Message From Steve Barnard, CEO and Founder Throughout our history, Mission Produce has remained progressive, and rooted in honesty, respect and loyalty. There is nothing simple about growing and marketing the world’s finest avocados– it requires us to make the right choices, be forward-thinking globally and act locally. With a foundational respect for our land, our resources and our people, Mission Produce was born out of an awareness of being good stewards. Although we are reporting on sustainability for the first time publicly, we have invested in our people, state-of-the-art technology and infrastructure, as well as consulted industry experts to responsibly serve our fields, customers and growers for over 35 years. We have thoroughly investigated the unique environmental attributes of each of our growing regions, in order to protect the health, safety and productivity of the land. We have designated people across our entire network to ensure our operations align with global standards and environmental health initiatives, as we continue to control and reduce our carbon footprint. Our advanced farming operations and technology allow us to keep our water usage per avocado well below the industry average. We implement solar power renewable energy and work to reduce our packaging, which has allowed us to decrease our total greenhouse gas emissions and waste, yearover-year. Taking care of our people and our communities is a top priority for us. As a global company, it would be amiss to ignore the unprecedented challenge of addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in and outside of our organization. We responded with a people-first approach, ramping up all health and safety procedures to combat virus spread. I am extremely proud of the Mission family for serving
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on the ground as an essential business, especially to meet the demand of our nutrient-dense fruit, as avocados increasingly become a staple food for a large percentage of the population. Another high-priority topic for our company, industry and society is the integration of improved Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I). Diverse backgrounds and experiences lead to a dynamic, more robust business across all areas. We currently report an almost 50% women representation rate in our global workforce, nearly 20% of whom were promoted in 2020. As we continue to understand how we can improve our company’s DE&I, we have set forth strategic goals to address this issue effectively. After a holistic review of the status of our sustainability efforts thus far, I am proud to highlight: • Compared to 2019, in 2020, we were able to decrease our total global scope 1 and 2 emissions by 15.8% and reduce our total waste by 16.2%. • We modified our pallet configuration and box design, resulting in the removal of 285 over-theroad trucks from our supply chain and 20 acres preserved from deforestation. • Our strategic farming methods allowed our California crops to use 40% less irrigation water to produce a single avocado when compared against the average California grower.1 Additionally, compared to the average grower in Peru, we use 40.5% less water to produce a single avocado.2 • During peak season, almost three-quarters of our packing facility in Oxnard, California, is powered by solar energy. Our planet’s resources are invaluable. As we reflect on the benchmark numbers provided in this report, we commit to continuing advancements and
