Organic Consumers Assn charges the US’ main distributors of organic foods, Whole Foods and United Natural Foods, with strong arm intimidation tactics, after OCA demanded they stop marketing conventional chemical foods as natural.
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) carries a big public interest stick. It can mobilize the 850,000 people in its network to pressure corporations and governments. The goal – clean, safe, organic foods and products for America.
One way that OCA raises money – it charges for ads on the group’s popular web site – organicconsumers.org.
Until last year.
That’s when the groups dropped their sponsorship, under pressure from Whole Foods Market and United Natural Foods – the two companies that dominate the organics market in the United States.
Read full post at Corporate Crime Reporter
Food Freedom 
No surprise to any of this. Organic Valley is in bed with corporate interests–they are corporate! They (every one of these label groups) create ‘false fronts’ (pretend gestures and cutsie slogans and advertising) to fool you, the gullible consumer. It’s all about perception management. That’s how you make the bucks in Corporate Amerika.
People, wake up. Support a farmer today, a neighbor to you, a real person. Any way you can, and give up on the labels. They’re frauds and worse….evil.
I thought it odd she didn’t mention the corporatization of Organic Valley… but much of the info is otherwise informative. I’ve also heard rumblings about OCA, but much of the news-info game between populists and corporatists is about disparaging the other side. Hard to know what’s truth sometimes… best to let this info out and see how it resolves.
Thanks Rady, for what appears to be a reply to my comment. I often feel VERY VERY VERY alone. You cannot trust any bureaucrats and that’s about all there is anymore. Bureaucrat ‘A’, selling product ‘A’, and Bureaucrat ‘B’, selling product ‘B’, neither of which is any good and that is our choice–between the two. Pretty awful.
Thanks again.
ned
Hello, Organic Valley is an independent, cooperative owned by more than 1,600 family farmers working together to produce organic food. From our beginning in 1988, we have produced only organic food, and our mission to save family farming culture through organic farming is as strong as ever.
Whole Foods Market and UNFI are pioneers in organic. They started out doing natural because that is all there was 30 years ago when the natural foods industry birthed organic in the late ’70s. They are both huge supporters monetarily and human resource wise to both organic and the Non-GMO efforts. Hard to be 100% perfect in a complex world, but they and we do our best.
Many people find organic through natural and always have. Natural can (not always) bring people into awareness about food and once that happens these folks often then convert to organic. You do have to ask — how is it we convert people to organic? Natural can be a path.
We applaud the good work that OCA does in helping with the differentiation between organic and natural. We just don’t think attacking retailers is the way to go. We must all continue to educate consumers about organic and about the impact behind every food choice.
thanks for clarifying the nature of Organic Valley, Jamie.
We’ll keep an eye on this topic and see where it leads.
…This is obvious propoganda… read between the lines… feel good quotes and thought provoking rhetoric to make you think that these companies are all looking out for our best interests. dont be fooled, they are greedy, corrupt corporations, and like all such entities, will throw you under the bus for a dollar. I know you’re smarter than that.
I see Organic Valley as a pioneer in the organic food world. They work hard to keep their standards high and in fact their milk got a 4/5 from the Cornucopia Group. They rejected Walmart… when Walmart asked them to drop prices or get kicked out. They opted to get kicked out because they didn’t want to sacrifice their standards.
That all being said, the very best food company in the world is Eden http://www.edenfoods.com Absolutely amazing.
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Here is something else UNFI is up to – They just put me out of business because they did not like the way I ran my retail operation. (to compete with mega supermarkets pricing I developed a stratagy to keep my small organic food store operating by setting up a web ordering system for my customers) Unfi now refuses to sell to me and since they have pretty much monopolized the distribution on the east coast, I am forced out of business. So much for the “find your nich” strategy.