In this episode of the “Tip of the Iceberg” podcast, learn about an innovative approach to increasing sustainability on farms with our special guest, Lilian Autler, Organizational & Workforce Development Manager at EFI.
Recognized as leaders in workforce development and sustainability in the fresh produce industry, Equitable Food Initiative (EFI), and Measure to Improve (MTI) first partnered on a pilot program back in 2020. Equipped with a grant from Californian Workforce Development, EFI and MTI brought an innovative approach to building organizational capacity, improving waste management practices, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions at three California-based agricultural facilities: GoodFarms, Misionero, and Windset Farms.
EFI and MTI collaborated in training at all three operations, starting with a general introduction to sustainability concepts like climate change, waste, and waste reduction. Following, every agricultural facility organized a “Green Team” consisting of 12 to 20 employees from across the organization, including upper-level management, accounting and data analysis, human resources and training, operations management, field/plant supervision, facilities maintenance, and frontline planters, pruners, harvesters, and janitors. Finally, with the help of waste audits, the teams created a plan to identify the materials that ended up in the landfill and created a reduction plan to reduce, reuse, or recycle it.
The results spoke for themselves: 50 people were trained directly by EFI and MTI, plus an estimated 2,557 indirect trainees, more than 144 new tons of materials were kept out of the landfill, and the reduction in greenhouse emissions in more than 435MTCO2. In addition, diverting and selling cardboard proved to be a financial and environmental benefit for the facilitates that participated in the pilot. If you’re interested in learning more about how the Green Teams approached waste reduction, be sure you tune in to our podcast!
This episode of the podcast concludes with a piece of valuable advice for all companies looking to incorporate sustainability and waste reduction efforts as an integral part of their business: Start by identifying who is going to lead the project, how to communicate these efforts to the rest of the workforce, and finally, ensure that these initiatives are integrated into the company’s culture and way of doing business.
