BLUEBERRIES
WILD
WILD
WILD
BLUEBERRIES
WILD
BLUEBERRIES
BLUEBERRIES
Our commitment to Sustainability
Following our principles of integrity, quality and safety, the Oxford Food Group is
dedicated to sustainability from field to factory. We believe that addressing climate
change, taking care of our natural environment, and being a good corporate citizen
within our communities is a requirement, not an option. Sustainability truly is a
cornerstone of who we are, because as farmers, we depend upon nature’s
ecosystem services to grow our crops. In turn, we devote our efforts to the
advancement of our agricultural practices, as well as our operational performance at
our factories for the environment and generations to come.
Agriculture
As farmers, we are environmental stewards of the land. The Oxford Food Group’s farming division nurtures the land by practicing restorative farming techniques to improve soil health and the overall agricultural ecosystem. Our farming divisions, Bragg Lumber Co. (Canada) and Cherryfield Foods (Maine, USA), are the foundations of our organization. Our deep understanding of nature’s ecosystem services and regenerative agriculture practices guide our farming decisions. Some of the practices employed in our blueberry fields include planting tree rows for windbreaks, biodiversity buffers, and allowing native plants to fill in bare spots to increase biomass and improve soil health. During the fall season, we prune our harvested blueberry fields, returning nutrients to the soil to further build organic matter. An advantage of wild blueberry ecosystems is that fields are never tilled, consequently improving soil health and keeping soil carbon stored. In our carrot fields, we use crop rotations, cover crops, conservation tillage, biodiversity strips and wildflower pollinator fields, all benefiting our agricultural ecosystem. Our wild blueberry and carrot farming strategies are also steered by Integrated Pest Management and precision agriculture techniques to ensure the best crops and reduced environmental impact. This includes using GPS technology to efficiently apply field treatments via prescription mapping. To continually improve our practices, we are highly involved in the agricultural community to learn and share knowledge and best practices. Our continuous investment in research has resulted in improved yields, reduced diseases, and the adoption of practices that benefit the environment and our bottom line. To build on our commitment to sustainability on the farm, Bragg Lumber's wild blueberry farming operation achieved Gold level performance against the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) verification in December 2021. We were able to demonstrate that we use industry best practices and comply with local regulations to avoid and mitigate negative impacts on the environment, employees and local communities.
Apiaries
Without pollinators, we could not grow wild blueberries for the world to enjoy. Honeybees are essential to our wild blueberry operation because blueberry blossoms cannot come to fruition without them! The Oxford Food Group own and manage one of Canada’s largest apiaries, with over 28,000 beehives to pollinate our wild blueberry fields throughout the Atlantic provinces. Our bees are used for pollination only; we do not harvest any of the honey they produce as it is essential for their survival throughout the winter months. To help our bees and other pollinators when wild blueberries are not in bloom, our flowering cover crops in our carrot fields provide sources of nectar during the spring, late summer and early fall when food sources are limited.
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Thriving Forests
“Leave the forest in better condition than when you found it” was the instruction provided to our forester by the ownership of our company. As an owner of forestland, we have the responsibility of ensuring our forests thrive for the future. Originally a lumber company, today Bragg Lumber is our affiliate that manages our wild blueberry land, carrot fields, and forestland. While only a small percentage of our forestland is for timber, the majority of this land is for future generations to have and enjoy, all the while limiting climate change by sequestering and storing carbon. Our forester employs improved forest management practices to manage our forestland, such as thinning dense forests to limit competition, reforesting abandoned agricultural land and areas damaged by natural events such as wind or pests, and protecting areas of interest such as old growth forests, wetlands, streams and more. Our objective is to manage our forests in a way to maintain ecological integrity and allow them to thrive so that they can do what forests do best: effectively sequester and store carbon to help limit the effects of climate change.
Facilities
Over the years, we have implemented various initiatives to reduce our environmental impact and we continue to work towards improving the sustainability of our operations every day. Our efforts have helped us achieve the TRUE facility Zero Waste certification, and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption. We assess resource efficiency as part of our projects with the goal of improving our environmental performance. From 2017 to 2021, the Oxford Food Group reduced its overall greenhouse gas emissions by 20% through energy efficiency projects. More recently, we implemented an energy efficiency project at our Oxford site that will inherently reduce our annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2,000 tonnes! As a large industrial user of electricity operating in regions with high carbon intensities per kWh, we are proud of our reductions thus far and continually investigate opportunities to reduce our energy consumption and explore renewable energy avenues. To improve water management, we have reduced our annual water consumption by 13 million gallons at our Oxford Frozen Foods site through various initiatives which include installing automated valves, reusing water or recirculating water within our processes, eliminating water use where possible, repairing product leaks and raising awareness to the importance of reducing our water consumption. Responsible waste management is another branch of sustainability that we have been prioritizing for a long time due to the high volume of waste produced in the food processing industry. In February 2022, Oxford Frozen Foods achieved the TRUE Platinum certification! We are the first TRUE certified Zero Waste facility in Atlantic Canada and the first TRUE Platinum certified facility in Canada. Our robust waste diversion programs, efforts and policies enabled us to earn the highest Zero Waste certification level within the TRUE program. Though Oxford Frozen Foods is a certified Zero Waste facility, our efforts do not stop here. We will continue to grow our waste diversion and reduction initiatives by continually investigating new recycling programs and reducing our generation of recyclable and non-recyclables waste. Visit https://true.gbci.org/oxford-frozen-foods to see our Zero Waste project profile. Oxford Frozen Foods is thrilled to share some electrifying news that is not just about saving energy, but also about powering our commitment to sustainability. Our company is embarking on an exciting journey towards a greener future with the launch of our new 5 MW behind-the-meter PV solar project! What does this mean for us? It means we are taking a giant leap towards reducing our carbon footprint and embracing renewable energy at its best. This project will harness the power of the sun right here on our premises, generating clean, renewable energy to power our operations. By tapping into solar power, we are not just reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, but also demonstrating our dedication to environmental stewardship. Preliminary work has already begun on 20-acres of land at Oxford Frozen Foods in order to have the solar farm operational by December 2024. This is one of many steps taken to decarbonize our operation, and it certainly will not be the last!
TRUE is a zero waste certification program administered by the Green Business Certification Inc. to assess how well businesses reduce waste and maximize resource efficiency. Visit true.gbci.org to learn more about the zero waste program.