And the trend to get bigger and to go organic, or
as charliep pointed out...natural, is not only
Cargill's, but by other large entities;
"Organic agriculture is not immune from these
trends. Many organic brands have been acquired
by giant food processors such as General Mills,
Kraft (Philip Morris) and Kellogg, as the
accompanying illustration indicates. Slightly
smaller global food processors not shown in this
figure are also establishing their own organic
product lines (such as Dole, Chiquita, and
McCormick & Co.) or acquiring existing organic
brands (J.M. Smucker bought R.W. Knudsen,
After the Fall and Santa Cruz Organic; Novartis
subsidiary GerberÂ’s bought Tender Harvest).
The market share for some of these brands is
extremely high – Horizon, White Wave and
Earthbound Farms control over 60% of the market
for organic milk, organic soymilk, and organic
bagged salad mix respectively. Earthbound Farms
is a brand of Natural Selection Foods and a
vertically integrated “seed to salad” operation -
it contracts with over 200 growers. It is one of just
five farms that market half of the organic produce
sold in California8.
In the rapidly consolidating food retailing industry,
the top 4 supermarkets, Wal-Mart, Kroger,
Safeway and AlbertsonÂ’s, are increasing the
amount of shelf space devoted to organic
products. Kroger, for example, has a natural and
organic section in 43% of its 2400 stores9. Fast
growing natural foods chains such as Whole
Foods (currently the 21st largest supermarket by
sales10), Wild Oats and Trader JoeÂ’s have had
success with their own brands of organic
products, prompting mainstream retailers such as
Kroger, Safeway, Piggly Wiggly and Harris-Teeter
to introduce organic brands as well. Such growth
is unlikely to benefit small farms because many
supermarkets no longer allow managers to buy
directly from local farmers or food processors.
Instead, these corporations prefer to deal with
operations that can supply huge volumes for their
increasingly centralized supply chains."
I'm merely a farm woman ado, but I think I see a
trend here. Pars
as charliep pointed out...natural, is not only
Cargill's, but by other large entities;
"Organic agriculture is not immune from these
trends. Many organic brands have been acquired
by giant food processors such as General Mills,
Kraft (Philip Morris) and Kellogg, as the
accompanying illustration indicates. Slightly
smaller global food processors not shown in this
figure are also establishing their own organic
product lines (such as Dole, Chiquita, and
McCormick & Co.) or acquiring existing organic
brands (J.M. Smucker bought R.W. Knudsen,
After the Fall and Santa Cruz Organic; Novartis
subsidiary GerberÂ’s bought Tender Harvest).
The market share for some of these brands is
extremely high – Horizon, White Wave and
Earthbound Farms control over 60% of the market
for organic milk, organic soymilk, and organic
bagged salad mix respectively. Earthbound Farms
is a brand of Natural Selection Foods and a
vertically integrated “seed to salad” operation -
it contracts with over 200 growers. It is one of just
five farms that market half of the organic produce
sold in California8.
In the rapidly consolidating food retailing industry,
the top 4 supermarkets, Wal-Mart, Kroger,
Safeway and AlbertsonÂ’s, are increasing the
amount of shelf space devoted to organic
products. Kroger, for example, has a natural and
organic section in 43% of its 2400 stores9. Fast
growing natural foods chains such as Whole
Foods (currently the 21st largest supermarket by
sales10), Wild Oats and Trader JoeÂ’s have had
success with their own brands of organic
products, prompting mainstream retailers such as
Kroger, Safeway, Piggly Wiggly and Harris-Teeter
to introduce organic brands as well. Such growth
is unlikely to benefit small farms because many
supermarkets no longer allow managers to buy
directly from local farmers or food processors.
Instead, these corporations prefer to deal with
operations that can supply huge volumes for their
increasingly centralized supply chains."
I'm merely a farm woman ado, but I think I see a
trend here. Pars
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