Alberta Field Pea is First North American Agri-Food Commodity with Environmental Product Declaration APR 18 2018 | Producers | News Release
The Alberta Field Pea is the first agri-food commodity to be certified with a globally-recognized Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) in North America.
“An EPD shows the world that Alberta pea growers care about environmentally responsible farm practices,” said Chair D’Arcy Hilgartner of Alberta Pulse Growers (APG). “By creating an EPD, APG can communicate in a credible and transparent way to its stakeholders about the environmental impact of Alberta pea production. An EPD is a powerful business and marketing tool for APG and its members to stake a claim as being environmentally responsible.”
APG worked collaboratively with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry through the process of applying and receiving an EPD certification. This EPD is based on the 2016 life cycle assessment (LCA) that was completed using Alberta pulse producers’ on-farm information. To view the Alberta Pea EPD, visit www.environdec.com/en/Detail/epd1047.
An EPD is a globally recognized, third-party verified, standardized environmental marketing communication tool under the International EPD® System. Because all EPDs in a product group use the same rules, the data of this EPD can be compared with EPDs of other products to highlight differences. This certified declaration will enhance the Alberta Pea brand reputation, as well as strengthen trust with its customers and consumers. The primary purpose of having an EPD is to show the environmental performance of Alberta field peas to supply chain members in local and international markets.
The Alberta Pea EPD indicates international acceptance of the scientific evidence to support the environmental benefits of the crop production of peas. There has been a rapid growth in the number food and agriculture companies publishing EPDs in Europe and around the world. The International EPD® System recently announced that there are now 1,000 registered EPDs from over 37 countries. As of February 2018, there were 139 agri-food EPDs published ranging from pasta, olive oil, bread, cheese to kiwi fruit and apples. Barilla, an international food company famous for its pasta and sauces, is one of the major agri-food companies that have been leading the industry in both LCA and EPD certification.
Funding for this project was provided in part through Growing Forward 2, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative.
For information on the Alberta Pulse Growers EPD on Alberta Peas contact:
Rachel Peterson | Communications Coordinator
rpeterson@albertapulse.com
780.986.9398 ext.108