Signature
The New Year is usually looked at as a time for opportunity, a time
to move closer to your goals—whether that is shrinking your waistline or growing your business. With the current economic downturn, however, there is more talk about fear than opportunity. But, the
reality is that the organic industry is still growing, maybe at a slower
pace, but the numbers are increasing nonetheless. Many other businesses out there can’t say the same. I even heard someone say recently,
“If your sales are flat right now, that is great!”
Organic has an advantage, even during these times.
It’s a values-based industry. As Clark Driftmier says in
the cover story, “The trends underlying the growth of
organic are deep and strong in nature, driven by macro
changes in consumer concerns regarding health, safety,
family, personal well-being and concern about the well-being of the earth.” Organic consumers may be spending less, but they are not going to abandon what they
believe.
To create more conscious consumers like this, the Organic Trade
Association (OTA) is launching a multi-level marketing campaign to
get the health and environmental benefits of organic out to the masses.
I discussed the details of this outreach effort with OTA’s new executive
director, Christine Bushway, and marketing director, Laura Batcha, in
this issue’s Dialogue.
Besides getting out the message, we also need to be proactive in
developing domestic supply so that when times of rapid growth return,
we are ready. In this issue’s Managing, our friends at the Organic
Farming Research Foundation break down several ways processors can
use the new Farm Bill funding to push the organic movement forward.
Lastly, it’s easy to get caught up in the “sky is falling” mentality right
now, but when you step back and look at the situation from a global
viewpoint, it puts things in perspective. Writing the Enterprise story for
this issue opened my eyes to what economic crisis really looks like.
Organic India is working with farming communities that are so destitute that thousands of farmers commit suicide every year. Organic India
has used organic agriculture as a way to give life back to these people.
This is the shared vision of the organic industry—returning quality of
life to the earth and the people we share it with. We are all business
people, but more than that we are revolutionaries. Today, amid turbulent economic times, we must not forget the opportunity that truly
drives us—not sales figures or the bottom line, but the opportunity to
change the world.
Chief Executive Officer Don Meeker
Publisher Stacy Atchison
Advertising Manager Bobby Meeker
Editorial Director Kathryn Schuett
Art Director Craig Van Wechel
Circulation Manager Andrea Karges
Sales Assistant Allison Demmert
Office Manager Vicki Martin
Publishing Office 1945 W. Mountain St.
Glendale, CA 91201
Phone 310.745.0941
Fax 310.745.0997
info@organicprocessing.com
Editorial Office 1221 E. Laguna Drive
Tempe, AZ 85282
Phone 480.240.0932
kat@organicprocessing.com
Production Office 305 Princeton Rd.
Fort Collins, CO 80525
Phone 970.484.4488
craig@organicprocessing.com
Advertising Sales
Stacy Atchison 310.745.0941
stacy@organicprocessing.com
Bobby Meeker 818.842.2829
bobby@organicprocessing.com
Adam Haas 561.347.8445
adam@organicprocessing.com
Printed on recycled paper.
Sincerely,
Kat Schuett
Editorial Director
Organic Processing (USPS 024-104) is published
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Mountain St., Glendale, CA 91201; Phone
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MISSION STATEMENT:
Organic Processing
provides an independent forum for
the exchange of practical and
relevant information, ideas and
experience that will promote and
sustain the growth of organic
processing from seed to shelf.
