Better Health for All

Calavo Growers' product portfolio demonstrates a significant focus on health, with 86% of sales in 2021 coming from products considered healthy, such as whole or fresh-cut fruits and vegetables.

The company utilizes ultra-high-pressure technology for guacamole products to ensure food safety without preservatives. However, the company has faced challenges in food safety, including a 2021 recall of 0.03 metric tons of food product and an FDA warning letter in October 2024 for adulterated papayas due to inadequate toilet facilities at a contracted farm, a repeat observation from 2023. Approximately 50% of Calavo's products by SKU have no salt added. The company provides food safety training and written food safety plans to contracted growers and harvesters. Calavo offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental health support and provides comprehensive health insurance benefits and wellness resources to employees. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company implemented proactive safety measures, hosted vaccination clinics, and offered incentives. Calavo upgraded its IT systems in 2021 for data protection and security, and its cybersecurity risk management program is based on the NIST CSF. The company's R&D costs for fiscal years 2022, 2023, and 2024 were approximately $0.1 million each year. Calavo published its first sustainability highlights report in 2019 and an environmental policy statement committing to pollution prevention. The company also states a commitment to social equity and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

Calavo Growers, Inc. is a food and agriculture company, not a financial institution.

The company's core business involves procuring, distributing, manufacturing, and selling fresh and processed food products. It does not offer lending, deposit, or other financial services to consumers or businesses. Therefore, all Key Performance Indicators related to 'Fair Money & Economic Opportunity' are not applicable to its operations.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

For fiscal year 2023, the ratio of the CEO's total compensation to the median employee's total compensation was 265 to 1.

As of October 31, 2024, Calavo had 2,106 employees, with 1,789 in Mexico and 317 in the US. Substantially all Mexican employees are represented by a union, and some US operations in Hawaii are also unionized. This indicates that approximately 85% of the total workforce is covered by collective bargaining agreements. In November 2022, the Mexican Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare issued criteria for subcontracting inspections, leading to subsequent fines against Calavo, which the company is appealing. The company also received an FDA warning letter on October 25, 2024, for failing to provide adequate and readily accessible toilet facilities at a contracted papaya farm in Hawaii, a repeat observation from a 2023 inspection. The company states it provides access to health and retirement benefits for eligible employees, including medical, dental, and vision plans, a 401k retirement plan with an employer match, and company-paid short-term and long-term disability plans.

Honest & Fair Business

Calavo Growers had no ethics-related regulatory fines in the past three years, with both the SEC and DOJ closing their FCPA investigations into the company.

The company voluntarily disclosed an internal investigation into potential FCPA issues related to its Mexican operations. Calavo has a whistleblower policy with secure hotlines for the U.S. and Mexico, an online portal for confidential and anonymous reporting, and prohibits retaliation for good faith reports. The Audit Committee oversees these reports and reviews them at least twice a year. The company's financial statements do not reflect corrections of errors or restatements requiring recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation, but the 2024 10-K filing indicates a checkbox for error correction was not marked, implying no formal restatements. Seven of the eight non-employee director nominees, or 87.5%, are independent under NASDAQ rules. Calavo has an anti-corruption policy prohibiting bribes and kickbacks, referencing the FCPA, and requiring prior written approval for courtesies to government officials. However, an internal audit identified potential FCPA issues in its Mexican operations, leading to voluntary disclosure and independent investigations by the SEC and DOJ. Approximately 50% of ethical claims are independently verified, including product certifications and cybersecurity readiness assessments by third-party consultants. A complaint was filed on October 4, 2024, alleging deceptive marketing of avocados as 'sustainable' when they were allegedly sourced from deforested land between 2022 and early 2024.

Planet-Friendly Business

In 2022, the company's total Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions were 726,639 tCO₂e, a significant increase from 43,398 tCO₂e in 2021.

The company has a target to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% by 2030 against a 2022 baseline and achieve carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2027, but no SBTi-validated targets are mentioned. Operational energy consumption from renewables was 0% for 2019, 2020, and 2021. In 2021, 69% of waste was diverted from landfill, and the company aims to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030. The company sourced avocados from orchards containing illegally deforested land in Michoacán, Mexico, with 15 such instances identified between May 2023 and April 2024. The company had 3 environmental compliance violations in 2022 and received an FDA warning letter in October 2024 for repeat violations regarding inaccessible toilet facilities for workers at a contracted farm, leading to urination in bush areas. In 2021, 41% of water withdrawal was from regions with high or extremely high baseline water stress. The company plans to migrate at least 50% of packaging components to recycled content by 2030, but current recycled content usage is not specified. The company has built a pollinator garden in Mexico and participates in volunteer turtle patrols. It sponsors a child rehabilitation center in Mexico and offers employee training through Calavo University, but no specific climate justice or just transition programs are detailed.

Respect for Cultures & Communities

The provided articles do not contain specific, concrete data points for any of the KPIs related to Respect for Cultures & Communities. Information regarding formal partnerships, local reinvestment, cultural appropriation incidents, cultural impact assessment protocols, local employment ratios, community grievance mechanisms, complaint resolution times, FPIC participation, community governance inclusion, cultural preservation investment, local procurement, indigenous supplier count, cultural site protection, social license to operate, charitable giving to cultural heritage, community fund allocation, language inclusivity, cultural incident response, or cultural training completion is not available.

Goals for community partnership opportunities and investment are mentioned for 2024 and 2025, but these are forward-looking statements, not evidence of current action. A confidential hotline for employee grievances is noted, but this does not apply to community concerns or provide a percentage of sites. Donations to a recreational park are mentioned, but no overall percentage of revenue donated to cultural heritage organizations is provided. Therefore, no KPIs can be scored based on the evidence provided.

Safe & Smart Tech

The company has not had any recent security news or data breaches.

Its privacy policy addresses compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

In 2021, Calavo Growers diverted 69% of waste from landfills across all its US facilities.

The company has implemented several waste reduction initiatives, including increasing avocado pulp extraction in Uruapan from 48% to 62% in 2022, diverting 2.1 million lbs of California-grown produce to regional programs, and partnering with Hazel Technologies to reduce food waste for Hawaiian papayas. Calavo also participates in the 10x20x30 initiative, which includes a "Target-Measure-Act" approach and specific initiatives like employee training, equipment assessment, and quality checks to improve product yield. The company projects a 50% reduction in food waste by 2030 and aims to migrate at least 50% of packaging components to recycled content by 2030. No specific waste disposal violations or fines were mentioned in the 2021 or 2022 sustainability reports.