Environmental, Social & Governance Policy
As a leading US producer of quality organic and conventional stone fruit, we recognize the need to commit to a strong Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Policy. With that goal in mind, we foster operational excellence across our value chain by implementing industry-leading labor practices, proprietary genetics, and sustainable farming innovations.
Our Commitment
We seek to make continuous progress and have identified targeted areas we believe will be the most impactful. These focus areas range from water stewardship, circular business practices, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) efforts, and employee wellness efforts.
For more about our employee initiatives and benefits, see Careers.
Water Stewardship
We’re committed to improving water conservation efforts and implementing sustainable farming innovations in these key areas:
- Drip Irrigation: We’re using drip irrigation systems for all new orchard development and redevelopments. As of early 2021, this included redeveloping more than 3,000 acres with new irrigation systems, and this is just the beginning.
- Variable Rate Wells: We’re installing variable speed switches on our wells to maximize water conservation and minimize energy usage.
Land Conservation & Organic Certification
- Integrated Pest Management: We’re minimizing pesticides by using native insect predators, limiting run-off risk via computer-controlled spray rigs and planting cover crops.
- Organic Certification: We’re maintaining almost 2,000 acres of certified organic land under U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) standards, and we’re looking for opportunities to scale these certifications moving forward.
Circular Business Practices
We’re committed to implementing circular processes in our goal to feed more people and reduce our carbon footprint.
Food Waste Reduction
We’re devoted to finding a home for every fruit we produce by distributing “culled” fruit that previously ended up in landfills by instead using it in misshaped fruit sales, animal feed, and frozen products.
Research and Development (R&D) Transformative Initiative
We’ve invested in various R&D initiatives that prioritize sustainability and circular innovations to reduce our carbon footprint and help conserve the planet.
Strategic Investments
To meet our commitment to feed more people, we acquired a genetics and breeding program to improve the flavor and enhance the overall customer experience.
Packaging
We strive to implement a closed-loop system and use reusable pallets for shipping as much as possible.
Accountability & Reporting
We’ve been tracking our Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy, water, and waste for the past two years and will continue to do so. We aim to monitor progress on all commitments and metrics annually, and we have also established a committee that meets bi-annually to discuss progress and address improvement areas.
Roles & Responsibilities
Prima® Wawona has established an ESG committee from our management team that will meet bi-annually to discuss ESG progress and address improvement areas. Our Company’s ESG policy will be reviewed annually.