Taking on the Challenge of Creating Sustainable Fresh Produce Packaging

Western Growers was awarded $486,000 from USDA as part of the 2025 Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) program, which will allow the association to spearhead a partnership between fresh produce industry stakeholders to develop and implement sustainable fresh produce packaging alignment across North America. The TASC program funds U.S. entities to conduct projects to resolve barriers that prohibit or threaten the export of U.S. specialty crops.

The funding will continue the work started in June 2024 when Western Growers  joined forces with the Canadian Produce Marketing Association to form a working group, the Sustainable Produce Packaging Alignment for North America (SPPA), to address the evolving landscape of packaging requirements imposed by both governments and retailers throughout North America.

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“The current landscape for sustainable produce packaging is an incongruent mish-mash of contradictory regulations that differ between retailers in different countries, as well as between federal and state governments,” says Dr. Jeana Cadby, Director of Environment and Climate at Western Growers. “It is critical that we maintain the functionality of fresh produce packaging while innovating for sustainability to bring safe, fresh produce from farms to the tables of consumers.”

For more information, visit wga.com.