Organic Valley的动态

A new The Minnesota Star Tribune article highlights a vital truth: small family farms are the backbone of rural communities, and organic dairy farming is crucial to their survival. At Organic Valley, we’re proud to be part of the solution. Farms like the Hass family's in Westby, Wisconsin, have found stability through organic practices, offering a lifeline where conventional dairies struggle. By choosing small family farms, they thrive and sustain the schools, businesses, and people that keep rural America vibrant. As our CEO Jeff Frank says, “When family farms succeed, so do our communities.” We’re excited to welcome 100 new farmers to the Organic Valley family this year, each helping ensure a bright future for rural America. Together, we’re not just saving farms but revitalizing our heartland. Read the full article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune to learn more about how organic milk saves farms and revitalizes rural communities: https://lnkd.in/dYxKkibY #smallfamilyfarms #ruralrevitalization

A few days back, in my home, I sat in my dining room to take lunch. As I ate my food, I got bored. I got bored of what I was eating and decided to spice up my dish a little bit. I didn't want salad. I wanted something new and immediately, I remembered there was a natural stir up I could use; fruits. I sliced a reasonable amount of pineapples, watermelons and apple in a separate dish and my mouth got watered once more. After enjoying the meal, I sat to think about the power fruits held and how it could stir up my appetite again. However, after I thought about it, I realized that wasn't the only power it yielded. Aside from its culinary significance and dietary diversity, fruits have other benefits, especially in agriculture, that don't just stay in private but extend to the public with a process called fruit farming (the cultivation of fruits) ?Fruit farming brings about a profitable economic contribution due to its high price in the market compared to staple foods. ?It allows for crop rotation which can improve soil health and reduce risk of pest and disease outbreak. ? Orchards and fruits farms provides habitat for various plants and animals species, contributing to biodiversity. ? It creates employment opportunities not just in the farm but in the fields of transportation, packaging and marketing. There's a lot fruit farming can do because its significance is of high importance and we have been blessed to see another rainy season. So, in your home, don't just consume those fruits and do away with the seeds… Plant them in your farmlands and ensure maximum food security!!!!

ARE WE MENTAL? It was a year since we began trialling a way of farming that kept cows and calves together until weaning. We'd been asked if it could be done, and if so - why were we not doing it? Walking around, there were posters on the sides of bus shelters, and in train stations stating how dairy separate cows and calves. Initially, I explained all the reasons - “to prevent disease between cows and calves & the dairy industry suppressed prices so significantly that farmers literally could not afford to let the calf suckle” Thing is, the questions kept coming, and coming, and coming. We also saw the rise in people choosing 'plant based' over milk, citing popular 'beliefs' as the reason. So, what ‘if’? I was inspired by cow with calf legends, the Ethical Dairy & other farm around the UK; they were Organic, kept cows & calves together and made other products from the milk they produced as cow with calf. They avoiding big dairy, to ensure the price they were paid was sustainable for the way they farmed. It also seemed to answer the very thing the posters had a problem with! So, we tried it & one year in - it was a nightmare! We hadn't lost half the milk, we lost 90%! The calves were hard to handle, running under fences and mum either bellowing for hours because they couldn't get to them - or bursting through to be with their calf. When it came time to weaning, it was even worse. In most cases, when we separated the calves at birth the cow & calf didn't bond; now though, the bond was strong and if we even tried to separate them they got upset. It wasn’t cheap either, with the huge amount of milk lost we had to ask unheard of amounts of money for milk. It was hard, but we stuck with it; honing, monitoring and changing – then we realised, that actually it may have been ‘expensive’ for milk; but it was the same price as the plant-based drinks. Once we listened to what the cows were telling us, we were able to change; we’d put the calves to bed at night in a different pen, while mum went back to graze. The calves bond with their peers grew as they got older. We put little flaps on their nose to keep them with mum while they weaned, and when it was time to go off in groups they weren’t stressed. There’s a caveat – this system is controversial, and we’re absolutely not saying that it’s ready to be implemented industry wide yet. It has more in common to a ‘beef suckler’ system than dairy. The problems of our industry still exist – volatile prices and continually changing legislation leave farmers guessing where to invest next. We’re seriously lucky to have the opportunity to supply you with our milk, and in return you support us through the higher prices you pay in our separate ‘Cow with Calf’ milk. What we do may go well, and more farmers will adopt the system for a generation of people who can afford to support a different way to dairy or will cheap food & convenience continue to drive purchasing choices & this’ll be another failure?

More people being able to buy regenerative products more easily is the best way we can grow the whole regenerative movement. Brilliant to see this from Waitrose & Partners and Wildfarmed #regenerative #regenerativeagriculture

Embrace the marvels of nature with organic farming. Farm-to-Table Partnerships: Highlight successful farm-to-table partnerships between organic produce companies and restaurants, retailers, and foodservice providers. Showcase examples of collaborative initiatives that promote local sourcing, seasonal menus, and community engagement.???? #OrganicFarming #SustainableLiving #SupportLocal #EcoFriendly #farmtotable #localfood #sustainability #organicproduce #communityengagement #seasonalmenus #collaboration #supportlocalfarms

What does Free Range really mean? You might imagine happy chickens running around doing happy chicken stuff — scratching, pecking, clucking, eating bugs, vibing, living their best chicken lives. And for Honest Eggs Co., that’s entirely true. But “Free Range” isn’t the same on every farm. In Australia at least, Free Range means a farm can have up to 10,000 chickens per hectare. A hectare is 2.47 acres or 10,000 square meters. That’s one square meter for a chicken to dig for food, peck, scratch and poop. That’s not great for the chickens. It’s worse for the land. Legally these chickens can be labeled “Free Range,” but are they? Honest Eggs Co. has just 30 chickens per hectare, which means their chickens actually have room to roam. They eat a more varied, balanced and natural diet. They get much more exercise. Their eggs are apparently tastier and more nutritious. Honest Eggs Co. realized they didn’t need to educate their audience about regenerative farming. They had to show people what “Free Range” really means. And we’ll conclude our story tomorrow …

For the past decade, I have had a national view of the organic dairy consumer and a kitchen table view of the organic farming families in the Western US.?For those who don’t know, these farmers live from north of the San Francisco Bay in Sonoma and Marin, up the coast to Humboldt County and the Oregon border. From there, they farm along the coast of Oregon and Washington as well as in more inland pastures in Eastern Washington and Idaho.?True family scale farming where cows roam on an average of one acre per animal in land systems that manage soil health and water cycles likely better than the vast majority. During much of this decade, we saw decline and discussion around farmers moving to beef or just raising grass.?Dairy was just damn difficult and prices were soft…farmers were aging and land prices were rising. Same story that has been told over and over again across the US and World. But there was still this quiet underlying belief that true pasture-based dairy and regenerative practices were and could be the cornerstone of these rural communities.?That soil health leads to nutrient density that sooner or later would be on the minds of consumers. After reaching the economic bottom of the valley in Summer 2022 during the start of the Ukraine war, this farming “community”…farmers, processors, brands and consumers, have steadily begun to become stronger and healthier. Today, demand has outpaced supply and conversations for growth vs. failure of farms is happening.?But it is largely talk right now.?Capital partners have talked a good game but are still slow to act.?Consumers have been willing to invest in better quality organic food but they are being stretched too.?Farmers are rightly nervous in knowing if their partners will take the journey with them as they grow. As the overused Gladwell term would tell us, we are at a tipping point.?The community can come together and make the necessary risk investments to grow in both size and health.?Or it can stall out just at the time when capital in the form of appropriate profits and investment in land, animals and processing infrastructure is needed. Hopeful but also a little sleepless!

Keeping CSA members engaged and loyal - Vegetable Growers NewsImplementing effective retention strategies is crucial for CSA programs to thrive. Here are some proven strategies for keeping members engaged and committed. #FarmMarket #Agritourism

Keeping CSA members engaged and loyal - Vegetable Growers NewsImplementing effective retention strategies is crucial for CSA programs to thrive. Here are some proven strategies for keeping members engaged and committed. #FarmMarket #Agritourism

Keeping CSA members engaged and loyal - Vegetable Growers NewsImplementing effective retention strategies is crucial for CSA programs to thrive. Here are some proven strategies for keeping members engaged and committed. #FarmMarket #Agritourism