Organic Valley Where To Buy
Organic Valley markets products such as milk, cheese, eggs, soy, protein shakes, butter, yogurt, organic snack items, and more.[5] Under the Organic Prairie brand, the cooperative markets organic beef, pork, chicken, and turkey products.[6] With 1,800 farmer-owners across the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom,[7] Organic Valley markets its products in all 50 states and exports to 25 countries.
organic valley where to buy
Organic Valley comprises nearly 2,000 farmer-owners located in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom that specialize in sustainable, organic agriculture practices. Organic Valley has become the world's largest independent Cooperative of organic family farmers and one of the nation's largest producers and distributors of organic produce, dairy, soy, and eggs.[9] It also markets its line of beef, pork, turkey, and chicken products under the Organic Prairie brand.[10]
George Siemon, one of the founding farmers of CROPP, was the CEO of Organic Valley for more than 30 years.[22] Once a member of the National Organic Standards Board,[23] Siemon helped set the standards not only for Organic Valley, but is best known for his leadership in organizing farmers and building market support for organic agriculture across the country.
All Organic Valley chickens have access to organic pastures, where they spend their days clucking, strutting and pecking at bugs and earthworms. On rainy days, the chickens stay in the coop, but keeping them happy and healthy is our highest priority.
Almost 30 years ago, seven organic farmers from the U.S. Midwest, unhappy with the state of American agriculture, decided to band together and form a cooperative to continue farming sustainably. Today, the Organic Valley agricultural cooperative, headquartered in La Farge, Wisconsin, is made up of over 2,000 farmers in 36 states. And the cooperative just became part of a unique community-solar partnership that will allow it to become the largest food company in the world to source 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy.
"Sometimes doing the right thing doesn't give you quick profit or quick turnaround with where you want to be from the payback perspective. But there's no question that this is resonating with more and more people," Kirchoff said. "It's not what we do, it's how we do it and that's where we have a platform and can set examples for other businesses and cooperatives."
Food scientist John Coupland of Penn State says it doesn't matter much where the cellulose comes from. In theory, you could extract it from any plant, from asparagus to onions, but he says that would be a waste of good food.
I choose to go organic for my family whenever possible simply because I want to trust that what we put into our bodies was well-made without any extras. To avoid added sugar, preservatives, or hormones, that typically means organic is the way to go.
Unfortunately, many brands can trick you with good labeling, but "all natural" or "organic ingredients" doesn't necessarily mean the entire item is pure. Best advice: Read those labels! Always make a point to check the nutrition and specific ingredients in what you purchase so you're not fooled into thinking you've made the right choice due to marketing. But I'm here to tell you that Organic Valley is a brand we can all trust!
by C.B. Hall, VermontBiz On Wednesday, August 3, an organic dairy farm in Morristown will become the first in the state to make the switch from Horizon Organic to Organic Valley as its milk marketer. Organic Valley expects to pick up the contents of the Rooney family farm's bulk tank at 9 am., according to an announcement from the Wisconsin-based cooperative.
Horizon Organic was acquired by Danone North America, a unit of French dairy products giant Groupe Danone, in 2017, and now is one of 16 U.S. brands owned by the conglomerate. In August 2021 Danone North America announced that, as of August 2022, it would cancel contracts for purchasing milk from its 89 organic dairy farm partners in New York and New England, including 28 in Vermont.
Northeastern organic farming organizations presented a petition to Danone North America in November that asked the company either to remain in the Northeast and invest in a processing plant so as to reduce its trucking costs, or, if it was resolved to exit the region, to provide $15 million to help the affected farmers and $25 million towards building an organic processing plant in New England.
According to VAAFM, in Vermont the upshot, as of August 2, finds 11 farms switching to Organic Valley as their product's purchaser, seven going to New Hampshire-based Stonyfield Organic, one switching to non-organic operations, one still looking for a new market, and eight opting to go out of business.
The Rooneys have been operating the farm since 1958, Charlene Rooney said in a telephone interview; it went organic in the late 1990s. The family's herd numbers between 90 and 100, she said, including the replacement stock that the family raises - making the operation a pipsqueak in the world of dairying.
The U.S. has lost more than 100,000 family farms in the last decade, according to USDA data and based on recent trends it is likely that approximately 5,000 family farms will be forced to close in the next year alone. Dedicated to reversing the trend in food and farming consolidation through its mission of saving small, organic family farms, cooperative Organic Valley announced today the addition of 51 new members.
"Organic Valley was formed in 1988 to offer farmers an organic marketplace, and we are still doing that today," said Travis Forgues, Organic Valley executive vice president of membership "We care about small family farmers, rural communities, and fixing the broken food system. And that is what we bring to the marketplace: organic dairy people can feel good about."
Organic Valley picked up milk from more small organic farms in Vermont, Maine, New York, and New Hampshire for the first time this week. Without milk trucks picking up fluid dairy, family farms have few options to survive. When family farms close, they rarely open again, creating a compounding crisis that has resulted in over 4 million farms lost within the last century.
"It is such a joy to see the milk truck driving down the road to our milkhouse. We work hard every day to care for this land and our animals, all organic, using no toxic pesticides or antibiotics," said Selina Rooney of Rooney Farm outside of Morristown, Vermont. "Shipping milk with Organic Valley allows our farm to stay viable, it allows us to be the caretakers of this place and produce good organic food for people."
The small family farms that had their milk picked up by Organic Valley for the first time were nearing a moment when no milk trucks would head down their gravel roads. Organic Valley also brought on 15 farms earlier this year that would have likely become victims of food and farming consolidation elsewhere in the industry.
Organic Valley, founded by family farmers in 1988 with a mission to create a stable economic model for organic farms, is sharing real-time updates through videos and farm photos in Vermont and Maine on its homepage at organicvalley.com. You will find milk from these small, organic family farms available throughout the Northeast under the brand name Organic Valley.
Organic Valley is the largest farmer-owned organic cooperative in the U.S. and one of the world's largest organic consumer brands. Founded in 1988 to sustain family farms through organic farming, the cooperative represents nearly 1,800 farmers in 34 U.S. states, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit ov.coop/impact.
Rooney is one of 27 farmers in Vermont and 89 across the Northeast who received a stunning letter last summer from Horizon Organic, now owned by Danone, an international food company, where her family had been shipping its milk for decades.
The news offered area organic farmers a solution where none seemed possible. In the past few months, state and regional task forces have assembled, sending pleas to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for assistance. Despite those efforts, options for farmers remained limited.
Milk trucks sometimes struggle to reach producers in Vermont, where farms are often located on remote hillsides accessible only from seasonally-challenged back roads. Recent problems such as scarce labor and soaring gas prices have added extra challenges.
When Paul Stecker and his family decided to give up organic dairy farming last year, they had no idea Danone would soon send them a termination letter. The letter arrived in August, two weeks after their last milk cow left.
Jen Miller, farmer services director at Northeast Organic Farmers Association of Vermont, analyzed costs that factor into organic dairy production and found that the average cost of producing the equivalent of a hundredweight is $37.26. The range starts at $32.43 and rises to $42.47, she said.
The loophole, created to allow conventional farmers to make a one-time transition to organic farming, permits animals not raised organically to be transitioned to organic later on in their lives. When farmers use the rule to continually raise young livestock nonorganically, which costs less, it puts the rest of the organic farmers at a disadvantage.
Many of their farmers had active raw milk businesses established before they evenjoined the cooperative, many operating in states where the enterprise isunquestionably legal. Others developed raw milk customers after their incomesdropped, allowing these farms to remain solvent. The new policy will force thesefarmers to choose between remaining a CROPP member or selling raw milk exclusively,either of which will likely lead to severe financial stress or even bankruptcy andpossible loss of the family farm.
Despite our grave concerns, I received a response from George Siemon dated June 21,2010, stating that the anti-raw milk policy would remain in effect. In the letter,Siemon insisted that CROPP is not against raw milk, and that we are standing on thesame side of the river in supporting organic and local food, agricultural reform andcorporate reform. 041b061a72