The Grazing Mind

We know we’ve got a long way to go, but we’re sure proud of what we’ve achieved so far…

Had an awesome time at the Naturally Boulder Autumn Awards and Pitch Slam Wednesday night.

The annual event brings together some of the Natural Food industry’s best and brightest to celebrate successes, and meet some of the new up and comers.

The Pitch Slam portion of the show was definitely the highlight of the evening, bringing natural products entrepreneurs on stage to pitch their business and ideas to a panel of industry experts. This year’s winner was Bamboobies; a great product that helps nursing mothers.

After the Pitch Slam we moved to the award portion of the night, where the very well deserved Company of the Year award went to Evol Foods. An amazing new local company, that makes a mighty tasty burrito (among other delicious things), with the help of “humanely and sustainably raised meats and proteins, hormone-free cheese, delicious fresh produce, and traditionally made tortillas.”

The award show also recognized Chef Ann Cooper for her work with Boulder School District to improve school lunches; and Hass Hassan who received the Lifetime Achievement award for his work in the natural food industry. Both awards were very well deserved.

Congrats to all the winners… can’t wait until next year.

I get the same elated feeling when I find five dollars in my pocket as I do when I open the refrigerator at dinnertime and find a homemade, pre-prepared meal already waiting for me. Leftovers and their trusty ally the microwave can relieve any distressed person needing to get food on the table quickly. I’m an advocate for using any leftovers—it is efficient and waste-free. But a recent New York Times article informed me that I am missing a further opportunity to take advantage of leftovers’ potential.

Stem-to-root cooking accepts all parts of fruits, vegetables, and legumes as edible, a no-waste philosophy on foods’ capabilities. Stems, leaves, cobs, rinds, seeds, peels, and scraps still contain valuable nutrients and flavors that can be incorporated in delicious and healthful recipes. Anything else, of course, is compostable.

Here at WhiteWave, we take a stand for leftovers’ efficiencies as well, both in our eating, living, and office habits. Through our partnership with Eco-Cycle, paper, cardboard, trash, food, and other waste produced at the office are all diverted to appropriate recycling or composting locations. Even liquid refuse in drains is pumped into liquid composters. In 2010, WhiteWave’s recycling and composting program diverted over 115,000 pounds of waste from landfills.

Another key cornerstone of WhiteWave’s green campaign for a zero-waste operation is reusability. That means using reusable mugs, water bottles, grocery bags, and dishes to cut out constantly trashing plastic bags and paper dishware. Even my zippy work station and desk chair are over 90% recyclable. (Hopefully that information doesn’t ignite any office pranks around here.)

Start a compost pile in your backyard, try a fennel and carrot frond salad, or switch out that plastic water bottle for a reusable one. Wise use of leftovers can cut costs, increase efficiencies, and make a little change in our environment.

How do you use leftovers?

Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend my first LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) Forum in Boulder.  It was an informative, inspirational and action-packed couple of days, reminding me why I’m so passionate about this industry. A few highlights:

• Steve French and Gwynne Rogers from the Natural Marketing Institute gave an informative talk on the latest consumer trends.  A key takeaway was that while recent economic challenges have increased most consumers’ price sensitivity, committment to healthy lifestyles and healthy foods hasn’t changed.

• An all-star panel discussed GMO Awareness in our food, including UNFI founder Michael Funk, Whole Foods SVP Michael Besancon, and Silk GM Craig Shiesley.  This lively discussion was highlighted by Shiesley’s announcement that all Silk beverage products have been officially verified by the Non-GMO Project.

• Author Dan Millman gave an inspirational talk regarding his latest book, The Four Purposes of Life, in which he shared some valuable life lessons.  These included: (1) failure is a stepping stone towards learning, (2) breakthroughs come after our most difficult periods, and (3) lessons tend to repeat themselves until we learn them.

LOHAS Forum leader Ted Ning does an excellent job pulling together a varied panel of mind-opening presenters, and playing emcee.  I left LOHAS inspired to continue working to make a difference, proud to be a part of WhiteWave, and looking forward to next year’s conference.

Most know the initials P.C. as an abbreviation for the term “Politically Correct.” At WhiteWave, we reference those letters a lot, but they hold different meaning. Here, PC is short for “Portion Control,” specifically referring to the coffee creamers you see on tables at diners and convenience stores. Our International Delight and Land O’ Lakes brands kick out a bunch of these little cups a year. We’re the largest producer of PCs in North America, and it’s a significant part of our business. But until recently the PCs weren’t very, well, politically correct. But I’m getting ahead of myself here, let me first explain a little more about the cups and how they’re made.

Picture a long, thin sheet of plastic being fed into a giant machine that punches out, while simultaneously filling, little cups; not unlike cutting cookies out of a sheet of dough. It’s an impressive ordeal, but there’s a lot of left over material. And unlike cookie dough, you can’t just roll up the excess and make more cookies. There was no issue with the cups otherwise, they didn’t leak, they traveled well and kept the product from spoiling. But we were wasting tons of material (literally), and when your mission is to become the Earth’s favorite food company, being responsible for that material ending up in landfills is an issue that needs to be addressed.

So two years ago a cross-functional team started looking for ways to fix the problem. Yeah, two years ago. It wasn’t a quick fix item, because a simple solution didn’t exist. It was a custom job so to speak, and it was hard. That thin sheet of plastic was actually made up of seven layers, and it was one of those layers that was keeping the package from being reusable. Simple solution right? Just remove the layer. That’s where it got really tricky… that layer was also one of the major factors that allowed us to keep the product inside fresh for a long period of time. So the team actually had to solve two problems at once. Remove the non-reusable layer, without compromising the packaging’s ability to keep the product from going sour too soon.

The Research and Development (R&D) team was first able to find an alternative material to use, but determining how much of that alternative material to use presented another hurdle. It required a lot of real-time trial to figure out which new design would allow them to maintain line efficiencies on the existing equipment. Going back to the cookie analogy, this meant they had to experiment with a bunch of different recipes until the cookie came out just right, so to speak. The end result was a much lighter material, with a much better carbon footprint.

Here’s what the new Portion Control package helps us do:

• Eliminate more than one million pounds of material from ending up in landfills every year
• Because the new material is lighter, it means we can ship more rolls of material per pallet = more rolls per truck = less truckloads per shipment = fewer food miles for WhiteWave
• Later this year we’ll start reclaiming and reusing the left over scrap produced during the cookie cutting process – lightening the PCs footprint even more.

The biggest retailer in the world just announced it’s going to work to make food healthier, and make healthier food choices more affordable. Why is this important? Because the biggest retailer in the world, just may be the only retailer, or even organization, in the world that can make it happen.

Awhile back we touched on the topic of the American food system, and how it’d be really hard to change. Well, if Wal*Mart follows through, this is the thing that’s going to change everything.

Stay tuned…

Arrived to work today and found our friends from Green Garage set up and ready to provide eco-tune ups for the people of WhiteWave.

Here’s how they describe themselves: “We ‘green-tune’ cars to run cleaner, greener and cheaper and all while ‘fixing’ the whole bad automotive service experience. We find proven, sustainable, energy saving automotive maintenance and repair related products. And we can keep you out of stale gas smelling waiting rooms with their bad coffee and old magazines through our convenient consumer valet and corporate mobile on site services.”

Just scheduled my oil change… Click here to learn more.

Every time I have the opportunity to visit a family farm or a farmer’s market, I feel such an overwhelming sense of connection to my food, the environment and the good, hard-working people who help grow my food.

Generally speaking, as a society, we’ve become so disconnected from our food and the journey it takes from farm to shelf to table. The grocery store has become the perceived “source” of food to many.  Meat, for example, comes nicely trimmed and packaged from the butcher’s counter, with little to no reminder of the animal that gave its life. Lettuces have been uniformly chopped, tripled washed and sealed in a plastic bag with no connection back to the land from which it was pulled. When a fundamental connection and to and visibility into sources of our food is lost, so is, I believe, the demand for a better, more sustainable food system. What you don’t know won’t hurt you, right? Not so much.

But despite some very big obstacles in our food system as it is today, there is also a lot of important and meaningful work happening. Thought-leaders, farmers, law makers, nutritionists, and companies across the country are mobilizing, engaging and educating people in new ways, more than ever, to fight for ensuring more good food for more people. However, it is the farmers, especially, who make me feel proud to be part of the sustainable foods community.

Last month, I had the unforgettable opportunity to tour the farm of Paul Willis, in Thornton, Iowa. Paul is the founding Niman Ranch hog farmer and a true visionary in sustainable farming. When you visit farms like Paul’s it’s obvious why the pork tastes so good—you see the thoughtful care of the animals and the land working in perfect harmony. Those piggies couldn’t look happier, hanging out and socializing on beautiful, lush pasture—literally “frolicking” through the fields. It’s the sort of experience where you can’t imagine a hog farm being any other way, even though Paul’s farming practices are the exception rather than the rule.

Also as part of my visit to Iowa, I was able to attend a celebration honoring the network of Niman Farmers who uphold the values of sustainable farming. The Niman Ranch Farmer Appreciation Dinner in Des Moines brings together renowned chefs from across the country, who carry Niman Ranch at their restaurants, to serve an amazing, pork-inspired menu as a thank you to the farmers who make it all possible. It was a hogilicious experience.

I also feel lucky to work for a company that shares these same values and also applauds the farmers who help us bring organic dairy to the masses. WhiteWave’s Horizon Organic brand recently did some of our own farmer appreciatin’. A long-time supporter of Farm Aid and sustainable ag, Horizon sponsored Farm Aid’s 25^th anniversary concert in Milwaukee, Wis last weekend. At the event, we announced our annual Horizon Organic Producer Education (HOPE) Award, which honors those among our 500 family farmers who create positive change in their communities by practicing and serving as a model for organic agriculture. Harvey and Connie Frasier of Mohawk, N.Y., received this year’s award. The Frasier’s are fourth generation farmers, who transitioned from conventional to organic farming a decade ago and have never looked back thanks to the benefits they’ve seen for both their family and their cows. Today, in addition to running their organic farm, they have become vocal educators and advocates of organic, helping transitioning farmers with their certification paperwork or providing tours of their farm.

The Willis’ and Frasiers inspire me and are just two examples of the many, many family farmers that are making a difference and farming in a way that’s better for all of us. Plus, when you meet the good people who work so hard to farm in a more thoughtful way, not only does the food taste better but it “feels” better, knowing you have that connection to what’s on your plate.

Really excited to be partnering with brands like LG, Ford and Earthbound Farms this week, as part of The Green House project just down the way in Boulder. The “smart living” program brings together influential journalists from all over the country, and puts them up in a specially outfitted, net-zero Smart House for three days at a time. During the experience these guys get to go about their day-to-day routine with the help of a variety of products, services and technology that are good for your health, good for your wallet and good for the environment.

The Smart House is also blending a variety of companies and brands that don’t usually cross paths (Not often that soymilk and plasma TVs come together… on purpose anyway), but that’s actually one of the cooler parts of the program. The diverse group of company sponsors and products will allow for a complete “smart living” experience. How you cook, how you drive, how you do the laundry, how you watch TV, etc. This house can show you how to do it better.

Wanna see more? Me too.

On Wednesday (8/18), I’ll be tagging along with the group and featuring snippets from the day here on TGM….

A few months ago I wrote about one of the best and most compelling movies I’ve seen in a long time – Gasland. I’ve since been waiting to hear where and when it would be released so that I could share it with everyone I know. Well, I just found out that it’a premiering on HBO this coming Monday, June 21 at 9 p.m. EDT.

Variety has said “Gasland may become to the dangers of gas drilling what Silent Spring was to DDT” and in case you still don’t care, this synopsis of the movie should reel you in.

The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States, but the hydraulic fracturing drilling technology (called “fracking”) that unlocks this “Saudia Arabia of natural gas” beneath us may not be safe…When filmmaker Josh Fox was asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarked on a cross-country road trip to find out just what the environmental consequences of fracking are. Along the way, he meets residents of a Pennsylvania town which was recently drilled who show him how they can light their drinking water on fire, and that’s just one of the alarming and astonishing revelations in the movie.

You can join the Gasland fan page on Facebook in order to access to the film’s viewing guide, which contains tips for hosting a green screening, a list of 10 actions you can take now to fight fracking and a post-screening discussion guide