Organic Valley in the News

Wisconsin farmers are doing their part to help the make a greener state.

The Wisconsin Farmers Union is one of several groups taking part in the "Homegrown Renewable Energy Campaign. The goal is to increase renewable energy sources, which will create jobs in the state and reduce carbon emissions.

While the campaign will help the enviroment, the organization says it will also help farmers.

"We can grow grasses, we have manure on our farms we are turning into electricity," says Pam Porter with the Wisconsin Farmers Union. "Farmers are innovators and will be part of the future, so the farmers union sees this as a great jobs opportunity."

Clean Wisconsin, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, and RENEW Wisconsin are teaming with the union for the campaign.

Part of the campaign includes a proposal to build two wind turbines at the Organic Valley distribution center in Cashton.

Organic Valley spokesperson Jennifer Harrison says the company is in talks with Western Technical College, Gundersen Lutheran, Best Energies Inc and the village of Cashton to partner on the project.

The newest version of the annual Thanksgiving Day gathering at Jeanne McMenemy's home didn't start out as a cause.

It started simply, and largely remains, as a group of friends exploring ways to lessen the dent they make on what McMenemy calls the planet's limited resources.

Next week, for the second year, her family and friends will sit down to a table loaded with foods grown only in the region, aside from a few asterisks.

Despite the absence of a local dairy, McMenemy made the happy discovery that even those foods fit into her guidelines. "At 'organicvalley.com,' I found out they contract with local dairies in tons of states. So when you buy their organic dairy, you are buying from a dairy in your state. I just love their organic butter and didn't want to give it up."

The Department of Agriculture has issued draft rules for organic milk that would require that the cows be on pasture at least half the year and get plenty of fresh grass. The proposals are meant to close a loophole that has allowed some huge feedlots to sell their milk as organic, even though their cows rarely grazed on fresh grass.

Advocates for family dairy farms and organic consumers say that’s not what shoppers think they’re buying when they pay a premium for organic milk.

“Pretty much the entire organic community welcomes the long-overdue closing of loopholes for pasture and feed in the organic dairy regulations,” said Ronnie Cummins, national director of the Organic Consumers Association.

“The controversy has dragged on so long,” agreed George Siemon, a Wisconsin dairy farmer and chief executive officer of Organic Valley, the nation’s largest farmer-owned organic dairy cooperative.

Texas populist, pundit and former agricultural commissioner Jim Hightower delivered his message favoring a green economy and blasting what he called America's addiction to oil to a roomful of public health advocates yesterday.

"America is disgustingly and pathetically addicted to oil," said Hightower, who spoke at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Public Health Association. "The best news with a green economy is we wouldn't fight any more oil wars."

In his speech, Hightower advocated for creation of more food cooperatives, such as the Wisconsin-based Organic Valley, that produces organic milk, cheese, produce and meat. Unlike most governmental food producers, organic food cooperatives do not use massive doses of pesticides on crops and inject animals with antibiotics, he said.

THIS town’s granite companies shut down years ago and even the rowdy bars and porno theater that once inspired the nickname “Little Chicago” have gone.

Facing a Main Street dotted with vacant stores, residents of this hardscrabble community of 3,000 are reaching into its past to secure its future, betting on farming to make Hardwick the town that was saved by food.

With the fervor of Internet pioneers, young artisans and agricultural entrepreneurs are expanding aggressively, reaching out to investors and working together to create a collective strength never before seen in this seedbed of Yankee individualism.

Rob Lewis, the town manager, said these enterprises have added 75 to 100 jobs to the area in the past few years.

Fact: Butter is one of nature’s simplest and most perfect foods.

This is something Julia Child knew well — she sang butter’s praises until the end of her life, which turned out to be a not-too-shabby 91 years. And from the looks of it, Organic Valley knows it, too. That brand you likely recognize from the organic section of your grocery store has a fabulous new offering, Pasture Butter, and I give it two big ole thumbs up!

A celebration of local agriculture and a farming way of life was held at the Cooperstown farm of Clifford and Patti Brunner on Thursday.

In the estimated five years that Organic Valley cooperatives of organic family farms has been holding Earth Dinners, it was the first time that such an event was held in this area, those involved said.

Of about 75 guests at the Cooperstown event, 20 were dairy farmers like the Brunners who ship to Organic Valley, said Jamie Johnson, public affairs manager with the cooperative.

The idea behind the event is to encourage people to share at least one meal a year in which they know where their food comes from, she said.

The dinner, catered by Jonah Shaw of Quarter Moon Cafe in Delhi, contains a number of items grown locally, according to the menu. These included squash from SunnySlope Farm in Cooperstown; potatoes and onions from Heller Farm in Bainbridge, garlic from Lucky Dog Farm in Hamden. Dairy products came from Organic Valley and meat from a related cooperative.

We checked out the latest snacks to hit the shelves and asked 50 fourth- and fifth-graders to tell us what they thought. On a scale of 1 to 5, the kids rated the products on two essential criteria: "how good it tasted" and "how excited they would be to find it in their lunch box." Then we asked two nutritionists from Better School Food to give us the lowdown on the products. Find out what snacks made the grade.

[note: Organic Valley Stringles rated highest in category!]

Dennis Lutteke began organic farming practices in the early 1980s because he and his wife were concerned for the health of their children.

He bought the farm just outside of Wells in 1972. As he worked out in the fields when his kids were young, they would follow around after him as he did his work and even helped out themselves.

Lutteke said he was concerned when his kids were around the chemicals he sprayed on his fields, so he started organic practices in 1982. The Lutteke farm became certified in 1995, and he began selling milk to Organic Valley in 1997.

“We strive for quality,” Lutteke said. “We want people to have good food.”

Madison hospitals are adding eco-friendly touches to their food services, joining a growing number of hospitals treating food as "preventive medicine," a national group says.

Meriter and St. Mary's have started buying produce from local farmers, and UW Hospital plans to do so soon, moves designed to offer healthier, fresher food to patients and workers.

St. Mary's, which got rid of Styrofoam cups last year, stopped offering water in plastic bottles in June. Meriter will eliminate Styrofoam cups next week, replacing them with cups made of sugar cane, potatoes and corn.

"This is important to our employees, our patients and our visitors," said Mae Knowles, Meriter spokeswoman. "Madison consumers are very in tune with this, probably more so than in a lot of other communities."

Meriter's food vendor has occasionally used local produce for a year, Knowles said. In July, she said, the hospital started buying Wisconsin-grown vegetables for its salad bar from Organic Valley Farms, based in La Farge.