Potato Grower

94 POTATO GROWER | JANUARY 2018 Count on Techmark for all of your storage ventilation needs. Contact us at 517-322-0250. www.techmark-inc.com 164588TecMar12h.indd 1 7/24/17 10:51 AM we're asking for a sustainability impact assessment—what are your greatest sustainability impacts, how do you deal with them, and can you develop a program?" In the end, she says these efforts help the company connect with its customers on an emotional level. "Sustainability is a factor to an increasing number of consumers when they consider companies and products," she says. "They expect it, and they want to feel good about it." Levine applauds the way the PSI survey has moved away from just a checklist and toward more outcome-based results. "For example, if there's nitrogen runoff that is ending up in local waterways, the goal would be working with growers to develop plans to use practices that would prevent this," she says. "I don't think anyone is interested in putting more of a burden on farmers—we know they are the base of our supply chain. What we're aiming for is something I think they are interested in, and that is protecting the resources and people in the supply chain. And I've never talked to a farmer who doesn't care about water." Wind echoes this sentiment, adding that for farmers it's not just about meeting consumer demand. "The environment is what we are; it's what we work with every day," he says. "So whatever mess we make on our farms on our land, it's something we've got to clean up, and it's going to cost us. So it behooves us to do a really good job." GROWER INPUT IS KEY According to Tom Green, president of the Madison, Wis.-based Integrated Pest Management Institute of North America, the independent nonprofit group responsible for facilitating the PSI program, oversight has always been set up to fairly represent all members of the supply chain. "It's a collaboration, so PSI has a governance committee made up of half growers and half processor members. They're directing the program." While the initiative was sparked by questions about pesticides from McDonald's shareholders, it also reflects consumer trends across the marketplace. "Farmers in general have been frustrated by misperceptions in the marketplace and see a benefit of communicating what's actually going on," says Green. "They've invested time and energy into identifying best practices and implementing those. Now there's also a way to credibly measure outcomes of those practices—how they make a difference in terms of keeping nutrients and crop protection chemicals on croplands and out of waterways where they are not intended." While the program is voluntary, Green says growers see a huge incentive to comply, given that it's a requirement of the industry's biggest buyers, such as McCain, Lamb Weston and Simplot, who are working to satisfy their customers, i.e., McDonald's and Sysco.

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