Organic food companies collaborating to increase organic grain supply
US Organic Grain Collaboration to address barriers to increasing organic farmers, develop strategies to increase supply in different regions of US
Sales of organic food are exploding. In 2013, Americans spent $35 billion on organic foods, a 12% increase over 2012. Organic food sales in 2014, which haven’t been compiled yet, will likely top that number.
Major retail chains such as Kroger, Target, and Wal-Mart are making major commitments to sell more organic food. General Mills plans to double their organic product sales in the next five years. Even McDonald’s plans to serve organic items in its restaurants.
Companies committed to growing organic supply
Annie’s, Inc. is another organic food company experiencing supply shortages. Shauna Sadowski, Annie’s director of sustainability, started to address the challenge in 2011 by visiting organic wheat farmers in the Northern Plains and attending organic conferences in the area. “We need a stable supply of wheat,” she said. “My aim was to see what Annie’s could do to support farmers.”
The farmers told Sadowski that they didn’t want to just sell their wheat, but wanted to sell their whole crop rotation. They also described challenges with weeds, crop yields, access to land, the three-year transition to organic, and lack of support from university extension services.
In 2013, Sadowski contacted the Sustainable Food Lab (SFL) to see if they could help. SFL is a consortium of businesses and non-profit groups working to accelerate the shift toward sustainability. “SFL and I thought we could make this bigger than just Annie’s,” she said. “We wanted to bring other companies into the conversation to address needs of farmers and the companies.”
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Beautiful relationship grows
It was the perfect match.
On one side of the table was Donald and Amy Nikkel, co-founders of Adagio Acres, a family-owned company near Lundar that produces rolled oat flakes and steel-cut oats. The Nikkels were hoping to meet some local restaurant or café operators who are interested in using their organic, naked oats products (naked oats is an alternative variety of oats) as ingredients in some of their menu items.
And on the other side of the table stood Kendra Magnus-Johnston, a co-owner of Fools & Horses, a coffee/beer/wine bar that's slated to open later this month in downtown Winnipeg. Magnus-Johnson was hoping to find some local farmers who could supply their new bar/eatery with organic baked goods or organic ingredients for their Broadway bar/eatery.
Within a matter of minutes, the Nikkels had struck a deal to begin supplying Fools & Horses with steel-cut oats that will be used as an ingredient in its parfaits.
That's the kind of thing Food Matters Manitoba was hoping would happen when the non-profit organization organized a speed-networking event Wednesday for local food producers and buyers.
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Who Let The Hens Out? Dunkin’ Did
Another fast food company is taking steps toward providing its customers with products they hope say less “factory farm” and more “farm fresh.”
Dunkin’ Donuts says 10 percent of all the eggs used in its breakfast sandwiches in the U.S. will be from cage-free chickens by the end of the year, and is studying the feasibility of transitioning to 100 percent cage-free eggs in its more than 10,000 stores worldwide.
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Ont. organic dairy co-op in creditor protection
The co-operative behind one of Canada’s biggest names in organic dairy goods is in creditor protection and aiming to negotiate new terms on the eight figures owing to its creditors and members.
Organic Meadow Co-operative announced Monday it had filed for creditor protection “in order to complete a restructuring of its operations.”
editor's note: Most of the organic milk marketed in MB is under the Organic Meadow brand.
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