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Dole Food Company announced that on November 22, The Standard Fruit Company of Costa Rica S.A., a subsidiary of Dole Food Company, received the “Social Responsibility in Action” award from The Costa Rican-North American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in connection to the company’s Green Star Initiative.

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The Green Star Initiative program began in 2016 as an integrated approach to landscape management in Valle La Estrella, incorporating environmental education, ecological restoration, energy and agriculture, biodiversity and carbon neutrality, in a production model for the banana industry.

One of the main components of the project was carbon neutrality, which included implementation of field practices to reduce and mitigate the carbon footprint, the measurement of both emissions and carbon capture in existing forest assets, and determining the carbon balance for the operations in Estrella Valley. The banana operations turned out to be carbon positive and the information that was developed in this program can be used towards realizing official carbon neutrality status for the farm.

“Environmental sustainability is critical to our growing operations and to our business throughout the company,” stated Renato Acuña, President of Dole Tropical Products Latin America. “The Green Star Initiative illustrates that conservation of biodiversity does not have to conflict with business decisions. All of us at Standard Fruit and Dole deeply believe in what we are trying to do to reduce our carbon footprint and we are honored to be recognized by AmCham for our efforts.”

AmCham’s “Social Responsibility in Action” award seeks to promote and recognize the companies that have a responsible and integral business management, unifying the economic, social and environmental fields for the development of the country. Thirty companies were nominated in 2019 for a total of 37 programs grouped into 5 categories: Public-Private Partnerships, Community, Collaborators, Environment and Value Chain.

The Green Star Initiative project was the winner among the eighteen entrants in the Environment category.

The awards event gathered together many special guests such as the Minister of Coordination with the private sector, André Garnier; the Minister of Economy, Industry and Commerce, Victoria Hernández; the US ambassador to Costa Rica, Sharon Day; and more than 200 executives and representatives of the business sector.

About Dole Food Company

Dole Food Company, Inc., is one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Dole is an industry leader in many of the products it sells, as well as in nutrition education. For more information, please visit www.dole.com .

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