Owyhee Produce's Shay Myers Discusses New Sustainable, Hemp-Based Packaging
LOS ANGELES, CA - Every year, PMA Fresh Summit is always a flurry of activity. From booth to booth we are looking for the latest innovations that are pushing the produce envelope forward. This year, Owyhee Produce took the cake as one grower combining a few of our industry’s biggest trends into one knock-out item.
Intrigued? So was I. To learn more about the latest from Owyhee, we chatted with Shay Myers, General Manager and third-generation farmer, to glean as many details as possible on its new sustainable packaging.
“We have a farmed-fresh packaging, which is hemp-based,” Shay began. “We started growing hemp this year for the first time on our farm. We have about 600 acres, and the idea was to try and figure out what to do with the byproduct.”
This innovative thinking ultimately led the Owyhee Produce team to go down the path of packaging—regenerative, environmentally-sustainable hemp packaging that is.
“We’re literally growing the packaging that we’re using. We wanted to make a difference,” Shay continued, before noting that it isn’t always easy to make a difference, but the Owyhee Produce team insisted on trying. This led the grower to now offer consumers, distributors, and retailers the opportunity to purchase packaging that is like no other on the market.
While Shay explained that the packaging will cost a dollar to a dollar twenty-five more than typical packaging, the pay-off is worth it for more reasons than one. Obviously, sending the earth some extra TLC in any way possible is always rewarding. This, coupled with the fact that the packaging is what consumers have been demanding, makes Owyhee Produce’s latest innovation a hot commodity.
To learn more from Shay himself, check out our exclusive video above. And for more of the most exciting produce news, keep on keeping on with AndNowUKnow.