Demonstrating its commitment to sustainability, Frutura announces that Peru-based Agrícola Don Ricardo (ADR), has become the first certified B Corp company in the Frutura family. ADR's achievement of B Corp status is just one way Frutura is demonstrating its commitment to impact. While ADR is the first Frutura enterprise to achieve this honor, Frutura LLC and other Frutura companies are working to attain B Corp Certification in 2025.
"I lay credit for ADR's sustainability culture at the feet of Ricardo Briceño (ADR's Founder and Board Chair), a true visionary," said Frutura CEO, David Krause. "When I first visited Ricardo, he took me around to see the scale and scope of ADR's sustainability work. I can tell you; it was humbling. All Frutura companies have enjoyed the benefit of ADR's head start in impact."
Celebrating B Corp certification.
This is not all. Frutura has also been developing a platform-wide sustainability management strategy and governance infrastructure. The company's Impact Collaboration Framework is managed by a team of sustainability specialists and senior leaders across business units. Baselines have been calculated around employee demographics, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions among multiple social and environmental metrics. Goals for 2025 have been set and performance-tracking methodology is in place.
"We were founded three years ago, and sustainability has been part of our founding values," says Jesse Last, VP of Sustainability. Last directs the platform's impact efforts and was one of the company's initial hires. Given its importance, sustainability is part of the due diligence in any acquisition process. "Frutura was crafted to build a future of fruit that is global and sustainable," he commented. "We were established to work toward finding sustainable solutions in large-scale farming and sustainability is a priority mission for us."
Sustainability initiatives
In addition to ADR's new B Corp certification, Frutura has prioritized and made progress within several areas. "It has been a collaborative effort. I feel sustainability is the ultimate team sport as together, a much bigger impact can be made," Last said. As a result, many initiatives stretch across business units. Examples of initiatives include:
Reducing waste: Frutura companies have collectively diverted nearly 60 percent of waste that might typically be sent to landfills, as well as almost 400K lbs. of nutritious food donated to underserved communities in the regions where the company operates.
Soil management & biodiversity:
ADR has a commercial vermiculture operation, producing its own black gold compost. Cardboard from packaging is combined with green mulch. With the help of worms, it takes several months to turn it into compost that is being applied to the vineyards. "Not only does it make the soil richer, it also reduces the need for synthetic fertilizers," commented Last. In Chile, Subsole has done trainings on this with their growers.
Frutura has achieved 100% GLOBALGAP certification for the fruit grown on Frutura owned and operated farms. This demonstrates the company's commitment to food safety, integrated pest management and soil health.
Renewable energy:
Collectively, Frutura companies have now met 25 percent of their energy consumption usage with renewable energy. This includes hundreds of kilowatts of solar capacity across Chile and the United States, with 200+ more kW coming online at Dayka & Hackett's California packing facility next year.
Frutura Uruguay: new irrigation being installed at El Espinillar.
Climate stability:
Frutura completed a Greenhouse Gas Protocol-aligned footprint that includes Scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Scope 3 emissions come from the platform's value chain and represent over 90 percent of the total, meaning Frutura will collaborate with growers, packaging suppliers, logistics providers and retailers to reduce them. This footprint will serve as a baseline for reducing emissions in the years ahead.
Last acknowledges that much more work remains to be done in the journey to achieve Frutura's vision of being a Force for Good. Therefore, the different business units will continue to work on further developing their sustainability practices.
Contact:
Jesse Last
Frutura
[email protected]
www.fruturaproduce.com