Posts Tagged ‘Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’

• Hannaford Supports “Keep Local Farms” Program

  Date: 01.19.2010 | Category: News Feed | Response: 0

  Hannaford Supermarket has joined the effort to support dairy farmers in the Northeast by launching the “Keep Local Farms” program in its 171 stores in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont on January 12.

  Locally sourced dairy products in Hannaford markets will be clearly labeled with the “Keep Local Farms” icon to help increase consumer awareness and support for local dairy farmers.

  Hannaford is also encouraging customers to further contribute to the “Keep Local Farms” program by providing the option to donate an additional $2 or $5 upon checkout.

  The Vermont Dairy Promotion Council, the New England Dairy Promotion Board and the New England Family Dairy Farm Cooperative launched “Keep Local Farms” in September 2009. The program’s goal is to stabilize milk prices by “connecting consumers with dairy farmers through education and direct support.”

  The “Keep Local Farms” website reads, “Because the basic price of milk is federally regulated and determined nationally, the price that local farmers receive fluctuates monthly, making it difficult for them to anticipate what their income will be on a month-to-month basis.” High production costs have also contributed to the closing of more than 100 dairy farms in the Northeast in the last two years.

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• Behind the Labels of Sustainable Dining

  Date: 12.08.2009 | Category: News Feed | Response: 2

  The phrases “locally grown produce,” “locally sourced meats and seafood” and “sustainability” were the top three trends identified by the National Restaurant Association’s What’s Hot in 2010 chef survey. It’s no surprise restaurateurs around the country have been striving to hit the mark on providing locally sourced foods on their menus, but according to an exposé by The Washington Post, some restaurants may be more focused on the sustainable label than on the food itself.

  D.C.’s Founding Farmers restaurant was the subject of Jane Black’s article yesterday for the Post, titled “‘Green’ Cuisine Not Always as Ordered.” The restaurant had labeled the salmon as sustainable, although Black reports it came from Cooke Aquaculture, one of the largest salmon farms in North America. A salad named a “best of the season mix” was composed of few in-season ingredients, and three of the six small farms Founding Farms claims to work closely with hadn’t delivered to the restaurant in six months.

  Black points out, “The absence of an industry or government standard for ‘sustainable food’ creates ample wiggle room for brands looking to cash in on eco-consciousness.”

  The article was disheartening, considering that the Founding Farmers’ website read: “At Founding Farmers we believe that everyone benefits by knowing more about the sources of the food they eat. Owned by a collective of American family farmers, we promote the products and services of family farms, ranches, and fisheries from across the country.”  This mission statement was taken off the site yesterday.  In its place is Founding Farmers’ response to Black’s article, which points out: “Strive is a critical word; we don’t promise 100% of anything.”

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• Is Goliath Helping David?

  Date: 12.01.2009 | Category: News Feed | Response: 0

  Whole Foods Market, the 21st largest food retailer in the U.S., is making an attempt to facilitate the production of locally raised and processed poultry in the northeast by operating mobile slaughterhouses.
  Small livestock farmers continue to struggle to maintain access to dwindling numbers of USDA-approved processing centers. The Whole Foods mobile slaughterhouse will address this issue by traveling to the farmer, saving the farmer time and money and increasing the amount of poultry that can be raised and processed locally.

  The national number of USDA-certified and inspected slaughterhouses has decreased in the last eight years from approximately 550 to 350, according to the Hartford Advocate, as bigger businesses like Tyson have bought up smaller processing facilities.

  Some farmers must travel a hundred miles or more to have their livestock processed by a licensed slaughterhouse. Though poultry farmers have the option to slaughter their birds on their own farms; having livestock processed in a licensed, USDA-approved facility makes their product easier to sell.

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