Tamara Muruetagoiena on Building a Unified Roadmap for Sustainability for Fresh Produce
The International Fresh Produce Association’s vice president of sustainability shares how this new strategic path will standardize metrics and streamline efforts across the global supply chain.
For a long time, the fresh produce industry was in a definition loop when it came to sustainability, and that noticeably hindered progress, says Tamara Muruetagoiena, vice president of sustainability for the International Fresh Produce Association.
Muruetagoiena joined “The Packer Podcast” to discuss the association’s work in developing the Global Fresh Produce and Floral Sustainability Framework, the challenges with bringing all stakeholders to the table and the benefits a framework will have for the industry.
It’s important the industry has a common language and is on the same page with sustainability, she explains.
“That common language is so needed right now, because for the longest time we’ve acted very focused on the different commodities and were very, very fragmented,” Muruetagoiena says. “It didn’t help anybody in the sustainability space.”
That alignment of language will help the industry better communicate the work already being done, she adds.
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“We are the most sustainable industry in the world,” Muruetagoiena says. “Yet nobody knows about this. Well, that needs to stop. So, if we don’t have a common voice, how are we’re going to, you know, tell the world about this? We need to have a clarity for ourselves, where we are and where we’re going.”
Part of where the industry is going is within this framework, which focuses on five pillars: packaging, regenerative agriculture, food loss and waste, social responsibility, and climate change.
“It will give companies the opportunity to have a blueprint and then a North Star for their work on sustainability, on any part of sustainability,” she says.
Muruetagoiena says it was important to start on this framework with growers while also bringing retailers and other stakeholders into the conversation. She says it was clear that the industry needed, within this framework, definitions, outlines, key performance indicators and tools already in existence that can help growers meet this framework. IFPA plans to roll out the framework during its Global Produce and Floral Show in October.
Audit fatigue, she says, is a significant bottleneck in the industry as retailers seek to carve out a unique sustainability path that is a differentiator from competitors. However, this leads to many requirements and data for growers who have already put forth a lot of effort in meeting sustainability goals. She adds this is why the industry needs a framework and agreement to get all stakeholders on the same page.
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“We need to create systems for the entire industry, and we need to have industrywide conversations, and we need to have everybody at the table,” Muruetagoiena says. “It’s also extremely difficult to accomplish, because they’re all very different companies. They all have their goals, but we need to come to an agreement. It’s not going to come easy.”
First, growers will need to be prepared for a sustainability audit. Muruetagoiena says much like food safety audits, sustainability audits will be necessary, though she tempers the idea of an additional audit with the understanding that the industry will need to streamline the process so it is not too onerous for growers.
“The grower community needs to agree that, yes, they will have to be certified for sustainability, and they’re so close to that,” she says. “There will be an effort there, and that effort is not to be taken lightly, so it will be significant.”
Then, Muruetagoiena says retailers also need to meet growers at a place where a standard certification, like the Consumer Goods Forum, would be accepted and not added to more requirements.
“I think that retailer community needs to acknowledge that work and stop their requirements after there’s a certification that is benchmarked against a system that they recognize,” she says.
Muruetagoiena says while it’s natural for some in the fresh produce industry to be skeptical of this effort, this framework is needed and will help ease any friction between retailers and growers in meeting sustainability requirements.
“I think the industry is really ready to find a solution,” she says. “They were really tired of the retailer requirements in the producer community, and the retailers are also sometimes tired of producers saying, ‘No, we can’t do this. This is too difficult.’ So, if there’s more of an industry-type agreement, I think everybody’s going to benefit.”
Source: www.thepacker.com
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