Green Is Good Show
Woolf Farming and Processing and Walmart - July 23, 2010
Stuart Woolf, President and CEO of Woolf Farming and Processing, comes to “Green is Good” to discuss his family-owned farming business and its impressive energy reduction processes. Started in 1974, Woolf Farming and Processing has since become one of the most sustainable farming operations in California’s Central Valley.
Woolf’s tomatoes and vegetables — raised and processed in bulk quantities — are used in many products, and the company had been looking to harness the ample sunshine in the Fresno area as energy to help the products’ processing. Woolf was looking to cut future energy costs as the state continues to grow, and upping the company’s green profile feels pretty good, too.
“The EPA suggests that running this solar project will offset about 37,000 tons of pollutants over a 25-year period,” Woolf proclaims. “That is the equivalent of just less than burning 4 million gallons of gasoline or the equivalent of 7,700 acres of pine trees. These are pretty impressive offsets.”
Woolf says the company will continue to investigate how to further use solar power and energy credits to lessen its impact.
Later in the show, John and Mike speak with Kory Lundberg, Senior Manager and Head of Sustainability Communications at Walmart. The company is the largest retailer in the U.S., and its three-point sustainability outline that it is working toward is a paramount example for others to follow:
Be supplied by 100% renewable energy, create zero waste and sell products that sustain people and resources.
“Walmart is about lowering costs and operating more efficiently,” Lundberg says. The company operates highly efficient stores across the world, but is always looking for ways to use less. “When you have 8,400 locations across 15 countries, it really makes an impact. We can share our learnings in the U.S. with our teams around the world.”
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