Industry Produce Website Turbana.com Founded 1970 | Area served North America Headquarters Coral Gables | |
Parent organizations Fyffes, C.I. Union de Bananeros de Urabá S.A. | ||
Established in 1970, grower-owned Turbana Corporation, is a leading importer of tropical produce in North America, including bananas, plantains, pineapples, and ethnic tropicals. Turbana was the first organization to bring Fair Trade Certified bananas to North America. An advocate in sustainability and social consciousness, Turbana has developed the farming communities in the banana and plantain-growing regions in Colombia over the past 44 years through its social foundation, Fundauniban. Turbana gives a portion of every purchase to Fundauniban, contributing to the $250 million the foundation has invested in social and economic projects for education, housing, infrastructure, and environmental protection since 1987. Additionally, Turbana invests in its communities across the US to help them build sustainable and healthier lifestyles. Turbana is owned by Uniban, the world’s largest co-op of banana growers and the world’s largest producer of plantains and Fair Trade Certified bananas, and Fyffes, number one importer of bananas and one of the largest tropical produce importers and distributors in Europe.
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History
Turbana, a grower-owned banana and plantain company, is the fourth largest importer of bananas in North America, and was the first importer of fair trade-certified bananas in the continent. Turbana's parent company, Uniban, is the largest producer of fairtrade bananas in the world. Turbana offers an assortment of fresh tropical products including bananas, plantains, pineapples and 18 different ethnic tropicals. It also offers a full line of plantain chips available in six different flavors.
The company takes an active approach to community involvement. An advocate for sustainability and social consciousness, Turbana has worked to develop the farming communities in the banana and plantain-growing regions of Colombia through its social foundation, Fundauniban. For every box of bananas shipped, a fixed amount goes back to the community to support social and economic projects for education, housing, infrastructure, and environmental protection. Founded in 1987, Turbana's social foundation Fundauniban aims to improve the quality of life in the banana and plantain growing regions by ensuring sustainable growth through social, educational, housing, economic, and infrastructure projects.
Launched in 2013, the Growing Smiles, Sharing Goodness movement was established by Turbana as part of a mission to inspire people to eat smart, be active and get involved in their communities. A reflection of Turbana's core beliefs, the movement focuses on building sustainable, flourishing communities in the United States. Growing Smiles, Sharing Goodness focused its efforts on its "25K for Your Cause" campaign, which allowed the community to nominate and vote on a non-profit organization of their choice that would receive a $25,000 sponsorship with Turbana. KEEN New York won the month-long contest that was housed entirely on Turbana's Facebook page.
Fair trade practices
As a pioneer in fair trade, Turbana was the first importer of fairtrade bananas in North America. The company's certified fruit comes from thirty Uniban-operated fairtrade-certified farms in Colombia that uphold the promise of food safety, consistent product quality, environmental sustainability, and excellent labor conditions. To date, Uniban is the largest certified grower of bananas in the world. Turbana and Uniban have utilized fair trade practices, even before certification existed, to provide financial and technical support, safe working conditions, economic development, education, fair prices and a better quality of life for their farmers. Turbana and Uniban work alongside fair trade's governing bodies to contribute a portion of each purchase to a social premium that will benefit the farm workers. This premium is invested in education, housing, microloans, health and sustainability projects in the growing regions.
History
Source: Turbana