Organic Valley in the News

Neighboring dairy farmers in Columbus, Wis., thought Jim Miller and his family had embarked on a path to bankruptcy when they decided to produce organic milk. How could you run a farm without chemicals and make milk for a market that barely existed?

That was over a decade ago, and the neighbors turned out to be wrong. Organic became the sweet spot of the milk business, providing farmers like Miller with more-stable prices, and often more profits, than conventional dairy operations.

But over the last year, the milk business has been turned on its head, with many organic farmers getting squeezed like never before and conventional dairy farmers enjoying the best of times. Meanwhile, consumers have seen prices for conventional milk post double-digit increases, but barely budge for the organic stuff.

That's beginning to change, though. Many of the same factors that sent conventional milk prices soaring climbing feed and fuel costs, for instance are also at work in the organic world. It just takes longer for rising costs to wend their way through the organic food market because of its relatively slow-moving pricing system.

Real butter, real cream cheese, real food. Ecological nutritionist Joan Gussow put it succinctly: “As for butter versus margarine, I trust cows more than chemists.” I agree, craving direct connections to our food source, be it the cow or a crop.

What used to be a decision between whole, low fat, and skim is now a choice between whole, low fat, skim, lactose-free, flavored, organic, conventional, soy, and milk made without artificial hormones.

The dairy aisle has grown increasingly cluttered with options and state lawmakers are now wrestling over labeling one of those options: Milk made without recombinant bovine growth hormones (rBGH).

The synthetic hormone linked by some to health problems in humans when ingested artificially reproduces a naturally occurring hormone found in dairy cows. It's produced by Monsanto Corp. and sold under the name Posilac. Dairy farmers administer Posilac to lactating cows to increase yields. Its use is banned in Europe and Canada, but the US Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the artificial hormone in 1993.

Sales of milk labeled "artificial hormone-free" do not appear to be affecting the organic market, says Eric Newman, a representative at Organic Valley, a cooperative that sells milk under the Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm labels. But many in the dairy industry see Wal-Mart's recent decision to sell rBGH-free milk as a bellwether. "It'll probably put the death knell to synthetic growth hormone," Mr. Newman says.

Organic Valley Family of Farms, which was founded 20 years ago by seven Wisconsin farmers, said yesterday its 2007 revenues reached $432.5 million, a 29 percent increase over 2006 and an almost 250 percent increase over the past five years.

Today, La Farge, Wis.-based Organic Valley is the nation's largest farmer-owned cooperative, with more than 1,200 farmers in 34 states and one Canadian province.

The company said in a statement that 20 years after its beginning, the cooperative's shared vision still maintains: Work in partnership to produce healthy, nutritious organic food; keep family farmers farming; help revitalize rural communities while serving as stewards of the earth; and always offer a stable, sustainable pay price to its member farmers.

Organic Valley Family of Farms is opening its membership to organic crop growers with the introduction of its Grower Pool. Growers joining the pool will benefit from a guaranteed floor price for their crops on a long-term contract basis and will be able to enroll all or portions of their crop acreage in the pool. Organic Valley will offer contracts for feed-grade grains, beans, oilseeds and hay beginning with the 2008-2010 cycle.

Similar to Organic Valley's current dairy, meat and produce pools, the Grower Pool's prices will reflect differences in the co-op's 15 grower regions. Members will form their own executive committee to develop policy and pricing guidelines...

Last year I got this e-mail from a woman named Linda: "I have a decent job and do it well, but I'm constantly thinking I'm wasting my time. I want to begin doing something useful to contribute to changing things, at least becoming a cog in the wheel that's on the right vehicle."

She's hardly alone in her yearning to escape the corporate tentacles and defy the stultifying insistence of conventional wisdom that "success" is money. The powers that be don't want us thinking that breaking from the given order is even possible. But as a friend of mine puts it, "Those who say it can't be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."

For idealistic entrepreneurship, consider a brand of foods that you might have in your kitchen: Organic Valley. This purveyor of organic milk, eggs, butter, juices, etc. was organized by a group of farmers to be the "un-corporation," embracing not only profit but also the common good of what they call their "partnership society," including employers, consumers and communities. It has not been easy, but the Organic Valley cooperative has held fast to its progressive principles over the years while building a business that now includes 1,201 farm families in thirty-two states, racking up $432 million in sales in fiscal year 2007.

consumers find themselves faced with the choice of either paying extra for organic, or buying the conventional version of the same product at a much lower price. The dilemma is that plenty of shoppers still don't quite know what that gap in price is all about -- why organic products cost more, and what "organic" really means for them in terms of perceived personal health benefits, as well as benefits to the environment.

Many core players in the organic food industry are convinced that grocers themselves can bridge that gap in understanding and thus unleash greater sales potential for organic foods, even at a time when economic pressures are bearing down both on the industry and the consuming public.

---

Steve Harrold, director of whole health and organics at Indianapolis-based Caito Foods Service, a leading supplier of fresh fruit and vegetables to retailers throughout the Midwest, says a lot of good science is emerging that proves organic foods have definite health benefits.

Among this recent research on organics is a four-year study released last fall by the European Union, indicating that some organic foods are more nutritious than their nonorganic counterparts. Preliminary results showed organic fruit and vegetables, for example, have up to 40 percent more antioxidants than nonorganically grown produce. Organic milk contains up to 60 percent to 80 percent more antioxidants than conventionally produced milk in the summer, and 50 percent to 60 percent higher levels in the winter. It also found organic milk to contain higher levels of vitamin E.

Yet another source of pro-organics ammunition is a research study published last August by The Organic Center, an independent nonprofit firm based in Boulder, Colo. The study claims that the average child in America is exposed to five pesticides daily in food and drinking water. "Our research found that switching to an organic diet for just five days virtually eliminates any sign of exposure to organophosphate insecticides among school-aged children," says Steven Hoffman, managing director of The Organic Center.

Siobhan Griffin of Raindance Farm was recently named by NMC as a top innovator of quality milk production in its 14th annual National Dairy Quality Awards, placing in the silver category.

Although the farm has been winning quality awards since 2001 from her dairy cooperative, Organic Valley Family of Farms, this is the first national award from an independent group, she said. She has been in business for 20 years.

She said the intensive grazing technique she started using in 1989 has a lot to do with the quality. The technique she first saw in practice as a child visiting family in Ireland, she said, and it is still in use there. It provides cows with a fresh section for grazing every 12 hours during the growing season, she said.

"It does a lot for the milk quality," she said. "Grass is better than anything that can be harvested." There are a number of environmental benefits from the practice, she said, including less use of fossil fuels.

(more)

NICHOLS - For five generations the Engelbert family farm has stood as a beneficiary in Southern Tier New York. “Everyone used to farm in this country,” stated Kevin. “Even by the 1950s I think 50 percent had ties to the farm, and now less than two percent of the U.S. population is engaged in farming. 98 percent just get their food from the grocery store. Food has just been taken for granted in this country.” He added that every day thousands of farmland acres are lost to gravel pits and development, and when farmland is lost it never comes back.

“I think this country is very close to becoming a net importer of food for the first time in its history,” Kevin added.

Over the years the Engelbert family farm has undergone plenty of changes, including a gradual shift from diversified to primarily dairy, and most recently to certified organic.

Washington, DC —Co-op America presented the fifth annual Green Business Leadership Award to Organic Valley Family of Farms, a pioneer within the farming community. Organic Valley, a cooperative based in LaFarge, WI, was chosen as the winner from amongst five nominees, all of them leaders in the green business field.

“Organic Valley started 20 years ago with $1,000, eight farmers, and a goal of supporting family farms,” said Co-op America’s Green Business Division Director Denise Hamler. “Now, with over $420 million in sales and the most innovative environmental practices in the industry, Organic Valley has proven that being green and being successful can walk hand in hand. We’re proud to have Organic Valley in our Green Business Network and thrilled they won this year’s Green Business Leadership Award.”

In addition to building a network of successful organic family farms, Organic Valley recently established a “Cashton Greens” Partnership, which includes the first local Green Business Park, a biodiesel site, and a biomass site. Their 1,200 farmers nationwide develop land conservation, biodiesel, solar, wind and other innovative green technologies on their farms. Organic Valley also constructed a LEED Silver certified headquarters.