SDG No. 15 is one of the most relevant goals for a company in the agrifood sector. Its name, “Life on Land”, tells you what it’s all about very quickly and simply: it is focused on the protection of the development of life in our agricultural ecosystems. At The Natural Fruit, we are convinced that applying the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to our own environment will help us contribute to the 2030 Agenda. Agriculture and citrus fruits are our life and our passion, and developing an efficient and sustainable production process has been the main objective we have set ourselves since the beginning.
And how do we support life in the land ecosystems in our farming areas?
Firstly, by using a practice we have mentioned before: green manure, a technique based on the planting of grasses or legumes in between the rows of trees.
But there are many other ways to increase the biodiversity of our ecosystems and today we would like to spotlight the tasks we carry out to generate animal biodiversity in our plantations. There are many ways to do this, but we are only going to talk about two: insect hotels and the release of auxiliary insects.
What do these consist of?
Insect hotels are small refuges that help these creatures to become established and develop among the crops. They are small houses for bees, beetles, lacewings and many other insects whose presence benefits the plantations, seeing as they are pollinators and also protect the crops from pests and diseases.
The second idea is closely related to the first and involves the release of auxiliary insects. Sometimes, the population of natural enemies of pests isn‘t big enough to protect the crops from attack, and other times, it might even be non-existent. Therefore, deliberately increasing the presence of these living creatures may be a solution and The Natural Fruit has put it into practice.
To date, we have released over 6500 insects. Specifically, we used Criptolaemus montrouzieri and Anagyrus pseudococci, which are responsible for defending the crops on our El Rancho Estate from pest attacks and diseases which may endanger proper development and production. Both of these practices decrease the number of phytosanitary products we use on our plantations, reducing soil contamination and helping to improve the sustainability of our production system.
The Natural Fruit is fully committed to using these techniques and we have proven that their results provide real value in efficiency, sustainability and the fight against the loss of biodiversity in crops and land ecosystems. And so, we are proud to have achieved and shared these objectives, and we will continue to take advantage of all these opportunities so that we can improve, day by day, our role in the sector.
Over 40 years of experience
The Natural Fruit Company is a union of the experience, tradition and vision of the future of three leading companies in the citrus fruit sector (Frugarva, Fruxeresa and Frutas Naturales), with a consolidated presence in large scale fruit distribution throughout Europe. After a lifetime of business, three generations are working together, forming a great team and a great family, and committed to sustainability, empathy, innovation and the excellence of their products. And within this, compliance with the SDGs is very important, especially “Life on Land”. If you would like more information about The Natural Fruit Company’s commitments to the environment and biodiversity, you could always take a closer look at our RSC policy. Our motto: Essentially, grow by reducing!