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The United
Fresh Produce Association Research & Education
Foundation today announced that it will form a new Center for Global Produce
Sustainability, designed to help companies across the fresh fruit and vegetable
supply chain enhance their businesses through sustainability. The Center will
initially be funded through a $1.1 million endowment grant over four years from
Bayer CropScience.
The announcement was made by United Fresh Produce Association Chairman of the
Board Tom Lovelace, McEntire Produce, and John Smith, director of the
Horticulture Region for Bayer CropScience, during the Opening General Session of
the United Fresh 2009 Convention, which opened today in Las
Vegas. "Sustainability has been one of the most important issues discussed among our
Board of Directors, our Global Advisory Council and other leadership groups over
the past several years," Lovelace said. "United has been working with a number
of allied partners to better understand and define sustainability as it pertains
to our fresh produce supply chain. Now, with this great support from Bayer
CropScience, we will be able to intensify those efforts, and also begin to
develop real tools and programs to help companies from grower through retail and foodservice to proactively manage sustainability in their businesses."
The Center for Global Produce Sustainability will join three other centers
within the United Foundation – the Center for Leadership Development, Center for
Business Management and Center for Food Safety, Quality and Nutrition. Each
Center develops its own programs, which in the aggregate, are designed to
enhance the ability of the fresh produce industry to provide healthy, safe and affordable fresh fruits and vegetables to consumers around the world. "Bayer CropScience is pleased to make this commitment to the United Foundation
to collaborate with the fruit and vegetable industry in enhancing
sustainability," said Smith during his remarks. "In this particular market,
understanding the views of the entire food production supply chain is critical
to producing enough safe and affordable food for the ever-expanding world while
protecting and enhancing the environment for the future. We cannot achieve our
goal alone, which is why this Center will focus on enhancing relationships with
fruit and vegetable growers, the food chain and research partners in the U.S.,
and globally, to ensure meaningful dialogue and advances with regard to
sustainability."
According to United Fresh President and CEO Tom Stenzel, support from Bayer
CropScience in helping establish the new Center will provide both the focus and
resources to enhance strategic work of United Fresh with allied partners in the
areas of sustainability, including industry associations, government agencies,
non-governmental organizations and others.
"Our sustainability efforts with the Center will be about building partnerships
that best serve members of the produce supply chain in order to deliver them the
tools and services they need to enhance their own businesses.. Fruit and
vegetable growers have long been the most committed stewards of the land, and we
need to ensure that enhancing sustainability is recognized as an opportunity to
improve our businesses rather than one more burden," Stenzel said. The new Center will focus initially on reaching out to current partners in the
sustainability world, specifically helping to advance sound, scientific
principles and metrics for sustainability through the produce supply chain.
"United is already a committed partner in developing the Stewardship Index for
Specialty Crops, and we look forward to deepening our support and involvement in
this effort," Stenzel said. "We’ll also continue our work as a member of the
ANSI
Sustainable Agriculture Standard Task Force, and work with the
Keystone Center’s Field to
Market program in agricultural sustainability."
"In addition, United’s Global Advisory Council has made a strong case that our
sustainability efforts need to be global in nature, just like our fresh produce
industry. Therefore, we will be working with our members and allied partners
around the world to ensure a complementary approach to these issues," Stenzel
said. "Bottom line, both Bayer CropScience and the United Foundation are
committed to developing the tools and assistance companies in the fruit and
vegetable supply chain need to enhance sustainability in their operations as a
positive business strategy." To provide leadership and direction to these efforts, the new Center will
develop an Advisory Board consisting of leaders from across the fruit and
vegetable production chain and allied partners. In addition, the Foundation will
be appointing new staff to help coordinate the work of the Center. Individuals
interested in potentially serving on the Center’s Advisory Board are asked to
contact United Fresh for further information. In concluding his remarks at the convention, United Fresh Chairman Tom Lovelace
again recognized Bayer CropScience for its support. "The commitment announced today by Bayer CropScience is a true testament to its
vision in serving the fruit and vegetable industry. Our work in sustainability
cannot be a short-term effort, but itself must be sustainable in order to
provide our growers, packers, processors, wholesalers, retail and foodservice
customers the tools they need. We are truly appreciative of the Bayer
CropScience commitment to make this possible," Lovelace
said.
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