Kalamazoo Growers Begin MPS Participation
Recently Ron Sportel of Sportel Greenhouses, David Westrate of Westrate Greenhouses and Dennis Wenke of Wenke Greenhouses spoke about their decisions to begin the MPS-ABC environmental certification program.
Recently Ron Sportel of Sportel Greenhouses, David Westrate of Westrate Greenhouses and Dennis Wenke of Wenke Greenhouses spoke about their decisions to begin the MPS-ABC environmental certification program.
“As customers ask what we are doing to become better suppliers for them, we have information readily available through our quarterly MPS reports, which document our performance and improvement in our use of energy, chemicals, and fertilizers, and demonstrate our environmental awareness,” Westrate said.
“MPS gives us the opportunity to track our costs of inputs such as chemicals and give us benchmarks to compare to other growers, while being better stewards to the environment,” Wenke added. “We were already recycling, but I was surprised how easy it was for my head grower to begin the MPS reporting. It gives us better inventory records for our chemicals and fertilizers and helps us to be more responsible with the use of them.”
Sportel agreed and said, “The MPS program has helped my growers be even more accurate and accountable on their record keeping and use of all inputs. This awareness is good for all of us, including our bottom line.”
This group of growers recognizes that the call for environmental action is strengthening in the United States, both nationally and locally. Among retailers they recognize that the large national chains are currently more aware of understanding the environmental impact of the products they sell, and therefore this group of growers is improving their position by beginning the MPS-ABC certification process and learning how they can implement best practices for their business and the environment.
In addition to these three Kalamazoo growers working on their MPS certification, the Kalamazoo Flower Group has taken steps to obtain their MPS Florimark TraceCert certification for handlers/wholesalers of flowers and ornamentals. The Florimark TraceCert certificate is specially made for cooperatives/groups that ship flowers and ornamentals from their growers, and for the wholesale/handler chain. Florimark TraceCert focuses on quality control checkpoints and traceability of shipments in this part of the supply chain.
To learn more about MPS, go to www.my-mps.com.
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