Chief Sustainability Officer & Senior Vice President of Corporate R&D, QA and Agricultural Services, Fresh Del Monte Produce
Search every verified Hans Sauter interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Hans Sauter, Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Vice President of Corporate R&D, QA and Agricultural Services at Fresh Del Monte Produce, discussed the company’s sustainability efforts and challenges in a September 2024 podcast interview. He stated that climate change is making agricultural conditions tougher and requiring more inputs to produce the same amount of food. Sauter noted that Fresh Del Monte has a direct exposure to Tropical Race 4 (TR4), a fungal disease affecting bananas, in its Philippines operations, and described the disease as remaining in the soil for decades and making farms unsustainable after a few years. He said the company has invested in developing a resistant variety to TR4 in collaboration with other organizations. Sauter highlighted Fresh Del Monte’s innovations, including the Del Monte Gold pineapple, the bioengineered Pink Glow pineapple, and the Ruby Glow pineapple developed through traditional breeding. He said the company is close to reaching its Science Based Targets initiative goal of reducing scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by 27.5%. Sauter also noted that bringing regenerative agriculture to tropical crops requires significant scientific research, as these crops have not received the same level of university research as temperate crops. He added that artificial intelligence has a role in agriculture, enabling precise, timely decisions at the acre or square foot level to save inputs and reduce environmental impact.
“Our operations rely heavily on research teams and technical expertise so we are compensating to make sure that those impacts are lessened, but no question the conditions are becoming tougher and require more inputs to be able to provide the same amount of food.”
“We have invested in developing and collaborating with other organizations to come up with a resistant variety to TR4, a disease that remains in the soil for decades and makes farms literally unsustainable after a few years.”
“Pineapples are our flagship product and we have commanded the leadership of that market for decades. We innovated with the Del Monte Gold variety 25 years ago and more recently with the pink glow, a bioengineered GMO pineapple, and now the Ruby Glow, developed with traditional breeding techniques.”
“We are very proud of our success in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our supply chain. We committed to the Science Based Targets initiative with a goal of reducing 27.5% of our scope 1 and scope 2 emissions and are about to reach that goal.”
https://impactpodcast.com/episode/2024/07/prioritizing-sustainable-agriculture-with-hans-sauter-of-fresh-del-monte/
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