February 16
National Almond Day

February 17
Board election ballots due

February 24 • 10:00AM
PR & Advertising Committee

March 2 • 9:30AM
Environmental Committee

March 3 • 9:30AM
Production Research Committee

March 9 • 9:30AM
Food Quality & Safety Committee

Drop us a note or give us a call. Please send your questions and comments to: staff@almondboard.com.

1150 9th Street, Suite 1500
Modesto, CA 95354
209-549-8262
www.almondboard.com

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Richard Waycott, CEO
Almond Board of California

You have no doubt heard the word sustainability being bantered about in the press and on the Internet lately. But, you may or may not have heard that last year the Almond Board began developing a meaningful sustainability program for California growers and handlers. What you probably have not heard is a credible explanation of what benefits a sustainability program will have for you as a member of the California Almond industry.

Here is the explanation: There are long, medium and short term benefits to a sustainability program, and certain aspects of sustainability will become a requirement of doing business.

In the long term, our sustainability program will provide for continuous improvement and cost reduction of farm inputs. It may also allow for a lessening of regulatory requirements as we will have the means to clearly demonstrate industry-wide practices, something that we can't do today. Our sustainability program will allow for measurement of improvements as an industry and, as importantly, will allow individual farmers and handlers to do the same. Measuring improvement of our industry will be critical, as ever greater scrutiny by large retailers, manufacturers and the regulatory community will necessitate our being able to correctly and credibly position the contributions we are making to the Central Valley's environment and to the quality and safety of our product.

In the medium term, our sustainability program will allow us to tell the story about what we have been accomplishing for years in the way we farm and process California Almonds. A common chorus we hear from almond growers, when they understand what we are setting out to do with our sustainability program, is that we need to get out the real story about all the good things that this industry has been doing. Building a baseline of knowledge across the industry on various farming and processing practices will allow us to do just that. But we need to invest in the short term to start to realize the benefits of the medium and long term.

In the short term, the sustainability program will get you started on quantifying and qualifying where you stand compared to your peers, and will send a strong message to the industry's customer base that we are all about continuous improvement, not that they shouldn't know that already! The old adage—you can't improve what you can't measure—applies more than ever in a sustainable world. Achieving grower and handler involvement in this initiative, and a critical mass of each, is imperative for success. Please refer to an additional article on sustainability in this month's Handle to learn more about how you can get involved right now!

In a visit to Switzerland last fall, I had the opportunity to meet with some of the senior executives in what is the largest food company in the world: Nestle. The one liner take-away from that visit—and all of the other multinational food companies are pretty much of the same thinking — was that Nestle will give preference to suppliers and industries that will partner with them in the improvement of farming, transportation, packaging, and healthier product content. The California Almond industry has the ability to be a premier partner with the leading manufacturers of the world, and we would be very remiss if we didn't do so.

As I see it, sustainability is part of the industry's modus operandi going forward, contributing to the achievement of our strategic goal of clearly becoming A Crop of Choice in California and The Nut of Choice with customers and consumers around the globe.

Please contact me with your thoughts about sustainability and whatever else is on your mind.

Richard Waycott
(209) 343-3215
rwaycott@almondboard.com

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Have buyers asked you questions relating to the sustainable production of the almonds you are selling? Have you been frustrated at how the media or certain groups depict almonds or U.S. agriculture? The Environmental Committee at ABC has initiated the California Almond Sustainability Program to provide credible information to respond. The program was developed, in part, due to input from handlers indicating that their buyers are starting to ask questions related to the environmental aspects of how almonds are grown. Developing this program to document the industry's use of best management practices will facilitate answering those questions.

Another driver for the sustainability program is the number of environmental regulations that affect California agriculture. Data on what practices are being used puts industry representatives in a stronger position for conversations with agencies. And in the age of electronic media, data is needed to be able to maintain the reputation of almonds.

The sustainability program is based on grower self-assessments of their production practices. To encourage participation, growers are invited to lunch (or breakfast) and introduced to a sustainability topic. Then, they are given a worksheet which asks them a series of questions about their use of a range of best practices and resources. To date, the program covers irrigation and fertilization practices, but additional subjects such as energy and air quality are being added throughout 2010. All individual grower information is held confidentially by a third-party (SureHarvest Inc.), but cumulative data is made available to ABC for industry use. Data is also provided back to growers who participate. A pilot program conducted in autumn 2009 showed that growers who participated responded to the idea that they could help market their almonds and to be able to share their story.

We're asking handlers to help ABC bring growers to the table in 2010. If you're willing to help us get the word out to your growers (and provide a place to meet if your facility has one), we'll take care of the arrangements and provide a meal for your invitees. We hope this will be an opportunity to strengthen your relationship with your growers while assisting ABC to document the true story of California Almond production. Please contact Debye Hunter with ABC at (209) 343-3230 to start the planning process or Gabriele Ludwig at (209) 765-0578 if you want to learn more about the program.

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Don't miss this opportunity to vote for the 2010 ABC Board of Directors. Ballots were mailed on Jan. 29, and need to be received in the ABC office by next Wednesday, Feb. 17. Board members and alternates are instrumental in determining and setting protocol for the issues and policies that affect the whole almond industry. So, let your voice be heard. For more information about the election, contact Sue Olson at (209) 343-3224.

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In January, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) announced that the Indian Parliament passed the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006. FSSAI has assured everyone that this is just a repackaging of existing food safety and standards laws, including the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules, 1955. The Government of India has not submitted these proposals to the WTO for review and comment by other member countries.

Of particular interest in the Rules and Regulations put forward by FSSAI is the small number of established maximum residue limits (MRLs) included. Trade partners with India argue that in the absence of established MRLs for numerous products, it would be best to defer to established Codex limits and that a transparent, science-based approach to India's existing and future MRLs would be best. ABC has provided comments to USDA for inclusion in their response to the notification.

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Over the past few months the nut industry has become a focus for regulatory inspection—and rightly so, as there continue to be findings related to possible Salmonella contamination in various nuts. Our industry has done a good job developing programs to address the threat of contamination. These efforts have protected consumers and our industry, which has been acknowledged by regulators.

Last September, the FDA paid the almond industry a visit to gain a better understanding of almond food safety practices. At the conclusion of the visit, the key FDA official stated that "the almond industry is at the forefront in developing programs and initiatives for addressing microbial food safety, which I think other segments of the tree-nut industry can follow." Although an encouraging accolade, we must continue to explore ways to increase the robustness of our food safety systems.

One tool we all have at our disposal, which allows us to improve, is the unannounced food safety audit. Work with your auditing agency to ensure your audit is properly designed and includes elements such as plant swabbing to help you identify potential areas of concern that you should address. Not only will doing so further food safety efforts, it will prepare you for a regulatory audit should the day arise when the FDA or State comes knocking on your door.

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Are you still contemplating plans to visit the International Tree Nut and Dried Fruit Foundation (INC) Congress taking place in the Chinese capital city of Beijing, May 21-23? If so, the timing is ideal to also visit the commercial city of Shanghai on the way to Beijing to participate in Almond Board activities to grow demand for almonds in what is now our leading export market.

The Almond Board will be holding a technical seminar on May 18, as well as exhibiting at the SIAL China Food and Beverage Exhibition on May 19-21. These events offer first-hand opportunities to engage with potential new and existing almond users in China. May also marks the start of the long-awaited 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. For more information about Almond Board China program activities coming up in May, please contact Kristi Saitama.

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Beginning next month (March 2010), the Position Report will no longer come as an attachment to The Handle email. Instead there will be a link at the top of the page in The Handle for you to download a copy of the most recent Position Report.

This change is being made as part of the Almond Board's overall technology update. ABC will be providing more details between now and Mar. 10, the date scheduled for publication of the next Position Report, regarding this transition.

Please contact Sue Olson with any questions or concerns you might have regarding this transition.

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