Western Growers Receives Funds to Create Sustainable Fresh Produce Packaging Alignment Across North America

IRVINE, Calif. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded Western Growers (WG), an association that represents family farmers who grow fresh produce and tree nuts in California, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, $486,000 as part of the 2025 Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) program 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 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," said Dr. Jeana Cadby, director of environment and climate at WG. "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. Thanks to this funding from the USDA, we can continue the important work of collaborating with retailers, packaging suppliers, technology companies and growers to reach sustainability goals that can realistically apply across the supply chain."

The funding will continue the work started in June 2024, when WG joined forces with the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA) 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.