability metrics, but others countered that a consistent measure would verify and provide data for continual improvement.
The audience then heard from Hal Hamilton, co-director of the Sustainable Food Lab, Hank Giclas, senior vice president of strategic planning, science and technology for Western Growers Association, and John Keeling, president of the National Potato Council. They spoke about different parts of the Sustainability Index for Specialty Crops, with Hamilton identifying why a comprehensive matrix is needed, Giclas describing the process of forming SICS and Keeling identifying the need for more grower input and his thoughts on the uses of a sustainability program.
The overall theme of the morning's presentations could be described as the need for a consistent sustainability matrix. Having multiple certifications could lead to similar issues as found in food safety auditing, and there could still be questions as to how the data would be shared. But sustainability isn't just something that is pushed down from buyers - it can have a positive effect on the bottom line.
Jeff Dlott, president and CEO of SureHarvest, started the discussion by talking about why sustainability matters in 2010. As leaders in the marketplace (the Amazons and WalMarts of the world) seek to connect to customers in deeper ways - while at the same time consumers have more options about how to express demand, compare and buy - sustainability will continue to be part of the equation. Dlott prompted questions from the audience, many of whom agreed that growers are already sustainable and didn't see then need for sustainability metrics, but others countered that a consistent measure would verify and provide data for continual improvement.
The audience then heard from Hal Hamilton, co-director of the Sustainable Food Lab, Hank Giclas, senior vice president of strategic planning, science and technology for Western Growers Association, and John Keeling, president of the National Potato Council. They spoke about different parts of the Sustainability Index for Specialty Crops, with Hamilton identifying why a comprehensive matrix is needed, Giclas describing the process of forming SICS and Keeling identifying the need for more grower input and his thoughts on the uses of a sustainability program.
The overall theme of the morning's presentations could be described as the need for a consistent sustainability matrix. Having multiple certifications could lead to similar issues as found in food safety auditing, and there could still be questions as to how the data would be shared. But sustainability isn't just something that is pushed down from buyers - it can have a positive effect on the bottom line.
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