Salmon Safe on Your Wine Rack

The Lempert Report continually promotes the consumer use and grocer integration of the Monterey Bay’s Seafood Watch Program into their best practices

The Lempert Report continually promotes the consumer use and grocer integration of the Monterey Bay’s Seafood Watch Program into their best practices; as preserving oceanic habitats as well as providing consumers with the “best choices” for health are simple steps a grocer can make towards running a more sustainable, consumer and environmentally oriented business.

Another program that recently came across our radar is the Oregon-based Salmon-Safe certification program, which has already taken hold in over 200 grocers in the western United States. Salmon-safe, in collaboration with the Stewardship Partners (a non-profit organization that helps landowners restore and preserve natural landscapes), aims to recognize farm operations who adopt conservation practices that help restore the native salmon habitat in Pacific Northwest waterways. Salmon-Safe farms protect water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, and overall watershed health. Grocers and other markets with a wine and beer license can expect to see the Salmon-safe label, first and foremost, on wine bottles coming from this region.  
 
Salmon-Safe is a third-party certification program that utilizes professional inspectors with experience in both salmon habitat and sustainable agriculture. The farm evaluations are based on a thorough set of guidelines developed by scientists and farmers. The independent Salmon-safe eco-label is certainly gaining national recognition and appears on a variety of products including wine, dairy, produce, and fruit. To date, over 40,000 acres of farmland have been certified across the aforementioned farm sectors.  
 
Salmon-Safe certification guidelines require farms to maintain a buffer of trees and vegetation along the stream banks, control erosion by cover cropping bare soil, apply natural methods to control weeds and farm pests, control impacts from animal husbandry, and promote on-farm plant and wildlife diversity, among others.  
 
The Lempert Report recommends grocers familiarize store managers and employees with the Salmon-safe logo and guidelines. The program could also serve as a great theme for in-store tastings and promotions.