Moscow Food Co-op Producer Profile

by Peg Kingery, Co-op Dairy and Tofu Buyer, from the October 2006 newsletter

This past spring, The Cornucopia Institute, an organization “dedicated to the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community,” released a scorecard that ranked the nation’s organic dairy brands according to their commitment to organic farming practices. Their ranking, from “five cows” for outstanding to “one cow” for ethically-challenged, was based on answers the Institute received to a survey sent to each manufacturer. I found the results of this survey both reassuring and disturbing and would like to share some of them with you.

First, the good news. Most of the dairy brands the Co-op carries received a “four cow” (excellent) rating. These included Organic Valley, Nancy’s Springfield Creamery, Wallaby Yogurt, Straus Family Creamery, Helios, and Stonyfield Farm.

Organic Valley is a cooperative that was founded 15 years ago by six families who shared a love for the land and a belief in sustainable agriculture; it’s now 600 families strong. Nancy’s is owned by the Kesey family of Springfield, Oregon and has been in operation since 1960. Both of these brands support rural communities, use practices that are in harmony with the land, and promote long-term sustainability of their resources. 

Wallaby Yogurt and Straus Family Creamery are also family-owned. Wallaby began producing yogurt ten years ago after founders Jerry and Faith fell in love with the style of yogurt they tasted while traveling Down Under. This brand obtains their milk from organic dairies in Sonoma and Marin Counties, California. Straus, in operation since 1993, also gets its milk from Marin County cows—mostly from the Straus family’s dairy.

Helios, founded by the Economy family, has been making organic kefir since 1987. At the time of the survey, they were still family-owned. In July, Lifeway Foods, another producer of kefir, purchased Helios so that it could expand its organic line. Apparently all Helios employees will remain with the new company, so I hope their product will continue to be produced with high organic standards.

Stonyfield Farm was founded in New Hampshire in 1983. Today it is the third largest yogurt brand in America. It is in partnership with Danone, a France-based company that also sells bottled water, dairy products, and biscuits. Brown Cow Yogurt, which is all-natural but NOT organic, joined the Stonyfield family in 2003. Both brands use rBGH-free (recombinant bovine growth hormone) milk.

Now for the not-so-good news. Three brands that the Co-op carries were given a “one cow” rating. These included Three Greek Gods, Woodstock, and Horizon. None of these manufacturers responded to the survey, which makes me nervous. The Cornucopia Institute obtained information about these and other non-participants from interviews with industry sources and federally maintained records.

Three Greek Gods is one of the newest brands of organic yogurt on the marketplace. Their Web site claims that they use milk that is rBST- (recombinant bovine somatotrophin) and rBGH-free, but not their source. Woodstock is a private-label brand marketed by UNFI and generally uses “factory-farm” milk. 

Horizon is owned by conglomerate Dean Foods and is the largest selling organic milk brand. They operate two corporate-owned farms in Maryland and Idaho; their Idaho dairy milks 8000 cows. Unlike most organic operations, these dairies provide very little pasture for their cows, sell off their calves instead of incorporating them into the herd, and buy one-year-old replacement heifers which may have been raised on pesticide-laced feed or injected with hormones or antibiotics. Horizon also purchases milk from hundreds of smaller family farms.

The Cornucopia Institute has filed a formal complaint with the USDA’s Office of Compliance stating that Horizon is deceiving consumers with its “Happy Cow” image and is producing milk at its corporate farms in feedlot conditions instead of on pasture as is required by law. Horizon has responded by claiming to make modifications to their operations that would make them more acceptable to organic consumers and by incorporating Holistic Land Management practices (a method of increasing the natural productivity of pastures) at their Idaho farm. 

I hope this introduction to the folks behind our organic dairy brands will be useful to you when making your purchases. As the Co-op’s dairy buyer, I’m dedicated to supporting brands that believe in environmental sustainability, adhere strictly to organic standards, use milk from small family farms, and whose product both tastes and makes me feel good! If you have any comments about the organic brands we carry, please let me know.

For more information about the brands the Co-op carries, check out these Web sites: cornucopia.org, organicvalley.coop, wallabyyogurt.com, stonyfield.com, strausmilk.com, heliosnutrition.com, and 3greekgods.com.

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