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Farming MIS: Labor and Resource Management

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“Sustainability Trends in the Agrifood Sector” - December 4, 2006

Articles

You Shouldn't Have to Pay More for Eco-Friendly Produce

The Healthy Grown Wisconsin potato label has announced it will price its potatoes at the market price for Wisconsin potatoes instead of at the premium price for eco-friendly grown produce.  Protected Harvest certifies and audits all Healthy Grown growers, packers, and shippers to ensure the company adheres to strict environmental standards.  Healthy Grown has found sustainability to be economical and is passing these savings on to their customers.     

Sustainable Opportunity

Dr. Jeff Dlott, of SureHarvest, discusses businesses looking inward and finding cost saving opportunities through sustainability practices.  The Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops is working to develop a common set of sustainability metrics that businesses in the specialty crop supply chain can use to compare performance metrics against those of industry averages for ultimate efficiency.   

No Boring Wines

Michelle Machado of San Joaquin Lifestyles discusses the sustainable winegrowing practices maintained by the Ripkens Vineyards and Winery Inc. which are audited by Protected Harvest according to the Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing.  These sustainable winegrowing practices support biodiversity while allowing the growth of many varietals of grapes.

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Sustainability Hot Topic At Winegrower Meeting

Sustainability is becoming increasingly important from farms to governemnt legislation to consumers and it showed at the 2010 Wine and Grape Symposium.  Businesses are taking initiative and cutting costs with sustainability while finding ways to profit from it.  Jeff Dlott, of SureHarvest, said the winegrape industry has been a leader in the sustainability movement.   

Company offers guidelines for starting sustainability plan

Andrew Arnold, of SureHarvest, offers a few recommendations for converting to sustainability from making the decision to convert to the actual process of converting.  

Sustainable Business Practices Take Center Stage

Businesses of all sizes are beginning to look toward sustainability programs to reduce emissions, lower costs, and increase long-term profits.  Barbara Meister, of SureHarvest, named just a few of the smaller, west coast companies that are taking steps towards sustainability.  Just as food safety was once optional, in a few years sustainability will be just as much of a requirement from the government and the public.    

Programs take shape by different methods

Different companies have used different strategies to convert to sustainability practices, from a specific group of employees focused on sustainability to incorporating sustainability as a company wide practice in which everyone is involved.  Andrew Arnold, of SureHarvest, urges that sustainability practices are most successful when driven by the top management of a company.        

Documenting sustainability: Software contributes to sustainable management

Peter Mitham of Good Fruit Grower discusses the value of farming management software for data-driven decision making to manage toward sustainability. With farming data collected and analyzed through the SureHarvest Farming MIS, growers can determine if their farming practices are having the intended results. Resource use can be optimized if growers can see correlations between inputs, weather and farming practices.

Sustainable Benchmark

Sureharvest farming MIS allows farmers to benchmark data resulting from sustainability practices. The benchmarks make it possible for farmers to compare themselves to competitors and to show real data to retailers demanding sustainability.    

Getting Started

Pam Mitchell of Sureharvest speaks at the Washington State Horticultural Association about choosing the appropriate farming management information system.  The appropriate system for a farm depends on the data that each farm aims to collect and which features of a software program are the most important.   

Winning numbers. Almond industry begins to collect data to back sustainability claims.

Vicky Boyd, editor of The Grower magazine, reviews the Almond Sustainability Program launched by the Almond Board of California in collaboration with SureHarvest. Modeled after the Sustainable Winegrowing Program, the almond industry recognizes the growing demand for data among its buyers and the value of a grower-driven self-assessment tool to measure how growers are doing and identify opportunities for improvement.

Why Sustainability? Almond Board Newsletter

ABC's Sustainability Self-Assessment Program Discussed. The latest step in the Almond Board's industrywide sustainability initiative is a self-assessment program designed to inventory actual practices in the orchard. The program's first module-focused on irrigation and fertilizer management practices-is likely to provide a prototype for additional self-assessment modules down the road.

Sustainability discussed at Washington Horticultural Association Meeting

Food safety and sustainability were the major focus of the recent Washington Horticultural Association Meeting held in Wenatchee, WA. The Packer reports on presentations of Dr. Cliff Ohmart's overview of sustainability intiatives by Walmart, Sysco and others. This article also includes coverage of the presentation by Jonathan Kaplan of NRDC regarding the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops, and food safety issues by Hank Giclas of Western Growers Association.

Sustainability an opportunity, speaker says

The Capital Press attended the Washington Horticultural Association's presentation by Dr. Cliff Ohmart on Trends in Sustainability: An opportunity or an imposition?

"I like the term sustainability, but I know a lot of growers do not," said Clifford Ohmart, vice president of professional services of Sureharvest and former sustainable wine growing director at the Lodi, Calif., Winegrape Commission.

"It's the three Es," he said. "It's economically viable, environmentally sound and socially equitable."

Sustainability ranks high among citrus growers' priorities

Tom Burfield of The Packer reviews the strategies of several citrus growers in their pursuit of sustainability. SunWest Fruit Co., has chosen to certify its growing practices through Protected Harvest and market its citrus under the Zeal brand.

Sustainability pilot looks to add participants

Tom Karst, national editor of The Packer reviews the progress of the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops with Dr. Jeff Dlott of SureHarvest. With funding from the USDA Conservation Innovation Grant of $630,000, the metrics will soon be pilot tested to see what works and what doesn't. The USDA grant is supplemented with In-kind support from participating companies including Markon Cooperative, Salinas, Calif.; SunWest Fruit Inc., Parlier, Calif.; National Potato Council, Washington, D.C.; Driscoll's, Watsonville, Calif.; Stemilt Growers Inc., Wenatchee, Wash.; Wada Farms Marketing Group, Idaho Falls, Ida.; Del Cabo Inc., Santa Cruz, Calif.; and Sodexo Inc, Gaithersburg, Md.

Specialty crop grant benefits almonds

The California Almond Board was awarded 3 Specialty Crop Grants from the California Department of Food and Agriculture. SureHarvest will be collaborating with the Almond Board to develop an integrated water and nutrient resource management program to help growers increase water and nutrient resource use efficiency. The project will include developing a self-assessment and benchmarking tool, decision-making tools and industry outreach and education.

SureHarvest receives USDA grant funding

The Packer reports on SureHarvest's award of $630,000 from the USDA Conservation Innovation Grant program to fund the pilot testing of the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops.

SureHarvest introduces map tool

The Packer's Bob Luder reports on SureHarvest latest product offering - Farming InSight, a GIS-map based decision support tool for growers and farm managers.

Walmart plans index to encourage suppliers to embrace sustainability

SureHarvest Barbara Meister comments on Walmart's proposed sustainability index.

Companies work toward sustainable practices

Ashley Bentley of The Packer reviews recent efforts by retailers and grower-shippers to meet new demands for sustainability, as well as the efforts of the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops. She references a presentation by Jeff Dlott of the scope of sustainability initiatives in the agri-food supply chain.

Winning sustainability efforts depend on the 4 P's

Dr. Jeff Dlott outlines a strategy for achieving sustainability by focusing on Principles, Practices, Processes and Performance as key to business innovation.

Zeal for the environment nets EPA award for FreshSense

Protected Harvest partner FreshSense Wins EPA Recognition

Fresh Talk with Dr. Jeff Dlott

SureHarvest President engages in FreshTalk with Tom Karst of The Packer.

The Greening of Retail

Protected Harvest certification program for fresh produce is cited as one of many suggestions for retailers pursuing a sustainability strategy for their customers.

Sustainability: Difficult Economy Could Be Boon for Progress

Editor Tim Linden of Western Grower & Shipper magazine asked Dr. Jeff Dlott if now is the right time to pursue sustainability strategies in a down economy. Read the full article to find out why Jeff thinks sustainability and profitability go "hand in hand."

The Rise of Sustainability

Dr. Dan Sonke reviews the reasons behind mainstream interest in sustainability

DPR honors efforts to reduce pesticides

FreshSense, a citrus and stonefruit packing company based in Parlier, California, was honored as an IPM Innovator by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. FreshSense produces citrus and stonefruit using sustainable agricultural practices certified by Protected Harvest.

SureHarvest acquires ScanControl, plans to offer services to more growers

Bob Luder of The Packer reports on what the SureHarvest acquisition of ScanControl will mean for growers in the fresh produce industry.

Stake a claim in new sustainability standards

Greg Johnson, Editor of ThePacker.com, reviews both the Leonardo Academy and the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops initiatives to set standards for sustainability. Jeff Dlott, president and chief executive officer of SureHarvest, a sustainability consulting and information systems company based in Soquel, Calif., and a co-founder of the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops, said "We have a blank slate now," he said, referring to the original draft by the Leonardo Academy. The purpose of the Stewardship Index is to develop a standard set of performance metrics for assessing sustainability based on outcomes, not practices.

California Stonefruit company wins IPM award

Protected Harvest Partner FreshSense, based in Parlier, CA, was recognized as an IPM Innovator by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. FreshSense, a company formed by Fowler Packing Co., SunWest Fruit Co., and Ballantine Produce Co. produces Zeal and Treehouse Kids branded stonefruit under the Protected Harvest certification program, managed by SureHarvest. Read the full article in American/Western Fruit Grower magazine.

First Green Wine Summit delves into sustainable business practices

SureHarvest CEO Jeff Dlott discussed Walmart's sustainability index and its implications for winegrape growers at the first-ever Green Wine Summit.

Western Growers discusses sustainability topics

SureHarvest CEO Jeff Dlott participated in a panel discussion at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Western Growers, presenting the Sustainable Winegrowing Program as a model program for sustainability.

The 2008 Sustainability Report: First Steps

Laura Drotleff asked Jeff to give advice to growers on the best way to move toward a sustainable model.

Defining Sustainability

SureHarvest CEO Jeff Dlott comments on the efforts by ANSI to develop sustainability standards and advocates defining metrics for measuring performance, instead of practice-based standards.

Innovative outreach increases adoption of sustainable winegrowing practices in Lodi region

Abstract: The widespread adoption of sustainable winegrowing practices depends not only on rigorous science, but also on its effective delivery to growers. The Lodi Winegrape Commission (LWC) created a unique self-assessment workbook and implementation program for increasing the adoption of sustainable winegrowing practices. This project was based on results from published research projects — many generated by UC scientists — and on-farm demonstration projects carried out by LWC growers and vineyard consultants. Data from two grower surveys shows that the program led to the increased adoption of specific sustainable winegrowing practices in the Lodi region. It has also served as a model for programs in other wine regions, including in California and New York.

Green Wine Without Greenwashing?

Cliff Ohmart, Research Director for Lod-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission
Cliff has collaborated with Jeff Dlott since the 1990s and is credited with inspiring SureHarvest with his early use of barcode technology for field pest scouting and database system to track pest management farming practices.

Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Produce Sourcing

SureHarvest CEO Jeff Dlott joins Blair Richardson, CEO of FreshSense, in a webinar presentation defining sustainability and describing the certification of sustainably-grown products by Protected Harvest, such as Zeal stonefruit and citrus.

Pundit's Mailbag - Sustainability Needs To Be Embraced By Industry

FreshSense CEO, Blair Richardson, a partner in the Protected Harvest certification program, wrote this response to the May 2 article by Jeff Dlott.

Sustainability Expert Provides Insights To A Similar Industry

An interview with CEO Jeff Dlott, exploring the history and role of SureHarvest in developing the Sustainable Winegrowing Program for the California wine industry.

Industry Must Focus on Sustainability

SureHarvest CEO Jeff Dlott and Tim Markon, of Markon Cooperative, a leading foodservice distributor in Salinas, CA, argue for an industry-wide focus to create measureable and verifiable performance-based metrics for sustainability in the fresh produce sector.

Organizing, Recording and Managing Just Got Easier

Megan Pierce interviews two customers, Robert Pirie of Colligere Farm Management and Mike Wolf of Michael Wolf Vineyard Services about their experiences with SureHarvest for vineyard management.

Technology with Traction: Six Innovations that Can Lighten Your Load

Thomas Ulrich reviews technology innovations for vineyards, including SureHarvest software for in-field data collection and record-keeping.

Vineyard Management Software

Mark Greenspan reviews 11 different software programs and services for vineyard management, including SureHarvest. See pgs. 4, 7 and 8 to see how SureHarvest compares to our competitors.

Sustainable Growing Goes High-Tech

Matt Villano interviewed Jeff Dlott for the history of SureHarvest and the software application for the Sustainable Winegrowing Program.

Press Releases

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