The Rise Of Sustainable And Socially Responsible Farming

Following the onset of the pandemic, American’s eating habits shifted dramatically. Restaurant booths and bar seats were left empty, having been traded for dining rooms and couches. Consumers became more interested and investing where their food was coming from and how it was grown as they embraced their new roles as home chefs, bakers, and baristas.

Alignment with shopper values has become more important as consumers demand that companies and brands focus on sustainability and environmental consciousness. Not only are consumers feeling the pressure to change their habits, growers and companies are now looking at their impact on our planet. The team at Netafim is working every day through product development and field-level collaboration to help today’s farmers run their operations in a successful and sustainable manner.

Water Conservation

By 2050, there will be 25% less water on Earth than we need, heightening the urgency of water-efficient farming methods on a global scale. In order to tackle this challenge, Netafim is focusing on irrigation technology with sustainability at its core. Drip irrigation is able to help farmers deliver high-quality yields consistently and almost eliminate water evaporation and run off, allowing farmers to produce more crops with less water and assisting in the reduction of greenhouse gasses.

Drip irrigation has been proven to provide 95-100% water use efficiency, compared to 80-85% efficiency in sprinkler systems and 60-70% efficiency from flood and furrow irrigation methods. Drip irrigation protects our planet’s more precious resource: Water.

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Creating A Closed Loop Economy

Recycling and reusing our drip line has allowed Netafim to create a circular economy. We have invested in a fully owned recycling plant to enable a true circular economy, a first in our industry. Our Streamline X ReGen solution is the industry’s first drip line to utilize recycled content from previously used drip irrigation products. By developing a process to pick up used dripline from farms and the field and recycle material, we are able to create dripline that is sustainable and environmentally conscious.

The pandemic has acted as a catalyst in the expansion of our recycling program as more growers integrate our sustainable drip line products into their operations to reduce plastic usage.

Our SDI-E subsurface drip irrigation is another example of our closed-loop systems. This solution converts dairy effluent into nutrient-rich fertilizer that can be applied in a sustainable way to forage crops. This system provided farmers with a solution that can reduce wastewater, conserve valuable resources, lower cost, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We are committed to regenerative agriculture solutions that reduce our carbon footprint.

The responsibility lies with the agriculture industry to develop new ways to conserve our most precious resources. We take pride in developing sustainable solutions that everyone can understand and feel good about.

Sustainable Packaging

Conservation is just as important as sustainability as it would be pointless to invest in developing sustainable drip irrigation products without also reducing packaging waste. We recently launched an internal project aimed at environmentally friendly packaging solutions that are fully recyclable and able to stand up to the rigors of current shipping practices.

We are adjusting our practices to align with a zero-waste goal. Not only because consumers demand it, but also because it’s the right thing to do. If we send farmers anything that is not utilized in the field, it is up to us to implement a process to have that material returned or recycled.

There will always be room for improvement, however the urgency of our current situations forces us to ask questions and reevaluate how we can incorporate sustainability into all our business practices. How can we reduce the carbon footprint of our facilities? How can we update our fleet vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emission? If we’re asking people on the outside to adopt and promote our sustainable products, then we must be committed to making changes in our company as well.

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