The Cornucopia Institute

High praise from Consumer Reports for The Cornucopia Institute's organic brand scorecards! Going behind the barn doors...

?? Feature Friday: 1% for the Planet Environmental Partner ?? At the 1% for the Planet Global Summit last month, I had the pleasure of meeting and connecting with Athens Love and Michele Marchetti, Deputy Director at The Cornucopia Institute. Cornucopia is a nonprofit organization that helps uncover the truth behind organic food and advocates for an organic label you can trust. Their mission is to create a world where agriculture heals people and the planet. Recently, they launched a tool kit full of resources to help consumers locate authentic organic food and learn more about your food. This is a much needed addition to the organic education arena and I highly recommend checking it out or bookmarking it for later ?? ( link in comments??). What is your biggest question or concern when you shop for organic foods? #organicfood #thetruthbehindorganic #foodsystems #transparencyinmarketing

Uncle John’s Band – Now More Than Ever! because we’ve "got some things to talk about, here beside the rising tide" One thing that recent events have shown us is that we need to do something different. What Provender Alliance has done best for nearly 50 years is Nourish, Educate, and Inspire. All these things done with intention stronger, and awareness more clear, will help us all achieve different and more satisfying results in the future, no matter if the future you are planning for is four years from now, or another 50.? Where does the time go? Provender's?Community Conversations?will now occasionally focus on organizational opportunities by doing a “deep dive” introduction to some powerhouse organizations across our membership. At this event we will focus on?The Cornucopia Institute?by inviting their Executive Director, Melody Morrell, to sit down for an interview, and since any introduction is a two-way street, we will be introduced to, and interviewed by, members of their leadership, their staff, and their membership. We hope to come away from this event with actionable ideas that will immediately forge new links – and new strength - across our movement. Join us on Tuesday, December 10th from 1-2pm PST for our first ever member-to-member Community Conversation! REGISTER NOW! https://lnkd.in/gT8AUdeE

Wanted to share an exciting update to the Erewhon Standard! As I’m sure many of you are aware, The Cornucopia Institute is a trusted non-profit watchdog in our community that has been working for many years to ensure Organic integrity in the marketplace, something we value greatly as a Certified Organic Retailer. Going forward, all new shell and liquid chicken eggs will be required to be Certified Organic and rated at least a 4 out of 5 on the Cornucopia Egg Scorecard. We still require all other shell eggs (duck, quail, etc) to be from birds that have been fed only Non-GMO or Organic feed. Our only active SKUs that are not compliant with this updated policy on the shelf today are Non-GMO Project Verified from current partners that have Organic Eggs with a 4+ rating from Cornucipia. These SKUs will remain on shelf, but any new liquid or shell chicken eggs that we bring on must comply with the updated policy. Thank you to Michele Marchetti at Cornucopia for working on this with myself and Maren Giuliano.

Today during the NOSB meeting the Board is discussing how DL-methionine (a synthetic form of the amino acid) is allowed in organic poultry. The Board notes that having DL-methionine is a welfare issue – and it is, to a point, because without an amount of methionine in the diet birds often turn cannibalistic among other health issues. Unfortunately, something essential is missing from the welfare conversation: what is actually a "natural" diet for chickens? Chickens are not vegetarians, and yet most of our commercial chicken diets (including organic) are vegetarian – mostly cereals and legumes. Insects and animal protein are a natural source of methionine. Organic chickens get outdoor access which gives them some potential access to insects, but it's often nowhere near enough to support our modern birds (which can produce 300+ eggs per lifetime). And some organic poultry get much higher quality outdoor access than others. In the wild, chickens would be eating a diet that consists of seeds, vegetation, insects, and other small animals. Why don’t we feed organic chickens insects directly? Black soldier flies, for example, are an incredible way to turn a low value or waste product into an incredible protein source – lessening our reliance on corn-soy mono-cropping in both conventional and organic agriculture. Adding insects would improve poultry welfare and provide an environmental benefit. Insects are the future! To follow along with the NOSB’s discussion on DL-methionine, you can find Cornucopia’s detailed notes here:

The Cornucopia Institute was mentioned in a recent Wall Street Journal article about the cost of chicken. Organic chicken comes from farms that receive onsite inspections yearly (as do all organic farms). Organic chicken also must meet certain animal welfare requirements, and the birds receive feed grown without toxic pesticides (making it safer for consumers and less damaging to the environment). What do you most want to know about organic chicken? See the article here: https://lnkd.in/gVipDcgY