HURON, CA - As our industry continues to evolve, so too must the companies who play such an integral role in the fresh produce world. Most recently, The Nunes Company announced that it will be expanding its sustainability approach to meet the ongoing shift in focus to environmentally conscious practices in agriculture and to meet the requests of consumers looking to make eco-friendly purchases.
“It's really important that we listen to our customers, and that we meet their needs by minimizing the impact as best we can. Science and technology are a huge part of our industry that we integrate into our farming practices daily—from GPS, petal analysis, soil testing, and low flow drip tape, we are looking at every aspect of what we do on the production side, to try to do more with less. Through our efforts, we’ve learned how to make things as sustainable as possible, and that’s ultimately the goal” said Tom Nunes (T5), President.
With an already strong sustainable farming strategy in place, the company is now expanding its efforts to include solar power. According to a press release, the grower will be setting up 1,350 solar panels across two acres of its cooling and loading facility in the San Joaquin Valley, California.
The new solar panels will allow The Nunes Company’s Western Distribution Center to reduce its CO2 emissions by 77,000 lbs and generate 1,071,000 kWh of electricity annually, making the facility fully sustainable.
“The high demand period in The San Joaquin Valley is during the winter and summer months when we do not operate there, so the communities that are serviced by our solar panels are receiving more benefit from our solar investment than we do,” said Mark Crossgrove, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
As The Nunes Company continues to make important strides and serve as a role model for those also looking to make sustainable changes, AndNowUKnow will continue to bring you the latest on how the agriculture industry follows suit.
