nov-dec-2020

CULTIVATING SUSTAINABILITY Grower Sustainability Incentive Plan Introducing the Grower Sustainability Incentive Program! This plan will reward growers enrolled in the California Almond Sustainability Program (CASP) who are employing sustainable practices that support a thriving orchard. By enrolling a majority of our growers into the program, we will be well poised to answer customer requests for grower sustainability information, tell data-backed stories about how our growers are stewards of multi- generation orchards, and meet consumer demands for sustainable information. The plan builds on our current CASP participation. For a full review of CASP please see the March/April 2019 Almond Facts, page 22. The Grower Sustainability Incentive Plan will reward grower-owners for reporting on their sustainable practices that they are already doing and for employing new ones. There are three incentive levels – bronze, silver, and gold – which require completion of specific CASP modules and at the gold level, Bee Friendly Certification, and a Cool Farm Tool Assessment. The CASP program benchmarks to the international Sustainable Agriculture Initiative’s Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) system. This system is known worldwide for validating sustainability practices. It has been universally accepted by major consumer packaged goods companies, and sustainability organizations around the world. By standardizing to FSA levels, it will bring universal credibility to our program. The levels of the Blue Diamond Sustainability Incentive program provide a pathway for growers to achieve increased incentives and coordinates with the corresponding FSA benchmark level. The chart below, provides the details and benchmark for each level of the incentive program. Growers will be financially rewarded for dedicating their time and making the extra effort to participate in this plan. The incentive amounts will be calculated using a base incentive per incentive level and a per pound incentive that increases for growers completing more modules and hitting higher sustainability benchmarks. See below for incentive amounts. One key step in participating once joining CASP is to “Opt-in” and select Blue Diamond as your handler. This enables data sharing with Blue Diamond . Your data is secure and individual answers to practices remain anonymous. Only a summary of results is reported to Blue Diamond which helps to justify and validate sustainable claims about grower field practices. Blue Diamond Growers looks forward to sharing more about our growers’ sustainable practices with customers and consumers. Key customers and consumers are increasingly asking for information on Blue Diamond growing best practices around water use, carbon footprint, bee health, and more. With more grower summary data aggregated through CASP, the better we will be able to answer these questions and educate our consumers on the process for growing almonds. Data- backed storytelling is a powerful tool for shaping the story around sustainability. Thanks to our 110-year history as a cooperative of multi-generational growers, we already have inspiring anecdotal stories to share. We Note: At least 75% of the contract’s acreage must qualify for the highest rank to be paid out at that level. INCENTIVE LEVEL BASE INCENTIVE (PER CONTRACT) PER POUND INCENTIVE AVERAGE INCENTIVE PER ACRE GOLD $1000 $0.01 / POUND $34–40 SILVER $750 $0.005 / POUND $18–23 BRONZE $500 N/A N/A INCENTIVE LEVEL MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FSA BENCHMARK GOLD 9 CASP Modules Bee Friendly Certification Cool Farm Tool Assessment Gold SILVER 6 CASP Modules Silver BRONZE 4 CASP Modules Bronze (optional) 3 6 A L M O N D F A C T S