Pompeian Makes Certified Sustainably Grown® the Cornerstone of Its Olive Production
Executive Summary
One of the world’s leading suppliers of olive oil, Pompeian is a farmer-owned collective of more than 75,000 farmers in Spain and California and is partnered with thousands more farmers around the world, including Italy, Greece, Portugal, Morocco, Chile, Argentina, and Tunisia. Pompeian recognized that to maintain its leadership in the market and distinguish its brand, it would need to work hand in hand with the families who have tended the land for centuries and embark on a mission to bring traditional olive oil production into the 21st century. At the same time, Pompeian set out to elevate the olive oil industry to achieve new standards of accountability, transparency, and sustainability that avoid any hint of greenwashing.
The Problem
Moving toward a more sustainable future for olive oil presented a broad set of challenges. Most farms within the Pompeian collective are grower-owned, including Pompeian’s Sunrise Olive Ranch* located in California, the first of Pompeian’s farms to be certified. Some are co-ops that contain hundreds of individually-owned, traditional farms. Without the efficiencies of scale that large, industrial farms can leverage, family farms needed extra support from Pompeian to remain competitive in the global market. Many growers also face unique regional and financial challenges that can make change difficult to achieve. Some Pompeian collective farmers, for example, in South America and the Mediterranean basin, have found it difficult to maintain traditional growing methodologies, to manage rapidly changing climates and competing government regulations, and in some areas, to operate without the support of sufficient public services such as waste management and recycling services, all while focusing on the goal of increasing crop yields. As a corporate entity, Pompeian recognized these and other farm-specific challenges and committed not only to addressing them, but also to considering advances in science and business practices that could improve yields, soil quality, worker conditions, community benefits, and overall farm health.
* Sunrise Olive Ranch, Pompeian’s U.S. farm, served as a pilot program for all farm certifications, which helped additional farms gain certification.