Copefrut is nominated for the 2020 Asda Sustainability Awards for its project for the efficient and effective use of pesticides
Within the framework of the commitment and responsibility acquired by the company in sustainability issues, there is our project that deals with the efficiency of phytosanitary control in its apple orchards. Such has been the relevance it has reached in its 2 years of progress, that it was selected to participate in the Asda SSE Awards 2020, being among 4 finalists out of a total of 100 participating companies.
Asda , the British hypermarket chain that is part of the Walmart group, as every year recognized its suppliers who through projects do everything possible to help customers and the local community.
Along these lines, the project developed by Copefrut’s Food Safety area was nominated, which deals with improving the efficiency of phytosanitary control in its apple orchards, in order to advance in the sustainable use of phytosanitary products.
According to the above, the initiative was selected as a finalist along with 3 projects from international companies, since it aims to generate the maximum guarantees on people’s health and the environment, providing tools and knowledge to its producers that allow them to achieve better quality of fruit with the least possible impact on the environment.
Among the most outstanding achievements that have been visualized with the implementation of the program, are mainly to reduce the amount of active ingredients detected in the fruit by 26%, while the load for each metabolite is reduced by more than 40% on average. detected. Despite the lower use of pesticides, additional benefits have been generated, such as improving pest control and reducing fuel consumption in the machinery used.
In this regard, Roberto Fuenzalida, Head of Food Safety Copefrut, comments that “the environmental impact and especially on food safety due to the high presence of pesticides are highly relevant issues for us, so as a company we assume this task with the objective of achieving its reduction in food. ” Additionally, he adds that “we have been able to correctly convince to the universe of growers that provide us apples and to the technical teams how relevant this decrease is, understanding that there are many variables that intervene in this process, such as adjustments in annual phytosanitary programs, awareness and training of the teams responsible for phytosanitary control, subjects that have undoubtedly been fundamental in matters difficult to measure such as people’s health and the negative impact on the environment.”
