Sustain Yourself!

For many years, the U.S. logging industry was free to harvest this country’s forests using the fastest, most efficient and most cost-effective practices. The results, of course, were massive programs of clear-cutting that left great stretches of land barren. Eventually, environmentalists, government agencies and industry executives, realizing the long-term damage these practices were reaping on all our futures, developed various programs to repair the damage and return these areas to a natural state. This included replacing every harvested tree with a new planting.

The above philosophy of replacing and/or refurbishing the areas from where you take natural resources has been a great success. By “sustaining” a close-to-natural balance, everyone has benefited.

Hold on to your hats, because the concept of “sustainable practices” is gaining acceptance all along our industry’s food chain, as more and more growers, manufacturers and retailers are accepting and buying into the idea that we all have a responsibility to do as little damage as possible as we reap the benefits of our natural resources.

The surest sign that sustainability is going to have a huge impact on the U.S. food industry is Wal-Mart’s recent decision to ask its suppliers to document how their growing, manufacturing, packaging and/or distribution practices support the concept of sustainability. It’s here to stay!

Whether you are a grower, manufacturer or retailer in the food industry, it will be in your best interest to educate yourself, your employees and your company about this new phenomenon called sustainability.