Our Mission to ESG

As a leading US producer of quality organic and conventional stone fruit, Prima® Wawona combines over 150 years of family farming experience to provide exceptional products to customers. We recognize the need to commit to a strong Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Policy and with that goal in mind, we foster operational excellence across our value chain by implementing industry-leading labor practices, proprietary genetics, and sustainable farming innovations while managing our ESG impacts.

This ESG Policy will encompass the whole of Prima® Wawona & our products.

“Prima® Wawona is committed to its mission of helping feed the world with delicious fruit and doing so in a sustainable manner for future generations to come.”

– Eric Beringause, CEO

Our Commitments

We seek to make continuous progress on our commitments and activities and have identified targeted areas where we believe we have the best opportunity for impact. Our actions and commitments range from water stewardship, implementing circularity to our operations, promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), and investing in industry-leading employee wellness efforts.

Water Stewardship

Prima® Wawona is committed to improving water conservation efforts and implementing sustainable farming innovations to supply consumers with a dependable and delicious stone fruit experience.

  • Drip Irrigation: We are committed to implementing drip irrigation systems for all new orchard development and redevelopments. As of early 2021, the strategy included redeveloping over 3,000 acres with new irrigation systems and we plan to build on this number over time.
  • Variable Rate Wells: We implement variable speed switches on our wells to maximize water conservation as well as minimize energy usage.

Land Conservation & Organic Certification

  • Integrated Pest Management: We minimize pesticide usage by using native insect predators, limiting run-off risk via computer-controlled spray rigs, and planting cover crops.
  • Organic Certification: Prima® maintains almost 2,000 acres of certified organic land under U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) standards, and we are looking at opportunities to scale these certifications moving forward.

Circular Economy

Prima® Wawona is committed to implementing circular processes in our goal to feed more people.

Reducing Food Waste

We are committed to finding a home for every fruit produced by distributing “culled” fruit that previously ended up in landfills via mis-shaped fruit sales, animal feed, and frozen products.

Research and Development (R&D) Transformative Initiative

Prima® has invested in R&D initiatives and people in prioritizing sustainability and circular innovations for our products.

Strategic Investments

To meet our commitment of feeding more people, Prima® acquired a genetics and breeding program to improve the flavor of our products and experience for our customers.

Packaging

We strive to implement a closed-loop system and use reusable pallets for shipping as much as possible.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I)

DE&I is a primary area of focus for Prima®. We are committed to spearheading DE&I initiatives among all employees and increase diversity within our management team.

  • Management Diversity: We recognize and prioritize the need to increase the presence of women candidates in traditionally male-dominated positions. To this end, we have made steps to promote women internally to director positions.
  • DE&I Training: Prima® Wawona offers tailored executive coaching for skills development and management training that includes how to further develop and retain diverse talent.
  • Internal Engagement: Employee empowerment has been attained through decades of active employee outreach. Our employee handbook outlinesanti-discrimination and harassment policies along with the completion of related training and communications. Prima® also has an internal hotline designated to address and report employee concerns anonymously.

Employee Wellness

Our business has a history of being a family-run organization, so we proudly continue to build off of such family roots and legacy and to foster a company culture that has led to high employee retention. Our exemplary commitment to our employees is showcased by our action.

Health and Safety

Prima® is committed to launching continual health and safety programs to further enhance the health and welfare of its employees. During the pandemic, we launched four vaccination campaigns that resulted in 2,000 individuals being fully vaccinated.

Industry-Leading Wages

We take pride in having the best wages and benefits in our industry and continually update wages to maintain this standing as industry leader.

Bonus Pay

In addition to our high wages, eligible seasonal farm and plant employees receive annual bonuses and other benefits uncommon in our industry.

Employee Benefits

We provide health insurance and retirement benefits for all full-time and seasonal employees, providing the same offering for all workers.

Accountability & Reporting

We have been tracking our Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy, water, and waste for the last two years and will continue to do so. We will take steps to continue to monitor DE&I-related metrics at the company level moving forward. We aim to monitor progress on the rest of our ESG commitments and performance on an annual basis.

Roles & Responsibilities

Prima® Wawona has established an ESG committee from our management team that will meet bi-annually to discuss ESG progress and address improvement areas. Our Company’s ESG policy will be reviewed annually.