SUSTAINABILITY

THE ROLE OF GROWERS in shaping and responding to consumer demand took center stage at the 36th annual Almond Industry Conference as a diverse group of speakers discussed the future of sustainability and traceability in almonds and how "What Happens in the Orchard Affects the Shelf."

Almond Board President Richard Waycott said that what growers do to make almonds the "crop of choice" among regulators, legislators, suppliers and researchers has an impact on making almonds the "nut of choice" among retail buyers, manufacturers and consumers.

"Everything is interconnected, and what you do as a grower matters," Waycott said.

ABC's Vice President of Global Technical and Regulatory Affairs Julie Adams said consumers increasingly want to know where their food comes from and how it is produced, be it for sustainability or food safety reasons.

"In every market our customers are becoming more concerned about where and how their food is produced and are making decisions about what they buy based on that information," Adams said. "What you do to provide a safe, sustainable, and quality product gives us the permission to go that next step to become an essential part of our consumers' lives."

"When we look at what is happening in the whole agri-food sector from the orchard to processing to foodservice or retail, that distance is becoming shorter and shorter," said Jeff Dlott, president of SureHarvest, which provides environmental stewardship services to agriculture.

"One of the quickest trends in the food sector is sustainability and it is not only on the tip of the tongue of manufacturers and food service but also of consumers as well," Dlott said.

The Almond Board of California is developing a program on sustainability highlighting economically viable and environmentally friendly practices almond growers already are doing in irrigation management, dust management, crop protection and fertility. It is also exploring ways to gather those practices into a common framework and communicate to stakeholders what sustainability means in almonds.

Panelist Kathy Kent-Riggs, ingredient quality enabler for Frito-Lay, said food safety already is driving a trend toward accountability and traceability that will continue to increase rapidly in the near future and likely reach down to the farm level.

"Documentation will become increasingly important," Kent-Riggs said. "Tracing to your farm, county or state is not required now, but it's a good practice and it will be required eventually."

Frito-Lay, which has more than 36 nut and seed products including its new TrueNorth brand featuring almonds, has recently doubled its internal source tracings in light of increased customer interest in "country of harvest." Frito-Lay's parent company PepsiCo has a supplier quality-assurance process currently under trial.

Winegrape grower Aaron Lange of LangeTwins Winery and Vineyards in Lodi shared his experiences converting to a certified sustainable winegrape program. Lange said tracking field activities and managing crop production data are important components of the Lodi Rules sustainable winegrape program. The process is helping him become a better grower and improve the bottom line by increasing yields and reducing inputs.

"Traceability and transparency [in production practices] are going to be essential in the next decade or two in the marketplace, not only for our consumers but for regulators as well," Lange said.