Sustainability, careful use of the land and protecting the environment are key to the produce industry. Today, many major chain retailers and foodservice operators are asking fruit and vegetable producers and distributors about their corporate sustainability practices, and some are even asking for written commitments from suppliers to guarantee they will do their parts to help to protect the environment.

The produce industry, however, already has had a strong and positive reputation related to taking care of the earth. Field growers understand the importance of crop rotation and other ways of protecting the soil, and everyone is keyed into every possible way of recycling and minimizing waste. Regardless of whether for financial reasons or for concern for the environment, the produce industry stands proud of its practices.

The organic produce industry provides an extra boost in this respect. Organic farming is a form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control.

Depending on whose definition is used, organic farming uses fertilizers and pesticides, which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides if they are considered natural. Examples are bone meal from animals and pyrethrin, a natural insecticide made from the dried flowers.

But organic growing excludes or strictly limits the use of methods such as synthetic petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides, plant growth regulators such as hormones, antibiotic use in livestock, genetically modified organisms, human sewage sludge, and nanomaterials, for reasons that include sustainability, openness, independence, health and safety.

Organics and sustainability are a perfect match. The words resonate the same basic message: take care of the earth and of the body. But few industry segments practice such a natural form of total sustainability as does the mushroom category.

Bill Litvin is vice president of sales and national account manager for Giorgio Fresh, headquartered in Temple, PA. He said the company’s organic line of mushrooms are produced primarily at its farms in Berks County, PA.

“We grow our mushrooms in a fully organic substrate without artificial fertilizers,” said Litvin. “Giorgio is leading the way in Integrated Pest Management to limit the use of synthetic pesticides in our products. Giorgio does not bio-engineer mushrooms or use ionizing radiation.”

Kevin Donovan, national sales manager for Phillips Mushroom Farms in Kennett Square, PA, told The Produce News that the mushroom business is naturally totally sustainable. The company produces an extensive line of organic mushrooms in addition to a conventional line.

“We use the straw from wheat grain, horse bedding, brewer’s grains and even chicken manure — things that no one else wants — and we turn them into compost that our mushrooms grow in,” explained Donovan. “While we cannot reuse compost, we can make good use of it once it is used. We partner with a company that sterilizes it, dries it, processes it into potting soil and sells it for things like rooftop gardens. It’s even used on fields to aid in nutrition.

“The mushroom industry was sustainable before the word sustainable was a catch-word,” he added. “And growing organically and sustainably is as good as it gets.”