Second Annual Organic Summit Calls for Collaboration
Two hundred of the organic industry’s top stakeholders, from a fourth-generation organic peach farmer to
Coca-Cola executives, engaged in the working forum of
the 2008 Organic Summit ( www.theorganicsummit.com)
held in Boulder, Colo., June 25th through the 27th.
This year’s conference addressed issues around food
justice, supply and accessibility and the challenges facing both small- and large-scale organic farms. The inti-
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mate gathering was produced by New
Hope Natural Media, a division of
Penton Media, in partnership with
the nonprofit Organic Farming
Research Foundation (OFRF).
“The organic community still faces
a number of challenges—scale of
operation and profitability of organic
farming—but the different perspectives that used to divide us pale in
comparison to what now unites us,”
said Bob Scowcroft, executive director of OFRF.
“What I was pleased to observe was
the consensus that the multiple benefits that arise out of organic practices
can provide solutions to some of the
world’s major social issues—from climate change to current health concerns. This summit provides a platform for continuous improvement in
our organic systems.”
In addition to a whole host of
other sessions, the Organic Summit’s
keynotes featured Daria Myers, global
president of Origins, who addressed
organic personal care, one of the
fastest growing and most debatable
organic categories. The closing
keynote was given by Seth Goldman,
president and TeaEO of Honest Tea,
and Michael Ohmstede, senior vice
president of business development
for venturing and emerging brands at
Coca-Cola North America. Goldman
and Ohmstede discussed their recent
partnership as a way to increase distribution of the organic line of tea as
well as their support of supplier communities. (See Dialogue, page 54 OP’s
discussion with Goldman.)
Currently, recordings from the
Summit are available to attendees;
however, they will be available publicly this fall. In the meantime, interested parties can contact Jylle Larder
at jylle.lardaro@penton.com. The
2009 Organic Summit is set to take
place June 3-5, 2009 at the Skamania
Lodge in Stevenson, WA.
