At Sustainable Agricultural Partnerships 2010, presenters shared consumer research exposing what matters most to the target demographic. Multiple sources revealed that customers purchasing fresh produce deem “pesticide-free” a top concern, with organic falling significantly lower on the list of importance. Research also uncovered that for conscious consumers: the food and beverage category is one of the most important; buying local is important to support local farmers; and there is cynicism that big business can be truly sustainable. Information like this has fueled successful campaigns and efforts for myriad companies in this space.

As one Dole exec put it, soil conservation is a sustainability focus for the company, but is communicating that mission to consumers effective? Rather than bombarding customers with information on all sustainability efforts – including those that may not be relevant to them – the company sought more meaningful engagement. Dole Organic’s banana tracking system tries to give a human face to the multi-national corporation by connecting consumers with farmers, an accessibility feature often enjoyed by smaller companies like Burgerville. Burgerville showcases its commitment to locally sourced ingredients by hosting events in which partner farmers visit the chain’s restaurants and interact with customers. Because the local movement is an emotional one, the ability to physically (rather than virtually) shake the hand of the person who grew your food is especially powerful.

But this is not to say that power doesn’t exist in the virtual world. There are 30 million farms in FarmVille, an enormously popular Facebook game from Zynga, and only 2 million farms in the U.S. The success of this application further proves the public’s affinity for farms and food. In July, Cascadian Farms’ organic blueberries became the first in-game branded crop available in the FarmVille Market. On the first day of the campaign, players purchased more than one million crops. This phenomenon is evidence that, as Andrew Arnold of SureHarvest declared, “the wired consumer is a powerful consumer.”

While it is easy to proclaim that meaningful engagement and targeted information are the necessary ingredients for successful campaigns, the question of “how” still poses problems for many marketers. Assuming you’re a conscious consumer, which campaigns for sustainable products have influenced your behavior and why?

***

Ali Hart is a sustainability consultant with a passion for life’s essentials: food, water and media. Her background in the Entertainment industry, sense of humor and MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School are her secret weapons in her quest to message green effectively. 

Principles, Processes, Practices, Performance and Progress are the 5P’s for framing a strategy for sustainability. After a decade of developing sustainability programs in the specialty crop sector, SureHarvest has developed a comprehensive,yet practical, path for pursuing sustainability.

View this ChalkTalk with Jeff to learn how SureHarvest builds sustainability programs and the internal benefits to organizations that pursue a sustainability strategy.

Innovative growers use technology for orchard management.

We asked three innovative orchard growers to share their wisdom when considering information technology investments: Mike Robinson, Double Diamond Fruit in Quincy, WA; Andrew Sundquist, Sundquist Fruit in Yakima, WA; and Paul Adams, Booth Ranches in San Joaquin Valley, CA. Here’s what they say:

• Be specific about your data needs.
• Know what you want the technology to accomplish.
• Pace yourself. Start with the highest priority and learn from that.
• Talk to other to see how the system is actually being used in the field. Be sure it does what the vendor says it will do, and what you want it to do.
• Invest appropriate resources – staff and time – to maximize the ROI.

Third progress report sets the standard.

“The California winegrape industry sets the gold standard for sustainable agriculture programs,” stated Dr. Jeff Dlott, during the press conference release of the 2009 Wine Community Sustainability Report. “Through the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, the wine industry is the first sector in agriculture that has developed such a comprehensive approach to sustainability, supported with benchmarked data and performance reports.” View Jeff’s video highlights of the 2009 performance report.

Pilot testing begins for Stewardship Index metrics.

Nearly 100 growers have begun pilot testing the sustainability performance metrics proposed by the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops. Data is being collected for the 2010 crop year in the areas of energy (on-farm only), GHG (non-farm only), air quality, pesticides (on-farm only), water use, soil, nutrient & water quality, biodiversity and waste. SureHarvest is coordinating the pilot process with funding from the USDA Conservation Innovation Grant. For more info, see www.stewardshipindex.org. A recent Op-Ed in The Packer by Tim York and Dr. Jeff Dlott articulates the need for a common set of measurements for sustainability throughout the supply chain.

Radical Transparency - when brands compete on environmental impact.

Dan Goleman in Greenbiz.com writes about the powerful combination of sustainability metrics and information technology in the hands of consumers projecting that "this disruptive technology portends the day when brands compete on ecological merits as well as price, because those impacts will be transparent to shoppers." Read article.

Adoption of sustainable ag practices increasing.

According to the latest Rabobank U.S. Farm & Ranch Survey, 72 percent of all U.S. farmers report taking steps toward more sustainable farming practices. The most employed practice is direct seeding (64%), followed by minimizing use of chemicals (42 percent), crop rotation or diversification (39 percent), and reduced energy inputs (39 percent) as the most significant steps. Read the report.

"Del Monte's commitment to the environment and the communities in which we operate reflects our rich tradition," said Richard G. Wolford, Del Monte's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "For more than 100 years, Del Monte has been part of the fabric of American life. From our agricultural roots to bringing good food to family tables across the country, our commitment to environmental sustainability literally extends from the fields where our nutritious fruits and vegetables are grown, to the grocery shelf."

Continued Mr. Wolford, "We are proud of our heritage and pleased with the progress we have made in reducing our environmental impact. We plan to do more, and our recent efforts reflect our heightened focus on three specific areas in which we can have significant influence -- reducing waste, lowering water consumption, and improving air quality. This work will play a part in protecting the environment for future generations to come."

Del Monte, with its deep agricultural heritage and direct connection to the earth's resources, has historically been focused, with its growers, on sustaining the environment. Over the years, the Company has demonstrated environmental leadership and concern for the communities in which it operates. These efforts include introducing agricultural practices that help farmers grow stronger, more productive crops using less acreage, and with less fertilizer, water and other materials. Today, this focus extends to the Company's manufacturing facilities to reduce its environmental impact from its cannery operations, and to its supply chain to reduce its impact from the sourcing and distribution of goods. At the same time, Del Monte has found that sound environmental practices coincide with improved business efficiencies.

In order to move Del Monte's long-standing focus on environmental stewardship to a higher level, a cross-functional leadership team has led the effort to deepen the Company's commitment to sustainability by formalizing environmental goals under three key areas -- waste, greenhouse gas emissions and water. While the Company has been working against these objectives since 2007 and has made significant progress, this sharpened focus on these areas will further reduce the impact of Del Monte's operations and contribute to healthier environments in communities where the Company operates. Del Monte has committed to achieve or exceed these goals by the year 2016, using 2007 as a baseline. The Company also plans to continually expand its environmental program and measure its progress in a more meaningful way.

Del Monte Pledges to Reduce Waste

In order to reduce the amount of waste the Company sends to landfills and help decrease the need for new ones, Del Monte has worked to lower solid waste (per ton of finished product) going to landfill from its operations, and has committed to a 75 percent reduction.

Del Monte has been working toward this goal since 2007, and during that period has made significant progress. Two of Del Monte's locations have become zero-landfill facilities, meaning that 100% of their waste has been diverted from landfill. Both the Milk-Bone(R) plant in Buffalo, New York, and the Del Monte Foods Distribution Center in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania are now zero-landfill facilities. As a result of these and other efforts, Del Monte has reduced its waste to landfill by almost 70 percent, and is well on its way to achieving its goal.

Separately, Del Monte commits to reducing its packaging materials by 15 percent, which will not only help reduce the amount of waste our consumers send to landfill, but also decrease the natural resources used across the entire supply chain to produce packaging. To date, the Company has implemented several packaging initiatives to drive progress against this goal.

Del Monte Pledges to Reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions

Given the importance its production facilities and distribution network play in its operations, Del Monte has a great opportunity to improve air quality in the communities in which it operates.

To drive this work, Del Monte has committed to two goals. The first goal is a 10 percent reduction in GHG emissions per ton of finished product from the Company's manufacturing, warehousing and research & development facilities. The second goal is a 7 percent reduction in total GHG emissions through improved efficiency in Del Monte's transportation network.

Del Monte is pleased with its positive progress against each of these goals. The Company has reduced its GHG emissions per ton of finished product by approximately 2.5 percent. A primary contribution to this is the 1.9 megawatt solar panel system Del Monte installed at its Hanford and Kingsburg, CA processing plants in late 2008. Del Monte has also reduced its transportation miles by approximately 29 million since 2007, which represents an approximate 6 percent reduction in GHG emissions through improved efficiency of the Company's transportation network.

To further support its GHG emission reduction goals, Del Monte recently joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Climate Leaders program, an industry-government partnership that works with companies to develop comprehensive climate change strategies. The Company will be working with the EPA on a climate change strategy that will further reduce its GHG emissions.

Del Monte Pledges to Reduce Water Usage

Given the importance of water in Del Monte's production facilities and driven by a desire to minimize water resources used by the Company, Del Monte is working to find innovative ways to significantly reduce its water consumption.

Del Monte has committed to a 20 percent reduction in fresh water usage per ton of finished product. Since 2007, the Company has reduced fresh water consumption by approximately 9 percent and is on track to meet its 2016 goal.

Del Monte is pleased with its progress to-date on all of its goals, and is committed to continuing to seek new ways to meet or exceed them.

The Company has published its environmental goals on its corporate responsibility website, www.delmonte.com/cr, and commits to updating its progress against them on an annual basis.

Del Monte's corporate responsibility site has been recently updated to include not only important detail regarding the Company's environmental goals, but also information on such issues as employee benefits and community efforts.

About Del Monte Foods

Del Monte Foods is one of the country's largest and most well-known producers, distributors and marketers of premium quality, branded pet products and food products for the U.S. retail market, generating approximately $3.7 billion in net sales in fiscal 2010. With a powerful portfolio of brands, Del Monte products are found in eight out of ten U.S. households. Pet food and pet snacks brands include Meow Mix(R), Kibbles 'n Bits(R), Milk-Bone(R), 9Lives(R),Pup-Peroni(R), Gravy Train(R), Nature's Recipe(R), Canine Carry-Outs (R) and other brand names. Food product brands include Del Monte(R), Contadina(R), S&W(R), College Inn(R) and other brand names. The Company also produces and distributes private label pet products and food products. For more information on Del Monte Foods Company (DLM 14.00, +0.31, +2.26%) visit the Company's website at www.delmonte.com.

Del Monte. Nourishing Families. Enriching Lives. Every Day.(TM)

SOURCE: Del Monte Foods

Del Monte Foods 
Serena Li, 415-247-3403 
serena.li@delmonte.com 
Chrissy Stengel, 415-247-3268 
Chrissy.stengel@delmonte.com

If you did, you might have glossed over the name, thinking it to be just another meaningless marketing pitch. Healthy? Well, duh. It's a potato.

In fact, it means quite a lot.

If the potatoes could talk, they might say, "No, we're not organic - but we're darn close!"

Back in 1996, before "sustainable agriculture" was a household phrase, a groundbreaking, collaborative effort was launched among the University of Wisconsin's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association and the World Wildlife Fund.

The point of the Healthy Grown program was to improve practices on the part of large-scale Wisconsin vegetable growers that were environmentally sensitive - including reduced use of pesticides and soil preservation - while also promoting ecological restoration on their farms.

Deana Knuteson, UW researcher and outreach specialist, has been working with the program for 10 years.

"It's not organic, it's not conventional," she said of the methods employed. "It's an ecologically sensitive way to grow vegetables that can be done on a larger scale."

And it's a shame more people don't know about it.

Getting the potatoes into stores on a widespread and consistent basis has been an uphill battle.

"Some stores order them for a while, then they don't. Then they order them again," said Tim Feit, director of promotions and consumer education for the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association. "You never know."

"It's better for the environment, it's better for the wildlife, it's better for the soil, but it's not totally organic," said Rick Kantner, director of sales and marketing for Alsum Farms and Produce, a potato grower and produce distributor near Spring Green. "The problem is it's in between. They say that's the worst thing to be, in between."

Like organic growers, farmers who wish to sell their potatoes under the Healthy Grown label must undergo a rigorous annual certification process. Certification is done by an independent non-profit agency, Protected Harvest, on a field-by-field basis.

To qualify, farmers have to practice what's called integrated pest management, and they have to restore some of their privately owned land to its pre-settlement condition - basically, the prairie, with native plants, in hopes of luring back birds and wildlife.

In any year, 11 to 15 growers qualify, Knuteson said. Applications for certification cover from 10,000 to 15,000 acres; from 6,000 to 8,000 actually get certified. ("It's tough," she said.) That's out of about 30,000 total acres of fresh market potatoes across the state.

Maintaining acreage as Healthy Grown takes sustained effort.

"They use the good bugs to eat the bad bugs," Feit said of the growers. "They go into the field and will only apply the plant 'medicine,' if you want to call it that, to a certain section of the field instead of doing it to the whole field because it's easier.

"There's a lot of time and energy that goes into it. . . .  And (for certification) they have to spend time keeping careful records of everything that goes into the crop."

Growers look for payoff

Eventually, he said, the growers would like to make a little more money for their extra effort. "But they're willing to do it anyway just because it's the right thing to do and they believe in it," he said.

For consumers, the "in between" status that hinders marketing is actually a plus.

Organic vegetables are more expensive, Feit noted, "and not everyone can afford them. But you have people who want to move closer to that side of the spectrum, and that's what Healthy Grown potatoes are.

"There's real science behind it," he added. "It can get complicated," but basically, "instead of using the sledgehammer, they're trying to use a scalpel."

Why not just go organic?

That's an even pricier proposition for farmers, and it was never the goal of the program, Knuteson said. Organic is a solid niche market, accounting now for 2% to 3% of the total fresh produce market, she said.

"This is about how to grow the other 97% to 98% in the most ecologically sustainable way," Knuteson said. "We like to say, organic is a great option and a great product, but this is also a great option and a great product."

And boosters hope, as the green movement spreads, that Healthy Grown will find a wider audience.

Soon the program will expand to include snap beans and carrots, and in the future, other vegetable crops as well, Knuteson said.

In any event, the growers have been educated and have benefited from the Healthy Grown program, she said, as has the land. "So from that standpoint, it's been very successful.

"But I do think if we get more crops under this umbrella, it will be easier to market it."

Spud shopping

Want to know where to find Healthy Grown potatoes in your area?

That can be a tricky proposition. Various Wisconsin growers, while unified in their devotion to environmentally sound growing methods, are still in competition with one another and not necessarily eager to share lists of customers.

However, a spreadsheet sent by Alsum Farms and Produce shows its Healthy Grown potatoes in stock at Piggly Wiggly stores in Cedarburg, Mequon and Racine, and with commitments from other Piggly Wiggly stores.

Otherwise, the best thing to do is ask the produce manager wherever you shop.

For more information on the Healthy Grown program: www.healthygrown.com.

ABC's Gabriele Ludwig said the voluntary self-assessment provides growers with input that can help them improve the efficiency and performance of their specific best management practices.

"The self-assessment not only helps growers document best management practices through the lens of sustainability, but also helps remind them about the things they can do to improve the efficiency of those systems," Ludwig said.

A similar program for California wine-grape growers, for instance, revealed that while more than 80 percent of growers use micro-irrigation systems, adoption rates were much lower for simple tools that can get the most out of those systems, such as distribution uniformity testing or irrigation scheduling based on ETo and soil moisture monitoring.

"The self-assessment process lets you put your practices in front of you to decide if you are getting the most out of them from a sustainability standpoint," Ludwig said.

Those three stages are:

–Phase 1: Making the case for change

The key challenge here is to make a clear and compelling case for change by collaborating and influencing others to gain buy-in from key stakeholders, they say.

The initial mandate for the sustainability leader may just be expressing the need to act.

–Phase 2: Translating vision into action

During this stage, the task is to translate high-level commitments into a comprehensive change program with clearly defined initiatives and targets, according to the authors. By the end of this phase, the organization will be tracking economic, environmental and social metrics over the business planning cycle.

At this point, the sustainability leader must develop a comprehensive program of targeted initiatives that can be tracked using clear metrics, and must take corrective action when performance falls short of expectations, while prioritizing efforts that generate the most value for the organization over the business planning cycle, they say. Here, commercial results are critical and leaders must understand how to turn sustainability into an advantage in the marketplace.

–Phase 3: Expanding Boundaries

At this stage, the sustainability leader must evaluate long-term sustainability trends, looking for new opportunities and developing strategies to reposition the organization to benefit from them, they say. The goal is to embed sustainability in the organization’s core business strategies like quality or financial control.

Typically, sustainability leaders will need to engage with external stakeholders such as competitors, NGOs and other organizations, and push for new practices that may be different than how the organization has conducted business in the past.

The good news is that this sense of urgency is mixed with hope.

Conversations about the need to be ‘green’ are no longer lingering at the beginning stages. People in both the public and private sectors are increasingly taking what they’ve learned, sharing it, and creating new policies and practices to make this region a quality place where we live, work, and play. Here’s how and where we see this new vision emerging.

We are sharing ‘green’ practices that work

Back in 2003, when a committee of winegrowers, academics, and Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission (LWWC) members gathered together to develop the Lodi Rules, a set of 75 standards that define what kinds of practices are needed to grow wine in an environmentally sound, socially equitable, and economically feasible way, it was anyone’s guess whether it would gain the type of recognition and respect in the wine industry that it now enjoys today.

Almost a decade later, carrying the stamp of approval afforded by Protected Harvest, the environmental organization that certifies farmers’ use of environmental farming standards, the Lodi Rules program continues to gain traction.

“In 2009, thirty-four growers certified 16,000 acres of wine grapes, more than 10 percent of the district, to the Lodi Rules sustainability standards,” says Cliff Ohmart, the Commission’s former director. “There are now over twenty wine labels in the marketplace bearing the Lodi Rules logo and about fifteen wineries either using the logo now on their labels or will soon do so.”

Currently the vice-president of professional services for SureHarvest, a provider of sustainable management software for the agricultural sector, Ohmart says that the Lodi Rules template provided a framework that could be shared across disciplines. “We are working closely with the Almond Board of California in developing a sustainable almond self-assessment workbook. The SureHarvest model is based on what we learned in Lodi as well as with the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance program that SureHarvest helped put together, and that was also based on the Lodi workbook program.”

A sustainability workbook approach is needed as much by cities as it is by farm growers, and in the city of Tracy efforts are underway to address environmental issues in an integrated and measurable way that can be used a template for other San Joaquin Valley cities. “Tracy represents an ongoing pilot project under the Emerald Cities program,” says Steve Coyle, architect and urban designer for Town-Green, an Oakland-based sustainability community planning company. The goal, says Coyle, is to meet California sustainability targets by reducing Tracy’s  “carbon footprint,” decreasing its dependency on using fossil fuels and preserving habitats and renewable resources. The plan includes implementable programs, such as the recent acquisition of a grant to create multi-family recycling measures, regulations, and best practices. The end product will be Local Community Action Programs’ (LCAP) that can be deployed state-wide.

We are partnering til we drop

Look under the hood at just about all ‘green’ initiatives happening around the San Joaquin Valley region and you’ll see a web of partnerships at work. For Tracy’s Emerald City pilot project, the City of Tracy is partners with the California Department of Conservation and additional state agencies, local government, and other local and regional organizations.

There’s hardly any project related to the growth of the clean tech sector in the Central Valley that doesn’t bear the stamp in one way or another of the influential San Joaquin Partnership, a non-profit, private-public economic development corporation that helps business and industry locate into San Joaquin County. Its Board of Directors includes key stakeholders from manufacturing, financial, real estate development, education, construction, communications, and health, as well as the Chamber of Commerce and local government.

“It’s all about leveraging resources,” says Thomas Reeves, Strategic Development and Communications Coordinator for Stockton’s ACE, Altamont Commuter Express. ACE is embarking on a partnership with California’s High Speed Rail Authority that will eventually bring high speed railway options to Northern California commuters. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds will help ACE make the upgrades that will enable its trains to go faster (from 70MPH to 115MPH). “That will reduce a trip from Stockton to San Jose from two hours and twenty minutes to 55 minutes,” he says.  Also on the drawing board is a new rail service that will take passengers from Stockton to Lodi and Sacramento.

ACE is currently working on a plan that will wean its dependence on fossil fuels. “We are testing some of our locomotives with biofuels,” Reeves says. While some freight systems are already using biofuels, he says ACE is the first commuter railroad to do so.

Helping San Joaquin County businesses create more sustainable practices is the mission of the Green Team San Joaquin (see page 21 for an interview with chairman Blain Bibb), a program created by Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce members that facilitates partnerships between private businesses, municipal and county solid waste divisions, and economic development professionals. Its outreach support team, Recycling Energy Air Conservation (REACON) is garnering praise for its efforts to educate medium and large size businesses with cost-saving ‘green’ practices. The Green Team recently gained the respect of that new ‘green’  kid in town, Electric Vehicles International, whose CEO, Ricky Hanna, calls Green Team members “invaluable ambassadors.”

We are attracting clean tech businesses

Offer a deal that’s just too good to pass up—that’s how the City of Stockton lured Electric Vehicles International (EVI) to relocate its company from Mexico to California.

CEO Ricky Hanna says that federal and state incentives coupled with great local support made the decision a no-brainer. “The San Joaquin Partnership’s president and CEO, Mike Locke, helped us take advantage of Enterprise Zone incentives and find skilled workers through programs like WorkNet and SCAP (Stockton Chamber Apprenticeship Program),” he says. What the Green Team’s ‘ambassadors’ will be able to do, says Hanna, is provide a bridge to businesses who want to understand how to make environmental upgrades to their vehicles, and to learn how they may benefit from EVI’s core business, which retrofits existing vehicles with electric powertrains and other conversions.

In mid-2010, when ACE’s biofuel-driven locomotives become a reality, it’s likely, says Reeves, that Community Fuels will be its provider of choice. Located at the Port of Stockton, this company is a biodiesel production and research facility that is designed to process multiple feedstock materials. The company projects that within a year it will be increasing its production capacity from 10 to 60 million gallons of biodiesel.

Besides its much-publicized efforts to make biodiesel production from algae commercially feasible, Community Fuels recently received a grant from the California Energy Commission to reduce water consumption during its biodiesel production operations.

This summer is shaping up to provide the Stockton area with a number of ‘firsts’. ACE is taking the green lead in running commuter trains with cleaner fuel by this summer, and come June a new wine bottle recycling company, Wine Bottle Recycling, LLC, will be moving into a 92,000 square foot facility previously occupied by the Del Monte fruit cannery. This is not a new concept abroad where European vintners are already refilling their wine bottles, but it will be the only facility currently operating in the United States, after two similar Northern California ventures folded in the ‘90s.

Wine Bottle Recycling, LLC is the brainchild of its chief executive Bruce Stephens, who told Wine Business Monthly last year that advanced technology now addresses the issues related to sorting and de-labeling bottles that sidetracked these earlier ventures. His facility will recycle bottles obtained from other recycling companies and wineries, then sort, de-label, wash, sterilize, and repackage them for resale to commercial wineries.

Stephens expects to hire fifteen employees to launch his company, and projects that he will quadruple that number, up to sixty people, within the next five years.  

When evaluating the potential of clean tech businesses, such as those in the solar and wind sectors, to produce new jobs, recycling businesses such as Wine Bottle Recycling LLC, offer the best prospects for job creation in San Joaquin County, says Jeffrey Michael, Director of the Business Forecasting Center and Associate Professor at the Eberhardt School of Business, University of Pacific. “I think the greatest long-term potential is in recycling and manufacturing of recycled and reused products (such as recycled building materials),” he says. Michael says that these businesses are more labor intensive than, for example, wind farms. Additionally, San Joaquin County offers a strategic location for recyclers “for which good transportation and proximity to good markets is important.” As job creaters, green energy companies will play a greater role in the future, he says. “But solar farms, windmills, and biofuels do not generate a lot of ongoing jobs where they are located—the jobs and income are in research and development and high-end manufacturing of the components, which are unlikely to locate in San Joaquin County.”

We are investing in San Joaquin’s future

If the San Joaquin Valley should continue to attract clean tech companies to set up shop here, it will in no small part come from these partnerships as well as organizations willing to invest in the entrepreneurial spirit that characterizes businesses in the green sector.

One group that is actively working to make that a reality is the San Joaquin Angels, a Stockton-based group of investors that fund start-up and early-stage businesses. Founded in 2008, the Angels consider business models from a wide range of industries, and currently, says Chairman and President Mark Plovnick, about 50 percent of the business proposals they receive are clean tech-related.

Plovnick says that part of the group’s mission is to help more businesses locate in the San Joaquin Valley region, but all prospective clients must pass a rigorous test, he says.  Proposals may offer great concepts for electric motors, battery chargers (for electric vehicles), or biofuel production, for example, but the Angels are looking for that competitive advantage.

“We are really looking for the secret sauce,” Plovnick explains. “So we not only look for evidence of a good management team. We also look for business models that can’t easily be replicated by large, already established companies.” The Angels field proposals throughout the year and invite two or three candidates to their bi-monthly dinner meetings, where these early-stage companies pitch their presentations before an audience of investors. Interested investors then perform more due diligence, structure a deal, and monitor their investment. There’s a solar energy-related business currently in an early investment stage that looks very promising, says Plovnick. Its scale is large enough that it will most likely incorporate funding from the Angels as well as other investors.

In 2010, the San Joaquin Angels are taking another proactive step in attracting entrepreneurs with the next big idea to put down roots in the San Joaquin Valley.

Partnering with a number of private and public organizations, the Angels are holding their inaugural two-night San Joaquin Entrepreneur Challenge, where a total of $10,000 in cash and $10,000 in professional services will be awarded to two entrepreneurs whose business plans show the most potential for succeeding while helping job growth in the Valley.

We are committed and it shows…

The momentum propelling both the public and private sector to find creative solutions to our environmental challenges is palpable. We’ve discovered by sharing our best practices that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. And smart partnering guards against duplicate efforts. Clean tech businesses know a good deal when they see it, and we’re investing  money where we see it will benefit the San Joaquin Valley—in spades. [SJM]

Jeff Dlott, president of Soquel, Calif.-based SureHarvest, said that more and more corporations like Wal-Mart and McDonald’s are incorporating sustainability practices into their business strategies. Dlott spoke at the United Fresh Produce Sustainability Conference April 23.

The rise in profile of Amazon.com’s fresh division could create a highly targeted type of marketing opportunities for fresh produce, he said. Dlott acknowledged that online grocery buying hasn’t had a great track record so far, but he noted that Amazon.com purchased the assets of now defunct online retailer Webvan a couple of years ago and appears ready to make a substantial investment in the category.

He speculated one of the niche opportunities for online retailing will be promoting produce grown under sustainability standards.

Another factor that could influence in the growth in sustainability may be electronic coupons and mobile phone applications. In fact, The Nielsen Co. reported that Web redemption of coupons grew 263% in 2009.

Blackberry and iPhone applications may allow consumers to compare products based on prices and perhaps sustainability measures, in addition to receiving electronic coupons through cell phones.

“Market captains will seek deeper ways to connect to consumers, and sustainability information will be one more way to connect,” he said. “Consumers will have more options than ever to express their demand, search compare and buy.”

Food safety and traceability will become technology drivers for food companies and allow those companies to look inside their processes and find efficiencies.

Dlott predicts consumer and corporate use of information will lead to reaching back for information from the “first mile” or farm level.

“Who, what and where will be big,” Dlott said, and marketers can use consumer thirst for information to create “sticky” brands — ones that build loyalty among consumers.

In a question-and-answer session after Dlott’s presentation, Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual, Exeter, said there is an assumption that agriculture is not efficient and not sustainable, when in fact many growers have been farming for generations.

“I don’t accept that,” he said. “Is this a solution looking for a problem? I’m not convinced we have a problem.”

Dlott responded that consumers and buyers are creating demand in the marketplace for more evidence of sustainable practices on the farm and throughout the supply chain.

The stewardship index was launched to develop a system for measuring sustainable performance throughout the specialty crop supply chain, says Jeff Dlott, president and chief executive officer of Soquel, Calif.-based SureHarvest. The stewardship index will list metrics in 14 categories.

The metrics are akin to the Environmental Protection Agency’s mpg standard for automobiles. They’re numbers that are derived by a uniform process and easily understood by everybody, Dlott says.

Eventually, organizers hope that the metrics will be adopted by auditors, accepted by produce buyers and replace the need for multiple food safety audits.

Dlott credits Tim York, president of the Markon cooperative in Salinas, Calif., with being the driving force behind the stewardship index.

But Dlott’s company is coordinating a $630,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to pilot test the metrics.

Photo by Vicky Boyd

Growers want a say

Growers generally don’t object to measuring their operations’ sustainability levels. But they’re not pleased with multiple buyers and auditors demanding that producers comply with differing standards.

“The whole notion of an auditor-driven standard made people angry,” Dlott says.

Those developing the index hope to come up with a standardized measurement system that can cut across crops and meet the requirements of any auditor.

“There would be nothing unique about an auditor,” Dlott says. “They all have to follow the same rule book.”

A 30-member coordinating council that drew members from organizations, such as the Produce Marketing Association, United Fresh Produce Association, Western Growers Association, the Wine Institute and the National Potato Council, oversees the stewardship index.

The council is composed of representatives of growers, buyers and non-governmental organizations. A majority of each group must approve any measure for it to be accepted.

Dlott describes the movement as a “grassroots, democratic process” and says anyone can express their opinions through those organizations. He expects about 400 people to provide input for the standards now in development.

Plans call for developing metrics for several areas, including air quality, energy use, nutrient management, pesticides, soils, waste, water quality and water use, all of which Dlott says should be ready for pilot testing this season.

Biodiversity, packaging and greenhouse gas emissions are some areas that will be included in the future.

Concept supported

A number of organizations have offered their support for the program, including the Washington, D.C.-based National Potato Council.

“We believe that supply chain requests for producing sustainable outcomes during the production process are there, they’re real and they’re ongoing,” says John Keeling, the potato council’s executive vice president and chief executive officer.

“You need to develop definitions and measurement tools for sustainability that are workable from the grower’s perspective. Hopefully, we’ll end up with a single set of standards that apply to the entire industry.”

When every produce buyer imposes a specific set of criteria on growers, he says, “It drives costs into the system, and it’s confusing to consumers and growers.”

Monitoring in Florida

The Maitland-based Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association is monitoring the steward index, since it is “an effort that has significant potential impact at the grower level,” says Dan Botts, vice president, industry resources.

Botts is a member of several workgroups but does not provide input. Instead, he monitors the activities and proposals and reports back to the organization’s membership.

The decision to abide by the recommendations will be up to individual growers.

Botts says he’s not pleased with the idea of marketing institutions and nongovernmental organizations that don’t have a vested interest in the production systems “trying to drive or determine which processes are the best processes used to produce a crop.”

“We are strong adherents to a continuous improvement process, but we want it to be driven by good science and the fact that the grower is usually the person who is in the best position and knows what he needs to do to produce his crop,” he says.

Each farm is unique, Botts says, and operates in its own environment and microclimate.

“For someone to try to come up with a system to judge one farm against another seems strange to me,” he says.

Botts cites an instance regarding food safety where Florida’s water management districts require that ditch banks be vegetated to prevent surface movement of nutrients into the canal systems that flow into the Everglades area.

At the same time, food safety programs require ditch banks to be free of weeds because they harbor wildlife.

“You put the farmer in the terrible position of having to make a choice of which one of the permit conditions required by a regulatory agency he is going to comply with,” Botts says.

Some are skeptical

Although the movement has met with plenty of support from throughout the supply chain, Bob Martin, general manager at Rio Farms in Oxnard, Calif., is skeptical.

Many growers already are doing everything they can to be stewards of the land, he says.

Martin compares the stewardship index to various food safety programs from some buyers and auditors that he describes as “window dressing,” “fluff” and “warm and fuzzy stuff.”

“I avoid those things as much as much as possible,” he says.

But Martin did not rule out Rio Farms’ support for the stewardship index.

“If there is something that is effective, will do something positive and won’t break our business, I think it’s worth pursuing.”

Cost effective

Dlott says he doesn’t want to see growers saddled with costs and time investments that won’t provide them any return.

“I do think, for some of the metrics, we will find positive outcomes related to profitability,” he says.

In other cases, the benefit may not be so clear.

“There are areas where you are doing it because it’s a public good, not necessarily a private good,” he says.

When growers produce public benefits that don’t help their bottom lines, they should get reimbursed in some way, he says, perhaps through farm bill allocations or directly from buyers.

Despite everyone’s best efforts, there’s no guarantee that, at the end of the process, the growers he represents will be willing to accept any metrics that are developed, says Keeling of the National Potato Council.

“But we think it’s the best process in which to try to ferret through all that and potentially end up at a point of agreement.”

“Is there efficacy to this whole program? I don’t know,” says Martin of Rio Farms. “I’m hoping that they will allow the public to review (the stewardship index) for a long time before they start pushing anything on people.”

For more information on the stewardship index, visit http://www.stewardshipindex.org.

February 16, 2010: The eco-friendly Healthy Grown® Wisconsin potato label announces its quality potatoes will, effective immediately, be priced at the same current market prices of other Wisconsin potatoes. “The recession, increasing rates of childhood obesity, REAP Farm to School initiatives — there are plenty of reasons to offer eco-friendly Healthy Grown Wisconsin potatoes at the same current market price as other potatoes,” notes Tim Feit, Director of Promotions and Consumer Education for the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA). “Across the nation, families are struggling to put healthy meals on their tables. Organizations are battling childhood obesity by promoting healthier meal options, or trying to improve school lunch menus with local produce. And the Healthy Grown® growers want to be a part of these initiatives. We feel people should have access to affordable eco-friendly food and have decided to offer Healthy Grown eco-friendly potatoes at the same current market price as other Wisconsin potatoes.”

The Healthy Grown® potato eco-label grew out of the Wisconsin Eco-Potato partnership between the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA), the World Wildlife Fund and the University of Wisconsin. The International Crane Foundation and the Defenders of Wildlife are also part of the partnership. Since 1996, the science-based team has helped potato growers reduce the use of crop protection inputs such as nutrients, pesticides and other additives, by adopting integrated pest management (IPM) alternatives — biologically based pest management systems that do not harm the environment. The partnership also works to reduce contamination of water, conserve and restore biodiversity to natural ecosystems, and increase productivity without genetic modification of the produce.

All Healthy Grown growers, packers and shippers are certified and audited annually by Protected Harvest — an independent oversight organization that ensures strict adherence to sustainable agriculture standards. Healthy Grown has compiled an eight-year database tracing IPM and pesticide use. With over 350 eco-label products on the market, consumers and businesses are growing more wary of “greenwashing” — exaggerated or misleading claims about eco-friendliness — according to the World Resources Institute (WRI). Healthy Grown’s database ensures eco-label transparency.

“We’ve worked hard over the last 13 years to put sustainable whole-farm processes into place on the Healthy Grown farms — and to do so in a manner that provides livable incomes for growers and their employees,” explains Deana Knuteson, BioIPM Field Coordinator for the Wisconsin Eco-Potato partnership. “We’ve faced plenty of challenges — but our data illustrate that it’s economically feasible to grow in a sustainable manner. And we can pass that cost savings on to the consumer.”

About Healthy Grown®

The Healthy Grown® eco-label, established in 2001, is a product of the Wisconsin Eco-Potato partnership between the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The International Crane Foundation, World Wildlife Fund and the Defenders of Wildlife are also part of the partnership. The Healthy Grown standard is designed to help growers reduce contamination of water, conserve natural ecosystems, increase biodiversity and improve productivity through researched-based sustainable and IPM processes. Healthy Grown sustainable farming practices are overseen by Protected Harvest, an independent oversight organization. www.wisconsinpotatoes.com/HealthyGrown/index.html.

Sustainability is well beyond a buzzword or trend. It is now a core business strategy among major agrifood companies. While Walmart is the most notable company asking its suppliers for social and environmental data, this is just the beginning. In 2010, a number of high-profile food companies will be asking their grower-suppliers to collect and report data on key metrics like water use, energy use, fertilizer use, etc.

When buyers look at their operations through a sustainability lens, they find business value. When Walmart, legendary for its attention to efficiency, turned the sustainability lens inward, they found opportunities to save money through improving energy efficiency, reducing waste, and improving employee engagement. This same story can be told and retold by food companies that supply to retail and foodservice — when they looked at their business from a sustainability perspective, they found opportunities for cost savings.

Now, your buyers and their buyers are asking, “Are there similar opportunities for my suppliers?” So, when your buyer calls and asks for data on your carbon footprint, water footprint, or waste-reduction plan, how should you respond? What does this new future of sustainability mean for you?

One reaction may be frustration at another buyer requirement with no promise for a higher price. Another might be, “Where do I find the time?” These are understandable reactions. Instead, consider these questions a great starting point to look internally and ask yourself, what’s in this for me?

What’s In It For You

As I see it, the opportunity is to increase internal efficiencies; after all, this is what you can control. Just as your buyers have looked internally and made changes to reduce energy, water, and waste, it is likely that you too will find opportunities to improve the bottom line through cost savings. If sustainability is viewed simply as compliance, you’ll be leaving money on the table. The first step is to measure and then to manage for continuous improvements over time. In an era of limited resources, the operating principle of “what gets measured, gets managed” takes on increasing importance. We’ve seen the payoff of proactive sustainability measurement, self-assessment, and benchmarking in our decade-long work with the California Sustainable Winegrowing Program:

• By replacing herbicides with permanent cover crops, Monterey Pacific Vineyards has reduced weed control and cultivation costs by 40%.
• Vino Farms found that by taking advantage of tax credits and purchasing their own delivery truck, they’ve begun to replace fossil fuels with biodiesel, leading to cost savings and better mileage.
• Instead of burning vine prunings, England Crest Vineyards turned an environmental liability into an asset by grinding prunings into a mulch and incorporating it into the soil.

Similar efforts are now underway by almond, pear, and other grower associations working proactively to optimize resources while minimizing farming’s environmental footprint.

Sustainability Metrics

What gets measured and how it’s measured are important questions. Now is a time to seek industry consensus on sustainability metrics so that all partners in the supply chain are comparing apples to apples when assessing sustainability performance. The Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops initiative is working to develop a common set of sustainability metrics for businesses in the specialty crop supply chain. For growers, these performance metrics will help measure efficiencies in water, energy, and nutrient usage, as well as pesticide usage and soil quality. For example, processing tomato growers in California will be measuring water usage per ton of crop produced to compare themselves against industry averages. With measurement, attention can be directed to finding innovative ways to optimize water use and thus, cost-saving opportunities.

Sustainability performance measurement and reporting will soon become an integral part of doing business. The opportunity is to get ahead of the curve and align with your supply chain partners to find value for your own operation. Sustainability begins with profitability, and there are financial rewards to be harvested.

The partnership also works to reduce contamination of water, conserve and restore biodiversity to natural ecosystems, and increase productivity without genetic modification of the produce. The partnership has resulted in the Healthy Grown® potato eco-label. With over 350 eco-label products on the market, consumers and businesses are growing more wary of “greenwashing” — exaggerated or misleading claims about eco-friendliness — according to the World Resources Institute (WRI). WRI notes that in response both the Federal Trade Commission and the Security Exchange Commission have begun paying attention to green claims, and Senator Dianne Feinstein has begun developing legislation around eco-labeling. 

As part of its transparent eco-labeling process, all Healthy Grown growers are certified and audited by Protected Harvest each year — an independent oversight organization that ensures strict adherence to sustainable agriculture standards. Growers must pass annual field-by-field certification with a farm audit and pesticide, fertility, and bio IPM record requirements. All certification standards are documented as proof that Healthy Grown tactics are taking place in the field.  All packers and shippers are also certified by Protected Harvest. Unique to eco-label products, Healthy Grown has compiled an eight-year database tracing IPM and pesticide use. In addition, farmers maintain on-farm statistics that record both the progress of and challenges to their sustainable whole-farm methods.

“Healthy Grown is a science-based, measurable, transparent label that provides a process that can ultimately examine the whole farm. Though the Healthy Grown standard does not yet measure all resources that come from a farm — we’ve accomplished much in the past decade to bring us closer to that point,” notes Jeb Barzen, International Crane Foundation Director of Field Ecology.

Continues Barzen, “Healthy Grown is also modular, which makes it easy to add components, or resources, as science allows. This is a huge accomplishment, especially given the current nationwide efforts that are underway.” One of the modules critical to the Healthy Grown whole-farm sustainable approach is the ecosystem restoration part of the standard. Growers work with various researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the International Crane Foundation to restore biodiversity to degraded natural areas within the farms. “Agriculture comprises the largest land-use in North America, and we have to realize that farms do more than simply provide produce. Large-scale agriculture impacts natural ecosystems. That’s why Healthy Grown uses a whole- farm approach, so we can address biodiversity, climate change, water pollution, and soil erosion simultaneously on the same farm that produces our food,” explains Barzen.

Adds AJ Bussan, Associate Professor in the Department of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, “One of Healthy Grown’s greatest strengths is the collaboration between researchers, conservationists and growers. Healthy Grown emerged from a targeted set of specific sustainability standards, but all of us continue to challenge those standards. The standards will continue to evolve as we find better ways to manage pests and invasive plants, restore natural ecosystems, support native animals, improve production and minimize toxicity. It’s a work that’s always in progress because we use science as the basis for our certification of the Healthy Grown eco-label.”

Healthy Grown is anything but stagnant. Since its inception, the interest in — and regard from —  international conservation groups has grown, as has the interdisciplinary participation of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers, including production, soils, ecosystem and social science faculty. Other Healthy Grown highlights include:

Sustainable whole-farm agriculture

* Reduced pesticide risk to both human and environmental health by 32 percent among certified fields.
* Banned 11 pesticides from Healthy Grown farms that are of particular concern, as well as established a list of  ‘use with restriction’ materials. This list goes above and beyond current legal requirements.
* Increased use of IPM and other preventative pest tactics by 50 percent.
* Managed fields with equal yields and quality of product to non-Healthy Grown farms with less impact on human and environmental health.
* Consistent annual expansion of research, education and software programs for growers. * Successful use of cover cropping, mulching, organic soil amendments and experimental solarization to control soil borne diseases and improve soil and water quality.

Eco-label transparency

Development of data management system to provide historical farm-level data of all whole-farm sustainability and conservation efforts, including data concerning pesticide use, fertility and water use, and biodiversity tracking.
Database of documented research-based eco-label standards which illustrate whole-farm sustainability improvement trends and challenges over time. 

Current biodiversity and conservation research

Successful implementation of biodiversity conservation to restore endangered and rare ecosystems in Wisconsin. Healthy Grown farm land parcels, with over 400 acres now being restored to native prairie, savanna and wetland ecosystems.
According to Emily Aker’s Master of Science thesis, Monitoring Vegetation Response to Ecosystem Management in Agricultural Landscapes Under an Ecolabel Scheme”:
Positive trends were recorded in native plant diversity on nearly all of the endangered prairie and savanna ecosystems on Healthy Grown farms.

Overall, the longer a unit was enrolled in the Natural Community Standard, the higher the site scored in terms of floristic quality — the presence of conservative plant species.
Management activities have been implemented in the Natural Community areas to control exotic or invasive species, and to promote the growth of native species. Activities such as prescribed burning, invasive species removal, and planting of native species have advanced restoration efforts.

Large-scale ongoing research projects, funded by the USDA-NRI program, to gauge the importance of natural ecosystem restoration in relation to crop quality and production. The projects include research concerning:

* Scientific assessment of the biodiversity of plant, bird and insect species in both agricultural and non-agricultural adjacent lands.
* How agricultural and non-agricultural landscapes interact and what the optimal balance is between farmed and non-farmed lands.
* Examination of the distribution of bird species in non-agricultural portions of the Healthy
* Grown farms and potential benefits of preservation of these avian habitats.
* University of Wisconsin, Department of Entomology seed predation research project to assess effect of insect diversity on agricultural and non-agricultural lands.

Awards and honors

USDA Secretary's Honor Awards for Maintaining and Enhancing the Nation's Natural Resources and Environment
World Wildlife Fund Gift to the Earth Award
International IPM Award of Achievement
International Crane Foundation Good Egg Award for Excellence

Going forward, Healthy Grown is examining the possibility of expanding its eco-label and farm certification to other vegetable crops. Notes Knuteson, “Our data continues to illustrate that it’s economically feasible to grow in a sustainable manner. The more we learn about ecologically-sound alternatives and the benefits of increasing biodiversity on non-agricultural plots of land located on the farms, the more everyone benefits. It’s a process of trial and error, but we have a comprehensive database to guide our course. We’ve certainly had our fair share of challenges over the past decade, but every one of us is committed to the research-based standard.”
 
Adds Ann MacGuidwin, Professor of Nematology and Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “The on-farm research the Healthy Grown growers contribute is a constant motivator. The growers are so savvy when it comes to testing new biorational practices and products. They’re committed to research and will design and implement trials themselves, as well as partner with University researchers.” 
 
Paula Wallendal, Healthy Grown grower agrees. “After all these years, there is still a commitment to move forward.  As growers, we’re always asking ourselves what more we can do to improve sustainability.  We have a science-based, transparent, certifiable product and we know that it’s good. We need to keep moving forward and tackle other sustainability issues to become better.”
 
Concludes Knuteson, “Everything in the Healthy Grown® standard is research-based — we document changes over time not only to see what we’ve accomplished, but as a means of improving standards in the future. We’re always looking beyond what we’re doing today — working to maintain, and then surpass, the high research bar we have set for ourselves.”
 
About Healthy Grown®
The Healthy Grown® eco-label, established in 2001, is a product of the Wisconsin Eco-Potato partnership between the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The International Crane Foundation, World Wildlife Fund and the Defenders of Wildlife are also part of the partnership. The Healthy Grown standard is designed to help growers reduce contamination of water, conserve natural ecosystems, increase biodiversity and improve productivity through researched-based sustainable and IPM processes. Healthy Grown sustainable farming practices are overseen by Protected Harvest, an independent oversight organization. www.wisconsinpotatoes.com/HealthyGrown/index.html.

February 9, 2010: "Large-scale agriculture plays a critical role in the health of our ecosystem. A wide range of variables — tilling, pest- and weed-control, irrigation, crop rotation, remnant lands — impact the environment,” notes Deana Knuteson, BioIPM Field Coordinator for the Wisconsin Eco-Potato partnership. “Minimizing that impact was the motivation behind developing the Wisconsin Eco-Potato partnership and the Healthy Grown® eco-label." Established in 1996, the Wisconsin Eco-Potato partnership is a collaboration between the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) and the University of Wisconsin. The International Crane Foundation, the Defenders of Wildlife and the World Wildlife Fund are also part of the partnership.

The partnership also works to reduce contamination of water, conserve and restore biodiversity to natural ecosystems, and increase productivity without genetic modification of the produce. The partnership has resulted in the Healthy Grown® potato eco-label. With over 350 eco-label products on the market, consumers and businesses are growing more wary of “greenwashing” — exaggerated or misleading claims about eco-friendliness — according to the World Resources Institute (WRI). WRI notes that in response both the Federal Trade Commission and the Security Exchange Commission have begun paying attention to green claims, and Senator Dianne Feinstein has begun developing legislation around eco-labeling. 

As part of its transparent eco-labeling process, all Healthy Grown growers are certified and audited by Protected Harvest each year — an independent oversight organization that ensures strict adherence to sustainable agriculture standards. Growers must pass annual field-by-field certification with a farm audit and pesticide, fertility, and bio IPM record requirements. All certification standards are documented as proof that Healthy Grown tactics are taking place in the field.  All packers and shippers are also certified by Protected Harvest. Unique to eco-label products, Healthy Grown has compiled an eight-year database tracing IPM and pesticide use. In addition, farmers maintain on-farm statistics that record both the progress of and challenges to their sustainable whole-farm methods.

“Healthy Grown is a science-based, measurable, transparent label that provides a process that can ultimately examine the whole farm. Though the Healthy Grown standard does not yet measure all resources that come from a farm — we’ve accomplished much in the past decade to bring us closer to that point,” notes Jeb Barzen, International Crane Foundation Director of Field Ecology.

Continues Barzen, “Healthy Grown is also modular, which makes it easy to add components, or resources, as science allows. This is a huge accomplishment, especially given the current nationwide efforts that are underway.” One of the modules critical to the Healthy Grown whole-farm sustainable approach is the ecosystem restoration part of the standard. Growers work with various researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the International Crane Foundation to restore biodiversity to degraded natural areas within the farms. “Agriculture comprises the largest land-use in North America, and we have to realize that farms do more than simply provide produce. Large-scale agriculture impacts natural ecosystems. That’s why Healthy Grown uses a whole- farm approach, so we can address biodiversity, climate change, water pollution, and soil erosion simultaneously on the same farm that produces our food,” explains Barzen.

Adds AJ Bussan, Associate Professor in the Department of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, “One of Healthy Grown’s greatest strengths is the collaboration between researchers, conservationists and growers. Healthy Grown emerged from a targeted set of specific sustainability standards, but all of us continue to challenge those standards. The standards will continue to evolve as we find better ways to manage pests and invasive plants, restore natural ecosystems, support native animals, improve production and minimize toxicity. It’s a work that’s always in progress because we use science as the basis for our certification of the Healthy Grown eco-label.”

Healthy Grown is anything but stagnant. Since its inception, the interest in — and regard from —  international conservation groups has grown, as has the interdisciplinary participation of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers, including production, soils, ecosystem and social science faculty. Other Healthy Grown highlights include:

Sustainable whole-farm agriculture

* Reduced pesticide risk to both human and environmental health by 32 percent among certified fields.
* Banned 11 pesticides from Healthy Grown farms that are of particular concern, as well as established a list of  ‘use with restriction’ materials. This list goes above and beyond current legal requirements.
* Increased use of IPM and other preventative pest tactics by 50 percent.
* Managed fields with equal yields and quality of product to non-Healthy Grown farms with less impact on human and environmental health.
* Consistent annual expansion of research, education and software programs for growers. * Successful use of cover cropping, mulching, organic soil amendments and experimental solarization to control soil borne diseases and improve soil and water quality.

Eco-label transparency

Development of data management system to provide historical farm-level data of all whole-farm sustainability and conservation efforts, including data concerning pesticide use, fertility and water use, and biodiversity tracking.
Database of documented research-based eco-label standards which illustrate whole-farm sustainability improvement trends and challenges over time. 

Current biodiversity and conservation research

Successful implementation of biodiversity conservation to restore endangered and rare ecosystems in Wisconsin. Healthy Grown farm land parcels, with over 400 acres now being restored to native prairie, savanna and wetland ecosystems.
According to Emily Aker’s Master of Science thesis, Monitoring Vegetation Response to Ecosystem Management in Agricultural Landscapes Under an Ecolabel Scheme”:
Positive trends were recorded in native plant diversity on nearly all of the endangered prairie and savanna ecosystems on Healthy Grown farms.

Overall, the longer a unit was enrolled in the Natural Community Standard, the higher the site scored in terms of floristic quality — the presence of conservative plant species.
Management activities have been implemented in the Natural Community areas to control exotic or invasive species, and to promote the growth of native species. Activities such as prescribed burning, invasive species removal, and planting of native species have advanced restoration efforts.

Large-scale ongoing research projects, funded by the USDA-NRI program, to gauge the importance of natural ecosystem restoration in relation to crop quality and production. The projects include research concerning:

* Scientific assessment of the biodiversity of plant, bird and insect species in both agricultural and non-agricultural adjacent lands.
* How agricultural and non-agricultural landscapes interact and what the optimal balance is between farmed and non-farmed lands.
* Examination of the distribution of bird species in non-agricultural portions of the Healthy
* Grown farms and potential benefits of preservation of these avian habitats.
* University of Wisconsin, Department of Entomology seed predation research project to assess effect of insect diversity on agricultural and non-agricultural lands.

Awards and honors

USDA Secretary's Honor Awards for Maintaining and Enhancing the Nation's Natural Resources and Environment
World Wildlife Fund Gift to the Earth Award
International IPM Award of Achievement
International Crane Foundation Good Egg Award for Excellence

Going forward, Healthy Grown is examining the possibility of expanding its eco-label and farm certification to other vegetable crops. Notes Knuteson, “Our data continues to illustrate that it’s economically feasible to grow in a sustainable manner. The more we learn about ecologically-sound alternatives and the benefits of increasing biodiversity on non-agricultural plots of land located on the farms, the more everyone benefits. It’s a process of trial and error, but we have a comprehensive database to guide our course. We’ve certainly had our fair share of challenges over the past decade, but every one of us is committed to the research-based standard.”
 
Adds Ann MacGuidwin, Professor of Nematology and Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “The on-farm research the Healthy Grown growers contribute is a constant motivator. The growers are so savvy when it comes to testing new biorational practices and products. They’re committed to research and will design and implement trials themselves, as well as partner with University researchers.” 
 
Paula Wallendal, Healthy Grown grower agrees. “After all these years, there is still a commitment to move forward.  As growers, we’re always asking ourselves what more we can do to improve sustainability.  We have a science-based, transparent, certifiable product and we know that it’s good. We need to keep moving forward and tackle other sustainability issues to become better.”
 
Concludes Knuteson, “Everything in the Healthy Grown® standard is research-based — we document changes over time not only to see what we’ve accomplished, but as a means of improving standards in the future. We’re always looking beyond what we’re doing today — working to maintain, and then surpass, the high research bar we have set for ourselves.”
 
About Healthy Grown®
The Healthy Grown® eco-label, established in 2001, is a product of the Wisconsin Eco-Potato partnership between the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The International Crane Foundation, World Wildlife Fund and the Defenders of Wildlife are also part of the partnership. The Healthy Grown standard is designed to help growers reduce contamination of water, conserve natural ecosystems, increase biodiversity and improve productivity through researched-based sustainable and IPM processes. Healthy Grown sustainable farming practices are overseen by Protected Harvest, an independent oversight organization. www.wisconsinpotatoes.com/HealthyGrown/index.html.