Four Seasons Promotion Demonstrates Commitment to Sustainability and PASA
When the idea of an Earth Week promotion surfaced during a
team meeting at Four Seasons Produce, everyone immediately embraced the concept
of donating the proceeds to PASA. The result of Four Seasons’ celebration of
sustainability is a generous $8,629.25 contribution to the PASA Annual Fund.
Four Seasons, based in Ephrata, Lancaster County, conceived
a plan to donate to PASA, a percentage of their organic produce sales during
Earth Week, April 19–25, and mobilized its customer base to support
agricultural sustainability efforts in the company’s home state of
Pennsylvania.
“When you have opportunities to get other folks and
companies involved, it’s not just the burden of one business or one individual
to donate,” explains Jonathan Steffy, Four Seasons retail and foodservice sales
manager. “In fact, we actually had some of our customers that wanted to match
the donation.”
Four Seasons is one of the largest independent distributors
of organic and conventional produce in the United States. They are a major
mover of Lady Moon Farms (PASA member) produce and also have supplied produce
for the Farming for the Future conference in the past.
“This promotion was based on Four Seasons’ organic sales,
but we believe that sustainability goes far beyond just organics,” Steffy says.
“Sustainability is about finding ways to conserve resources, not just about
reducing pollutants, saving electricity, and saving fuel. Sustainability also
has a lot to do with having profitable agriculture in the United States.
Sustainable agriculture has the opportunity to allow family farms to make an
honest living in agriculture.”
A commitment to conserving resources and achieving
sustainability is how Four Seasons organizes their business. The company
implements a Sustainability and Energy Initiative that features focused
programs on Energy Management, Power Quality, Demand Response, Lighting
Retrofit, Cooling Tower Water Treatment, and Waste Diversion. Four Seasons is
also pursuing certification through Energy Star and LEED-EB (Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design – Existing Buildings).
The commitment to sustainability and environmental
responsibility starts at the top with Four Seasons Chairman Dave Hollinger and runs
deep through the company’s employees.
“It was a team effort at Four Seasons to get this done, and
it was just awesome how it developed,” shares Four Seasons President and CEO Ron Carkoski.
“PASA is a great example of what sustainability can do for
the benefit of all of us in the agricultural business. If they [more PASA
members] aren’t able to take a look at what they are selling and work off a
percentage of sales, maybe they can take a look at what initiatives they are
doing with saving electricity or saving water usage and not only support PASA
with those savings, but also support the earth and the overall initiative.”
The Earth Week promotion inspired Four Seasons’ customers,
buyers, sales staff, and company as a whole and underscored Four Seasons’ own
sustainability initiatives. PASA extends its gratitude to Four Seasons for its
generous donation and for being champions of sustainable agriculture. Learn
more about Four Seasons’ services and their Sustainability and Energy
Initiative by visiting, www.fsproduce.com.
BACK TO WRITING >>
