Cultivating a Healthy Environment

One of the most important things we strive to make, is a difference. Our continued commitment to be a force for good in the world is carried out through every aspect of our company, from the way we grow, produce and package our fresh foods, to making our own renewable energy, and protecting the land that feeds us. Our teams are working harder than ever to ensure shelves can be stocked with fresh food and even during these trying times, we are still operating with the Earth in mind. This Earth Month, we want to showcase our commitment to you and the planet. Each week we will be highlighting the pillars that support our commitment to sustainability: Healthy Environment, Healthy Business and Healthy Community. 

This year we hit a sustainability milestone, with three of our California facilities becoming TRUE Platinum Zero Waste Certified. With this achievement, we reduced GHG emissions equivalent to 37,000 cars off of the road annually and we have diverted 174,224 tons of material from landfills. The journey to becoming Zero Waste certified is unique to each facility and Green Team. Each facility conducts a recycling and waste stream audit in partnership with their local waste and recycling agencies, redesign waste flow streams and receptacles in the facilities, re-evaluate all incoming and outgoing packaging and conduct employee trainings.

In 2019 we also launched an on-farm metrics and management pilot program to assess various resource use efficiency metrics to identify which metrics are best to support conservation practices and added a vertical integration component to help us drive innovation faster from seed to final packaging with our 280+ growing partners around North America. We are able to design a multi-season pilot where we plan to discover: potential leverage points for data sharing, methods and measures that drive on-farm management efficiencies while delivering positive environmental impact.

We took on a significant project, building a state-of-the-art retail salad processing facility in Baja, Mexico. Efficiency is the name of the game; with innovative processing equipment, upgraded refrigeration design, a unique facility layout to improve production flow and capacity, improved wash lines to reduce both water and energy consumption. We want clean, reliable and affordable energy to power our operations across North America. Taylor Farms has made great strides towards our goal in the last two years with fuel cell upgrades and new installations and a new solar array in Mexico, in addition to our eight previous projects.

We are committed to preserving a healthy world for future generations through resource conservation and responsible business practices. Stay tuned as we dive into our next two pillars, Healthy Business and Healthy Community, as well as a special project we will be releasing on Earth Day, April 22nd.  Learn more about our commitment to a Healthy Environment in the video below and be sure to stay tuned on social as we celebrate the people and the processes that are helping us leave this place a better world, one salad at a time.