While our international network of grower partners are third-party food safety certified, some also follow custom operational practices that further enhance the safety and quality for their fruit while also helping sustain the natural environment and enhance local communities.

Pre-Conditioned Stone Fruit

Our growers in California and Chile supply pre-conditioned, ready-to-eat nectarines and peaches from California and Chile. The methodology they use is based on research conducted by Dr. Carlos Crisosto of the University of California at Davis in the mid-1990s into the physiology of stone fruit ripening. This process involves subjecting fruit to a temperature conditioning routine prior to the initial cooling procedure. Delayed cooling protocol helps protect stone fruit against off flavor, mealy texture and internal browning.

ENZA apple and pear growers in New Zealand employ a system called Integrated Fruit Production ensuring that production methods are sustainable and as safe as possible for the environment and human health. This system covers all aspects of production, ranging from soil and water management to planting systems and pest control. Pests are kept in check through Integrated Pest Management (IPM). This in-orchard monitoring program controls pests by introducing beneficial organisms, like certain predator mites, and mandates a conservative approach to spraying on an "as needed only" basis.

Visit ENZA's international Web site: http://www.enzafruit.com/.

The ZESPRI™ System is the New Zealand kiwifruit industry's commitment to providing consumers with consistently clean, fresh, safe, natural and good tasting kiwifruit. The integrated production and marketing system addresses all areas of the kiwifruit growing and distribution chain, ensuring total integration from grower to consumer. Other underpinning principles include: documented and verifiable traceability and transparency from grower to retail shelf, ethical business practices, sustainable development, food safety and no genetic modification. All ZESPRI™ Kiwifruit growers are EurepGAP certified.

Visit ZESPRI’s international Web site: http://www.zespri.com.

Houwelings Hot House

Houwelings is an environmentally conscious hot house operator based in the U.S. and Canada, and is committed to pursuing good agricultural, environmental and labor practices. Houwelings is food safety audited annually by Primus Labs, and certified by NutriClean, a company that conducts audits for chemical, herbicide and pesticide residues. Sustainability initiatives undertaken by the grower include efforts toward carbon neutrality. Its U.S. facility installed a 1.2 megawatt electrical solar facility and solar heating panels, and the Canadian facility uses wood shavings as a heating source. Houwelings also uses screens extensively to reduce heat loss through glass roofs. The grower has a system for capturing and storing the waste heat from its cooler facility and blows it into the greenhouse for heating at nighttime. Houwelings also employs sophisticated water and fertilizer management systems, including capturing irrigation runoff and recirculation for irrigation.

Visit Houweling’s Web site for more: http://www.houwelings.com/.

Clean Environmental Organic (CEO), Origin Organic Farms

In pursuit of excellent flavor, innovative organic greenhouse grower Origin Organic Farms of Delta, British Columbia, combined traditional farming and growing methods with innovative technology and sound biological controls. OriginO was the first greenhouse producer in B.C. to receive the Environmental Farming Planning (EFP) certificate in recognition of its environmental pursuit of clean, safe and healthy farming that is 100% sustainable. OriginO produces its own soil media using composted plant waste, and it pioneered a proprietary organic fertilizer for greenhouse production. There is no direct application of bio waste to crops, no possibility of ground water contamination, and no cross-pollination with genetically modified crops.

For more, visit OriginO’s Web site: http://www.origino.ca.

‘Carbon Neutral’ Peppers, by SunSelect Produce Inc.

Aldergrove, B.C., based SunSelect Produce Inc. achieves carbon neutral greenhouse production through a combination of energy saving measures and use of renewable resources. SunSelect reduced its dependence on natural gas for greenhouse heating by adopting wood waste energy. It also employs energy curtains to keep heat within the greenhouses at night.

For more details, visit the Web site for SunSelect: http://www.sunselect.ca.

Labrunier is a subsidiary of Grupo JD, a group of companies that is committed to a sustainability policy that includes social projects involving workers and their families, contributing to local development in the Brazilian northeast, a region known for high poverty rates. Its "Adopt a School" project benefits over 4,500 students and about 150 teachers. This initiative also involves the responsible use of natural resources as evidenced by the recent acquisition of new equipment that reduces water consumption from 1,000 to 60 liters per hectare during production periods. Labrunier has achieved GlobalGAP and Integrated Fruit Production (IFP) certification.

Peruvian Mangoes from Sunshine Exports

Sunshine Exports is a cooperative of more than 300 mango producers entirely in the valleys of San Lorenzo, Cieneguillo and Alto Piura; the valleys of Motupe and Olmos and Casma. Sunshine supplies conventional and EurepGAP-certified organic fruit. The co-op promotes integrated pest control primarily through the use of biological controls. It also provides plantation workers with clothing and a safe work environment. It touches roughly 1,000 local families in local communities, providing medical assistance and summer school classes. It also provides guidance to Agrovida, a group of Fair Trade mango growers in the Piura Valley.

For more, visit Sunshine’s Web site: http://www.sunshineperu.com/.