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Honeybear Brands’ sustainability report says 'Yes' to the next right thing

By
Kyle Eberth, Northwest editor

In 2010 Honeybear Brands of Elgin, MN, set out to find a better way to farm apples. “We were trying to build better soil and organic matter, protect biodiversity in our orchards and find  alternatives to manufactured synthetic pesticides,” said Don Roper, vice president of sales and marketing at Honeybear Brands. Fast-forward a decade, and Honeybear finds itself leading the conversation with actionable goals and operational benchmarks outlined in its annual Sustainability Report.

“We’ve tried to look at everything from the immediate and near-term, to mid- and long-range goals,” said Roper, who outlined Honeybear’s five-key initiatives: developing pollinator habitat, plastic-free packaging, food-loss diversion, renewable energy and climate-change mitigation.

Honeybear’s action-plan is comprehensively-tiered and yet accessible at the moment. While removing all plastic from branded packaging by 2030 is admittedly a stretch goal because it is reliant on collective buy-in from third-party clients, retailers, and consumers, switching over to clean-energy alternatives is actionable today. A goal that Roper’s team said, “Let’s act on that now!” Two of Honeybear’s three production facilities operate on 100 percent renewable energy and are reporting a reduction in GreenHouse Gas emissions by more than 18 percent since 2019 –– “That’s halfway to the 10-year goal we set in just three years time!”

Similarly in 2020 Honeybear launched an innovative “Adopt-an-Acre” pollinator program that enables retailers to fund habitats on orchards they are sourcing from. Honeybear’s goal of 50 acres of pollinator habitat is roughly 38 football fields. As of 2021, Honeybear reports to have established 33 percent of that goal.

As a company, Honeybear Brands understands the costs. “We have dedicated hard dollar resources to putting our sustainable programs in place, as well as soft dollars on helping shape our efforts and messaging to all of our stakeholders,” said Roper.

Roper conveys this as a collective effort, where bringing along partners and educating growers is essential to adoption, implementation, and success. “Everyone wants to do the right thing, and yes these initiatives are costly, but at the end of the day, for Honeybear it’s simply about saying yes to the next right thing.”

Kyle Eberth

Kyle Eberth

About Kyle Eberth  |  email

Kyle Eberth is new to the produce industry, but has grown up around it, in proclaimed "Apple Capitol of the World," Wenatchee, WA. For the past 14-years he has worked in the non-profit sector with an emphasis on brand storytelling, community engagement, and donor relationships.

Kyle graduated from Whitworth University (Spokane, WA) in 2007. He and wife Kelsey were married shortly thereafter, when they moved to Wenatchee to launch their careers.  Kyle is "Dad" to Brooklyn and Hudson, together the Eberths enjoy skiing, biking, their family and friends, and playing together in the beautiful place they get to live.

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