Organic Valley in the News

Amid ongoing uncertainty over the safety and efficacy of genetically engineered (GE) crops, or GMOs, a new round of fighting has broken out, this time over GE alfalfa and its impact on organics.

As the public comment period on the issue nears the end, sustainable agriculture and consumers groups are emphasizing their concern over potential damage to the organic industry.

George Siemon, CEO of Organic Valley Family of Farms, the largest farmer-owned organic dairy co-op in the country, thinks GE alfalfa "threatens the very fabric of the organic industry."

According to Siemon, organic farmers rely on organic alfalfa for feed and GE alfalfa could threaten the supply by contaminating organic crops.

The wretched economy probably won't dampen the turnout at this weekend's Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse. Organizers of the 21st annual gathering expect last year's record turnout of 2,650 to be surpassed by the time the last walk-in shows up for the Thursday-night-to-Saturday conference at the La Crosse Center.

The gathering is a combination pep rally, reunion, trade show, Chautauqua, political rally and big-time party for farmers who share a common mission of fighting industrialized agriculture and its dependence on chemical additives.

"Something special happens here," says Faye Jones, the conference's long-time organizer and executive director of the Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service in Spring Valley. "It's almost like magic. The conference is a source of inspiration and rejuvenation," she explains, before organic farmers head to their fields for spring planting.

George Siemon, the CEO of the farmers' co-op that markets under the Organic Valley label, agrees. "The conference has a warm, familiar, family-type feeling. Some people think it's the heart of the organic movement."

The current financial downturn hasn't spared Wisconsin's organic farmers, but in general they have been able to ride it out, says a new report about the state's organic sector.

"Organics has held its position as an area where all sizes of operations can find opportunities to meet a loyal consumer demand. Organic producers, with their systems-based, low input approaches to farming, are well-equipped to weather lower prices," say Harriet Behar and Jerry McGeorge, members of Wisconsin's Organic Advisory Council, in the introduction to "Organic Agriculture in Wisconsin: 2009 Status Report."

The report, prepared by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, will be available at the Organic Farming Conference this weekend in La Crosse, Wis.

Rising demand for locally-grown produce means farmers need to adapt new strategies, according to a new UW-Madison study.

Whether it’s at farmers markets, food stands, restaurants or grocery stores, producers are having a tough time keeping up with consumer's appetites. UW researchers looked at 11 operations in Wisconsin and other states, and found that oftentimes producers don’t need to grow more food to meet demand, but rather a better way to distribute their products.

Researcher Michelle Miller says she heard of the issue first nearly 20 years ago, from growers who said they were being forced to “get bigger and bigger” as consumers steadily craved more and more local products.

Miller says there’s no one way to expand distribution, either. For example, La Farge-based Organic Valley has shipped their products along with other smaller companies, in order to share delivery trucks. Organic Valley spokesman Jerry McGeorge says this helped bring down costs.

Eating organic, farm-fresh produce at every meal is no easy task for most families. But a family of farmers southeast of Fertile, Minn., wants to change that.

The Lambrights, an Amish family of 14, plan to pick up where the Mount Saint Benedict Community Supported Agriculture Garden of Crookston left off. The Lambrights moved from southwestern Wisconsin to establish a community with seven or eight other Amish families because land prices were making small-scale farming difficult in Wisconsin. Stacy Erickson of the Fertile area helps the family with communication and transportation.

The sisters at the Mount Saint Benedict Monastery maintained the CSA garden as one of their outreach programs because they felt organic produce was inaccessible to many residents of the Red River Valley. Erickson said those in charge of the Mount Saint Benedict CSA had felt it was “time to move on.” As a result, Erickson said the CSA’s customers were worried they no longer would have access to their produce, which is when she and the Lambrights stepped in and took over.

Organic farmers in the Northeast are celebrating a new rule that puts stricter standards on organic dairy products.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week issued the rule which requires that cows spend at least 30 percent of their time grazing on pasture.

Prior to Friday's announcement, organic food advocates in the Northeast and the Midwest argued that larger farms in the Western states have been able to call their dairy products "organic" while forcing the cows to spend most of their lives penned up in large cement barns.

The new rule, which goes into effect June 17, says animals must now graze at least 120 days per year and must obtain a minimum of 30 percent dry intake from grazing pasture before their milk is certified organic.

"I think it's important that our government is getting behind stricter standards," said Amanda Ellis-Thurber, co-owner of Lilac Ridge Farm, a West Brattleboro certified organic dairy with 50 cows. "It's important to make farms more accountable and consumers shouldn't have the complete responsibility to make sure the organic label means it is a sustainable product."

The top agriculture official in the nation made a rare visit to Vermont on Saturday, attending two farm-related events in Burlington that featured two strikingly different atmospheres.

The secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, joined a dairy "town meeting" at the Hilton Hotel, making him the first USDA secretary to come to Vermont in the last 20 years.

The dairy farmers at the meeting made it clear with a sense of urgency that they continue to face the crisis that arose more than a year ago when milk prices plummeted well below the cost of production, and they want the broken system fixed.

Later Vilsack attended the annual conference of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, or NOFA, where he gave the keynote address to a packed and boisterous crowd in Ira Allen Chapel at the University of Vermont.

Paul and Maureen Knapp are fourth-generation dairy farmers. Like generations before them, the Knapps ran conventional operations in Preble, using fertilizer and chemicals and regular feed. All that changed in 2000.

"I'm a big reader and I do a lot of research on things, Maureen said. When I first read about organic farming it was intriguing to me. The more I read I thought why not? It made sense we should be doing things the way they always were done (hundreds of years ago)."

The Knapps, who milk about 80 cows, shipped their first organic milk in 2001 to Organic Valley, a cooperative of about 1,650 organic farms. Organic Valley uses the milk for fluid milk and to make cheese, cream cheese and butter.

So, where to find these "graziers," as they're known?

The best bet is to check for local dairies where you live, find out if their animals are pasture raised, and then go see for yourself. Online resources like the Eat Well Guide and LocalHarvest.org are helpful in locating good dairies or stores that sell their products. And there are labels (some good and others misleading) to help make sense of what you're really getting.

There are also larger businesses, like Organic Valley, that have taken steps to improve the welfare of their animals. "Our dairy animals have the best life of any dairy animals in this country, that's for certain," said Wendy Fulwider, the company's animal husbandry specialist. "We do have pasture requirements, so they do get to spend a lot of time outdoors and they get excellent pasture to eat. They get exercise and sunshine and have the most nutritious milk. They are incredibly healthy."

Thanks to everyone who voted and nominated during our Top Ten Sustainable CEOs Survey. The results are in and posted below. (You can see the entire list at the bottom of the original post, as well as the great conversations the nomination process produced).

Before we get too excited about the ranking, I want to emphasize that there was nothing scientific about this process and its real purpose was as much to provoke conversation as it was to give recognition to some of our most enlightened business leaders.

It was also about challenging readers and leaders alike to ask themselves what the definition of “sustainable leadership” really is. In some cases these leaders have helped create products and services with positive environmental or social impact, in others they have helped build a corporate culture that rewards and nourishes employees and stakeholders in new ways. Some are well known, others more humble. As you think about the “winners” keep in mind the very loose and changing definition of the word “sustainable” and leave some comments as to what it means to you.