Flood Relief in the Midwest
Flooding in our Backyard
Heavy August rains caused destructive flooding in the Upper Midwest, including the home region of the Organic Valley Cooperative's headquarters and founding farmers. Many OV employees, neighbors and friends are busy cleaning out damaged basements and repairing homes, while some of our local farmer-members in the area are rebuilding their washed-out driveways so the milk truck can get in.
As is the tradition in the Kickapoo, our communities have come together in myriad ways -- from folks volunteering to bail water and clear debris, to a variety of fundraisers from music events ("Flood the Valley with Music") to church breakfasts, to food drives and clothing drives and furnishings and school supply collections.
The farmers and staff of OV have joined in the efforts wherever possible, donating foods and funding and elbow grease. While our co-op's produce members are mostly in unaffected places, a number of other local organic vegetable growers were particularly affected by the flood events - their harvest, in some cases, literally washed away. Dedicated community members have rallied around their local growers, and co-ops and grocers throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota have joined together to collect funds for helping local food growers survive this difficult time.
See Gretta Wing Miller's 9-minute video on the flood, which features Driftless area farmers, including OV members Josh and Noah Engel, here.
You Can Help 
Learn more or make a donation to Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's Sow the Seeds Fund at www.sowtheseedsfund.org.
Family Farm Defenders is also accepting donations for midwest flood relief.
News and Resour
ces
Filmmakers aid flooded organic farms
Wisconsin State Journal, Sep 10, 2007
see the video
Organic producers suffer severe losses in flooding
Agri News - August 29, 2007
Wedge Co-op
The website of one of our retailer-partner co-ops has news about the Sow the Seeds Fund drive and links to affected farms -- plus great info on food.
Flood Report from Local Farms on a Wedge Co-op blog. Read about their Eat Local Challenge, too!
NCGA promises big money to help organic farmers - co-op organization pledges matching funds.
Valley Stewardship Network, is a grassroots non-profit dealing with issues in the Kickapoo Watershed. VSN is collecting funds to directly assist those families that pretty much lost everything in perhaps the worst flooding episode in over half a century.
