Whole Foods Market® Takes Stand on Key Agricultural Issues with Responsibly Grown Produce Rating System
October 15 2014 - 5:00AM
Business Wire
New, exclusive ratings prohibit use of many
hazardous neurotoxins on fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers; focus
on transparency
Today Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFM) launches Responsibly
Grown, an industry leading tiered produce rating system that
assesses growing practices that impact human health and the
environment. The new rating system labels fresh fruits, vegetables
and flowers as “good,” “better” or “best” to help shoppers make
more informed choices in the produce and floral departments, and it
prohibits some of the most hazardous neurotoxins still allowed in
agriculture.
Prohibited pesticides include several organophosphate
insecticides, which recent studies indicate can impair neurological
development in children born to mothers exposed in diet or by
working in agriculture and living in nearby communities. A full
list of prohibited and restricted pesticides may be found on the
Responsibly Grown web page.
“After three years of research and planning, Responsibly Grown
is the result of our collaboration with suppliers, scientists and
issue experts to continue our strong commitment to organic, while
embracing additional important topics and growing practices in
agriculture today,” said Matt Rogers, global produce coordinator at
Whole Foods Market. “We are excited to broaden the conversation to
recognize additional growing practices and drive more transparency
in the industry.”
To earn a “good” rating, a farm must take 16 major steps to
protect air, soil, water, and human health. Growers must also
comply with the Responsibly Grown pesticide policy, which restricts
growers to using only U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
registered pesticides, regardless of the country of origin. In
other words, farms outside the U.S. cannot supply Whole Foods
Market with fresh fruits, vegetables, and flowers grown using
pesticides not allowed in the U.S., with very limited exceptions
including for crops not grown in the U.S. Growers also cannot use
biosolids or irradiation and must commit to GMO transparency.
“I applaud the courage and conviction of Whole Foods Market, and
its growers and suppliers, for taking decisive action on more than
a dozen high-risk pesticides. The next generation of Americans will
be the primary beneficiaries of this bold step,” according to Dr.
Charles Benbrook, research professor and program leader for the
Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Washington State
University.
A “better” rating indicates advanced performance and a “best”
rating indicates exceptional, industry-leading performance in a
scoring system covering multiple topics in each of these key
categories:
- Pest management (e.g. using beneficial
insects to control pests)
- Farmworker welfare (e.g. providing
protective equipment for workers)
- Water conservation and protection (e.g.
using efficient irrigation techniques)
- Enhancing soil health (e.g. adding
compost to soil; planting cover crops)
- Ecosystems and biodiversity (e.g.
planting wildflowers to restore natural bee habitat for pollinator
protection)
- Waste reduction (e.g. recycling
plastics used in the field)
- Air, energy and climate (e.g. solar
panels for renewable energy)
The first-of-its-kind program seeks to reward growers for
existing accomplishments and raise the bar to encourage continuous
improvement while minimizing additional burdens for growers.
"Being truly sustainable means more than just not using harmful
chemicals. Energy conservation is a big focus for us so we
installed solar panels on the packing house at our Pennsylvania
farm which accounts for 20 percent of energy consumption on the
farm," said Tom Beddard, founder and grower at Lady Moon Farms that
has a "best" rating for their vegetables. "We incorporate many
different practices with a promise to put more into the soil than
we take out, ensuring more fertile farms and making the earth a
safer place for all of us. We're proud to share these practices
with Whole Foods Market shoppers through Responsibly Grown."
Pollinator protection is another major focus of the program that
is likely to resonate with Whole Foods Market shoppers. Responsibly
Grown addresses the primary threats facing pollinators including
high risk pesticide use, loss of habitat, and disease spread from
managed bees to wild pollinators. Four of the most common
neonicotinoids currently allowed in the U.S. will be prohibited for
growers to reach the Responsibly Grown “best” level. Many growers,
scientists, environmentalists, and beekeepers are concerned about
the impact of these pesticides on bees and other pollinators.
"As a result of this program, we are already hearing from fruit
and vegetable farmers who are creating wildflower-rich habitat for
bees, and working to reduce or eliminate pesticides on farms from
New Jersey to Iowa to California," said Eric Mader, assistant
pollinator program director for The Xerces Society for Invertebrate
Conservation. "This type of action is the first and most important
step in reversing the ongoing decline of bees, butterflies, and
other pollinators."
Whole Foods Market is launching Responsibly Grown by rating
hundreds of products with key suppliers, more than 50 percent of
produce nationwide. The goal of reaching 100 percent ratings of all
fruits, vegetables and flowers will be achieved over time.
Shoppers interested in learning more about Responsibly Grown can
visit wholefoodsmarket.com/responsiblygrown.
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Whole Foods MarketLindsay Robison,
512-542-3483Lindsay.Robison@wholefoods.com
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