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Story originally printed in the Vernon Broadcaster or online at www.vernonbroadcaster.com

Published - Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Organic Valley reports record revenue in its 20th anniversary year

Twenty years ago, seven Wisconsin farmers formed Organic Valley Family of Farms with a shared vision the cooperative still maintains: Work in partnership to produce healthy, nutritious organic food; keep family farmers farming; help revitalize rural communities while serving as stewards of the earth; and always offer a stable, sustainable pay price to its member farmers.

Today, Organic Valley is the nation's largest farmer-owned cooperative, with more than 1,200 farmers in 34 states and one Canadian province. And, as the organization prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary this year with a variety of events and activities, Organic Valley is reporting its 2007 revenues reached $432.5 million, a 29 percent increase over 2006 and an almost 250 percent increase over the past five years.

In 1988, when prospects for American family farmers were as dismal as they had ever been, the founding produce and dairy farmers of Organic Valley sought a workable alternative to the disappearing family farm. By doing so, in an age when corporations dominated all facets of business including government, energy, agriculture and global food supply, Organic Valley became a true "un-corporation," serving small family farmers and rural community health by combining two alternative business models - the family farm and the cooperative.

"When we first got together back in 1988, our goal was to save our farms and family farming culture. We saw organic agriculture and the cooperative business model as our opportunity to do this," explained George Siemon, one of the original Organic Valley farmers and its chief executive officer. "Within our first year we set the target farmer pay-price for organic milk almost 50 percent higher than that of conventional milk. We kept our organic pay price at a fixed amount for the entire year, an unprecedented move in the dairy industry. This became the foundation for stable pay pricing that we maintain today.

"The first years were encouraging and exciting, though nail-biting times," Siemon added. "We pitched in to overcome every challenge. We milked cows by day and balanced the co-op's books at night.

"But, we remained confident because we had partners along the way who shared our vision and helped assume our risk: regional distribution coordinators, natural food co-op grocers, supermarket managers, our dedicated staff, citizen partners who chose and still choose organic foods, and...today now more than ever.. a new generation of organic farmers seeking to carry this tradition onward," he continued.

With this spirit of collaboration in mind, Organic Valley's theme for 2008 is "20 Years of Organic Partnership." The cooperative will devote much of its marketing focus to events and initiatives highlighting its partners' contributions to the co-op, including its April Annual Meeting of cooperative members; its July community celebration, The Kickapoo Country Fair (www.kickapoocountryfair.org), near its La Farge, Wis., headquarters; a variety of product launches; numerous trade show activities; anniversary branding on select products; and, Earth Dinners, eat-local celebrations that Organic Valley will sponsor around Earth Day and throughout the year (www.earthdinner.org).