Red Rich Fruits is an Australian, family-owned grower, packer, marketer and shipper of superior quality fresh fruit. Established, owned and operated by the Napoleone family since 1948, Red Rich Fruits began as a grower of premium quality apples and pears — later expanding into stonefruit, citrus, berries and mangoes.

Hort Innovation spoke to Joseph Napoleone about Red Rich Fruits’ commitment to sustainability.

What sustainability initiatives has Red Rich Fruits implemented?

We have implemented a whole raft of individual initiatives that improve our sustainability. From installing moisture monitors on our trees and blocks so that we are not overwatering to hail netting our trees to protect them and reduce evaporation, transitioning to electric forklifts, building dams and capturing runoff from our roofs, and more.

We are also very conscious of our food waste. For example, we now use 100 per cent of the apples we grow and have zero waste from that part of the business. Our first and second-grade apples go to fresh fruit sales, our third-grade fruit goes into the cider-making part of our business, and anything that is not good enough for our cider is made into a fertiliser we use on our farm. Something we also do in our winery with old grape product.

Red Rich Fruits is consciously reducing its environmental footprint for two reasons – to look after the environment and to improve the profitability of our business. We have done many things out of practicality and necessity, but they have also contributed to our sustainability journey.

Have you seen an increased focus on sustainability?

The focus on sustainability is ramping up now. We are seeing a big push from our corporate customers, particularly as new goals and targets emerge. Some of our large customers have recently adopted the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) Corporate Net-Zero Standard. So, as a supplier, we fall under their Scope 3 CO2 emissions, which gives us an excellent opportunity to proactively evaluate our emissions and continue to be considered a preferred supplier.

What have your greatest sustainability challenges been?

Our greatest sustainability challenge is packaging and finding affordable alternatives to plastic. The biggest hurdle for us currently is that we use plastic packaging for our one-kilo fruit punnets, which are made of plastic that can not currently be curbside recycled, which creates a problem for consumers. We have reduced the thickness of the plastic but would love to find an affordable alternative.

What is next for Red Rich Fruits?

The next step for us is to calculate exactly where we sit on our carbon footprint, figuring out our inputs and outputs to see where we currently sit and where we need to go.

We are also joining forces with Batlow Fruit Company which will unlock some exciting sustainability opportunities for us. For example, it will allow us to have farms and packhouses for apples in each of the eastern states, which gives us a unique opportunity to supply customers directly from each state. This change will minimise, or even eliminate, inter-state transport, which has a significant cost and environmental footprint benefit. The benefit for us is two-fold – reducing costs while also reducing food miles.

What is your advice to other growers thinking about sustainability?

My advice to anyone considering becoming more sustainable is ‘just to get started’. Everyone is at a different stage of their sustainability journey, and everyone’s businesses are different, but we are all in it together to help each other and share as much information as possible.

We talk to many people about sustainability and have benefitted greatly from learning from others’ experiences. For example, Red Rich Fruits also owns a winery, Punt Road Wines, and we just got certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia. Getting certified involved an audit process, which we passed with flying colours. We leant heavily on another winery in regional Victoria that had previously undertaken that process – they are at the forefront of sustainability in winemaking, so we were fortunate to learn from their knowledge and resources.