Organic Valley in the News

Organic Valley is sending a busload of 120 farmers to the concert. You'll recognize them by their "Who's Your Farmer?" T-shirts.

"It's like a wave is building," Holm said. "Willie Nelson threw a pebble into the water - it started as a cry in the wilderness - but then there was the rise of the co-op model for grocery stores, the Slow Food movement, and revitalizing school lunch programs."

In 1985, Americans wanted to support farmers but didn't know how, she said.

Organic Valley is a farmer-owned co-op with 1,652 farm families nationwide and the only organic co-op in the Pacific Northwest, with 51 participating farms in Oregon and Washington. Each year, Organic Valley offers its buyers a tour of one of its farms. This year's Pacific Northwest tour took place Sept. 22 at Moore's Dairy on Kelso Road in Boring, one of six plants in Oregon and Washington that bottle Organic Valley milk.

Organic Valley, the nation's largest cooperative of organic farmers, is planning a $6.1 million expansion of its La Farge headquarters. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports Thursday that the co-op says it will also add 100 jobs over the next three years. The company says in a news release that the co-op expects to break ground in November and complete its expansion in June 2011.

Organic Valley currently employs 525 people, mostly at the La Farge headquarters. Expansion plans call for adding a 33,000-square-foot building to Organic Valley's existing 50,000-square-foot headquarters, which is six years old.

For many years, Titonka farmer Brian Bartelt tried to figure out how to make his 80 acres of land profitable.

However, in 1999 he finally found his niche crop — organic corn and oats. He added organic beef to the mix about six years ago.
Most of his beef goes to Organic Valley in Wisconsin, which then sells it in stores. Some of it he sells locally.

Omega-3s are fats essential to brain development and continued brain health, vision, prevention of cardiovascular disease, and normal growth and development throughout childhood. However, they are not produced in the body, nor are they found in many foods. Fatty fish are an excellent source off omega-3s, but fatty fish are not on most kids' after school snack menus. However, there are other sources of omega-3s, such as Omega-3 Milk from Organic Valley.

Organic Valley eggs are not associated with the egg recall that has been reported in the news recently. There is no need to dispose of Organic Valley eggs that are within the expiration or sell-by dates printed on the carton. read more…

"Toxic chemical reform is imperative to the environment and human health. When today's babies are recorded with over 200 contaminants in their blood at birth, we know it is time for reform. Yet, we cannot achieve it alone. The public must demand that our legislators and chief policy makers give us the tools that will protect our bodies and the environment. In collaborating in this effort, and banding together with other sustainable businesses, we in turn support our 1,600 farmer owners and their families who choose to farm organically," according to George Siemon, CEO and founding farmer, Organic Valley.

De la Bruere’s expansion comes at a time when retail sales of organic milk are rebounding. At the start of the month, Organic Valley, a Wisconsin-based cooperative to which de la Bruere belongs, removed a 7 percent production cut imposed on farmers in 2009, allowing them to increase production at will. The buyer has not raised milk prices, but farmers can increase their income by making more milk.

De la Bruere’s herd of 75 cows produces about a ton of milk a day, most of which ends up in products made at Stonyfield Farm in New Hampshire. He fixed-up his farm — about $20,000 worth of work — with some financial aid through the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program. A young man at his church in Essex Junction helped him lay 2 miles of perimeter fence in June.

It is not uncommon for Vermont farmers to lease extra land they need, either for animals or crops. And in these economic times, farmers are getting more creative about their land deals.

This spring a herd of dairy cows appeared in this field in Essex which sits in the middle of several developments. It is the creative solution to a dairy dilemma.

"I moved the cows here in May, I have another farm in Highgate near the Canadian border and a few years ago I went the organic route, and with the new pasture rule we need so many acres to pasture our cows and I was short of land on the other farm so I started looking around where I could pasture my cows," said farmer Paul De La Bruere. read more…

Marquez, Chief Marketing Executive of Organic Valley, will receive the OTA Organic Leadership Award in the “Growing the Organic Industry” category, while Quinn, President of Kamut® International, will receive the award in the “Growing Organic Agriculture” category. The 2010 Organic Leadership Award recipients will be honored at the OTA Annual Dinner and Dance on Friday, Oct. 15, during OTA Member Days activities at Natural Products Expo East in Boston. Recipients receive a hand-blown glass “planet” by artist Josh Simpson.