Posted on 06/25/2007 5:54:44 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer
Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFMI), the world’s leading natural and organic foods supermarket, has named the first five recipients of low-interest, long-term local loans in the retailer’s Rocky Mountain region that spans Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Utah and Idaho.
The Whole Foods Market Local Producer Loan Program is part of a nationwide initiative to support local agriculture and food producers, according to spokesman Barry Hirsch. The company has committed $10 million to the loan program this year, of which the Rocky Mountain Region’s first five loans total $219,000. One of the recipients is Boulder, Colorado’s award-winning Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy.
Haystack Mountain owner and founder Jim Schott said he has big plans for his $50,000 loan.
Schott intends to expand his herd of goats, upgrade his water recycling system, and offset costs of pending applications for both organic certification and certification with Humane Farm Animal Care, a national sustainable livestock management and welfare organization.
“Selling our cheese to Whole Foods Market over the course of the last 10 to 15 years has helped us to establish and grow our business,” Schott said. “Their willingness to partner with small-scale producers like us speaks volumes.”
Interest rates offered through Whole Foods Market’s pilot program— 5 percent to 9 percent — can be beneficial for small agricultural producers like Haystack Mountain, Hirsch said. The program has other attributes geared to small producers: loan application paperwork is minimized; administrative fees range from $0 to $65; no penalties are imposed for early repayment; and loan life spans from a few months to 10 years.
Other Rocky Mountain loan award recipients include:
- Desert Blends of Taos from Taos, N.M.
- Full Circle Farm from Boulder, Colo.
- Golden Toad Gourmet Sauces & Spice Blends from Littleton, Colo.
- MouCo Cheese Company from Fort Collins, Colo.
“Whole Foods Market’s intention is to support local agriculture all over the United States,” said John Mackey, co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market. “We are going to ‘walk our talk’ with financial support for farmers and other producers in close proximity to our stores. We believe this financial assistance of $10 million a year can make a very significant difference in helping local agriculture grow and flourish across the United States.”
To learn more about the Whole Foods Market Local Producer Loan Program and the five loan recipients from the Rocky Mountain Region, go to: www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/locallygrown/lplp/index.html.
Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market is the world’s leading natural and organic foods supermarket and America’s first national certified organic grocer. In fiscal year 2006, the company had sales of $5.6 billion and currently has more than 190 stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Whole Foods Market, Harry’s Farmers Market, and Fresh & Wild are trademarks owned by Whole Foods Market IP, LP. Whole Foods Market employs more than 45,000 team members and has been ranked for 10 consecutive years as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America by FORTUNE magazine.
You might be interested in this.
Congress is working overtime to destroy any food safety programs we have left.....
USCA opposes plan to regionalize beef trade
SAN LUCAS, Calif. - In a letter sent on June 19 to the Senate Finance Committee, the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) made it clear that opposing regionalization of Argentina, related to animal health disease issues for import purposes, is one of the organization’s “top member-driven policy issues.”
USCA urged Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to “strongly oppose any attempt to weaken oversight or regulation of trade with Argentina.”
Despite widespread problems with foot and mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious infection that can destroy entire cattle herds, Argentina has proposed a plan to export beef to the United States from certain regions.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is currently considering adoption of the proposal to relax restrictions on Argentine beef from some areas by regionalizing trade areas.
USCA is deeply concerned that proper enforcement of regionalized trade would be impossible and that these regions would become gateways for beef from non-approved areas of Argentina and Brazil. Brazil also has FMD issues.
“How can Argentina be trusted to ensure this catastrophic disease will not enter the United States through one of those gateways,” asked Jon Wooster, a San Lucas, California rancher and USCA President.
“Argentina has proven time and time again that it cannot be trusted to live up to its promises,” said Wooster. “This is a nation that heavily subsidizes its agricultural industries and routinely defaults on international loans.”
In its June 19th letter, USCA informed the Senate Finance Committee that it had recently passed policy on the matter. The resolution reads:
Whereas, the health of the U.S. cattle herd is vital to the profitability of independent cattle producers; and whereas, APHIS/USDA has proposed to declare regions of foreign countries with animal disease problems as “disease free”; be it resolved, that the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association opposes efforts by the government of the United States to allow regionalization of foreign countries with animal disease problems if such regionalization weakens animal health or food safety standards concerning importation of cattle or beef into the United States.
“This policy addresses USDA’s intent to liberalize health and safety standards. The policy is aimed at driving home the message to USDA that U.S. ranchers are unrelenting in their effort to protect the health of the domestic herd and that ranchers expect the agency to carry out that mission,” noted Wooster.
http://www.theprairiestar.com/articles/2007/06/22/ag_news/updates/update03.txt
fyi
good for them! There was a time when the organic crowd was viewed as hippies, which some may have been, but the idea of locally sourced supplies sound much safer with every passing year. Is our trust in foreign sources justified. The Chinese?
I like the idea of buying food from local suppliers. At least the local suppliers have a strong interest in keeping their customers alive. The locals are also very accountable as they don’t usually have another market to turn to.
Applause for Whole Foods, where I shop whenever I have the opportunity!
Same here. The closest store is 65 miles from me.... but I’m near there at least once a week.....so I pop in for the fruits and meat. (I get my veggies from locals here) It’s more expensive....but well worth it, considering the alternatives.
The Whole Foods guy is a pro-capitalist libertarian who is a former lefty himself.
Cool. I didn’t know that.... :)
Just don’t buy theeir onions. Recall this week.
Isn’t that Trader Joe’s onions?
Oh you are right. Sorry.
Am so confused on this China thing.
Since they murdered my dog, click on my name, I have been trying to keep up with too much.
Thanks.
Oh you are right. Sorry.
Am so confused on this China thing.
Since they murdered my dog, click on my name, I have been trying to keep up with too much.
Thanks.
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