The Packer’s Sustainability Insights 2025 survey of growers underscores that U.S. growers still consider on-farm sustainability efforts fundamental to their operation’s long-term business strategy and economic success.
The foundation of sustainability is to “not just survive but thrive,” according one respondent.
“My decision-making takes into account long-term operations, make sure success is long-term and it is self-sustaining to allow future generations the opportunity to continue, and using as many aspects of integrated pest management as possible, and to keep improving the operation and land so ecosystem services can aid in long-term business and worker viability,” the grower wrote, reflecting an operation-spanning view of sustainability held by many 2025 respondents, that accounts for a range of on-farm decisions and factors, not limited to growing practices alone.
In a year with novel challenges in fresh produce supply chain, growers, packers and shippers in the survey confirmed they haven’t abandoned sustainability goals, still opting to prioritize conservation and regenerative growing practices.
At the same time, growers squared their desire “to be a better steward of the land” with parallel priorities such as ensuring their operation’s long-term viability, economic sustainability, successful marketing strategy and financial success when making decisions on sustainability efforts and regenerative growing practices.
Interestingly, layered in growers’ understanding of sustainability, survey respondents linked regenerative agriculture as central to sustainable growing practices. Regenerative agriculture practices that ranked the highest in the 2025 survey of growers included minimizing soil erosion, improving nutrient use and applying precision inputs. Water use was also cited as a key priority and, while biodiversity lagged in regenerative priorities, 62% of respondents cited crop rotation as an important practice.
Sustainability as a Competitive Advantage
“In the 2025 growing season, growers know that markets, tariffs and weather shifts can change overnight,” says Stella Brownlee, Trust In Food’s sustainable commodities technical manager. “Those growers who make regenerative agriculture and land stewardship part of their playbook aren’t just surviving those changes, they’re guiding their own path.”
Trust In Food is a social-purpose initiative of Farm Journal, The Packer’s parent company, working to accelerate the transition to more sustainable and resilient agricultural systems. As a soil scientist and Driscoll research alum, today Brownlee supports U.S. growers across the southern Atlantic with Trust In Food’s Connected Ag Project. She views incorporating sustainable growing practices as a savvy business decision that helps growers improve their operation’s economic sustainability while bolstering long-term viability.
“In a year when everything feels like a moving target, the smartest move is to double-down on what you can control: building stronger land through regenerative and precision agriculture,” she says. “That’s not just sustainability, that’s farming for profitability, now and for years to come.”
Survey respondents echo that, with 74% citing sustainability as very or extremely important when considering business strategy or financial decisions.
According to the growers surveyed, not only is sustainability viewed as a strategic advantage, but increasingly, it also helps market fresh produce.
While about half of surveyed growers thought consumers consider sustainability an important factor in making purchasing decisions, 38% of growers said that sustainable farming “improves the marketability of my products to retail consumers/consumer demand.”
The 2025 results mark a 26-percentage-point increase from the 2024 survey of growers, in which only 12% linked sustainable farming with improved marketability and consumer demand.
Alongside Economic Sustainability, Environmental Impact Remains Primary Driver
When asked what sustainability means to them, 32% of growers ranked economic and long-term viability the highest consideration, compared with just 9% of consumers. Environmental impact was ranked as a secondary consideration by 19% of growers and 23% of consumers surveyed.
However, while growers view sustainability as a necessary and wise business strategy, the core motivator for growers to implement sustainable farming practices still comes down to the growers’ impacts on the planet.
The top three reasons growers say motivate them to implement and practice sustainable growing practices include:
• “Be a better steward of the land and the planet.”
• “I feel it is the responsible thing to do.”
• “Improve water quality and/or use water more efficiently.”
Conversely, only 8% of growers cite motivations for farming sustainably because it “is a priority for my retail customers.” Only 5% of surveyed growers say they are motivated to farm sustainability to “address climate change” and 4% cite a desire to “reduce carbon emissions.”
Bottom line, in 2025 growers are weighing everyday decisions about sustainable and regenerative growing practices — such as minimizing soil erosion, water conservation, crop rotation and precision inputs — by considering both the land management and financial sustainability of the operation.
Notable Wild Cards Added to Challenges in 2025
One of the underlying contributors for the twin focus on economic and environmental sustainability is that fresh produce growers are facing mounting challenges and unknowns, such as extreme weather events and the threat of tariffs, in addition to the not insignificant challenges faced in growing highly perishable fresh produce in the U.S.
Growers surveyed for Sustainability Insights 2025 named familiar challenges and hurdles to incorporating sustainable growing practices in their operation such as cost, time, labor, equipment, demand and hassle.
Layered onto these well-known challenges, in 2025, growers stated they are also facing a host of unknowns as it relates to the cost of their operation. Sixty-two percent of growers report that they have been impacted by extreme weather in the past year and 70% of growers say they have some level of concern with how tariffs will affect their business.
Tracking Sustainability Efforts With Tech
Helping farmers measure, maintain and quantify sustainability efforts and regenerative farming practices is a kit of tech tools, equipment and software.
In Sustainability Insights 2025, while 36% of growers cited farm management software as the primary method of documenting sustainable practices in their operations, that group is tied with a cohort of growers (36%) who said that they do not document or do not implement sustainability practices at all.
This parity is striking, especially taken in contrast to 2024 survey findings, in which 64% of growers said that they do not document or do not implement sustainability.
Opting to leverage third-party certifiers to document sustainability practices, 27% of respondents said that “third-party certifiers audit my operation,” which is an increase from 19% in the 2024 survey.
Beyond tracking when growers are deciding what tech investments to make on-farm, precision irrigation nabbed the top spot for improving sustainability or smart farming practices. Investment in precision irrigation was trailed by precision inputs (not water) and investing in greenhouse technology.
One-third of growers stated they haven’t made any technical upgrades at all this year, but this large group could possibly be attributed to recent past investments in technical equipment, contributing to softer demand this year.
Investments that aren’t gaining momentum in 2025 include artificial intelligence (AI) tools, autonomous tractors, robotic seeding, watering and harvesters, according to respondents.
One reason AI tools are not gaining traction could be because growers remain lukewarm about how they view the role of AI in the fresh produce supply chain. Only 12% of growers see AI playing an extremely important role in sustainability in the fresh produce supply chain, with 38% of respondents saying that they view AI playing a mildly important role, and 18% see AI playing no role at all.
Your next read:
Growers, Retailers, Consumers Share Top Sustainability Priorities
Get the full report here.
