Why thinking consumers boycott products from Organic Valley due to its egregious business practices against member farms that border on modern feudalism.
In a very quiet decision that received little media attention even within the natural foods industry, the board of directors of Organic Valley recently voted 4-3 to ban the farmers which make up its 1600 small farm cooperative from selling raw milk to consumers on the side.
The company cited legal concerns and complaints from farmers regarding competition as its reasons for the decision. This is sheer and utter nonsense and a perfect example of corporate smoke and mirrors. The attorneys for Organic Valley even admit that the legal issues are nothing to worry about in actuality.
And, the competition issue? It’s not farmers complaining about competition that is the true worry for Organic Valley.
The truth is the company is terrified of the surging popularity of raw milk. Â This market trend combined with an increasingly savvy and informed consumer that is rapidly moving away from processed milk and back to the “fresh from the farm” variety threatens to affect company profits over the long haul.
Indeed, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the dangers of pasteurization, particularly ultra pasteurization, the type of milk processing favored by Organic Valley for its Grade A milk.
With this knowledge, consumers are seeking out farmers directly for their fresh dairy which ultimately threatens to stagnate profit growth for Organic Valley if this type of trend continues (all indications are that it will).
In an attempt to strangle the competition, protect its source of supply and handcuff its farmers from making revenue elsewhere, Organic Valley has chosen the “bully the farmer” approach to managing its small farm cooperative. The company has now become more like the mega-dairy processors it claims to abhor who make a habit of pushing farmers around to line the pockets of its own executives and to aggressively protect their market interests.
Boycott All Organic Valley Products!
Organic Valley has shown its true colors with this decision.
Taking a step in this direction indicates a basic company disregard and disrespect for farmer independence and consumer choice.
Forbidding what a farmer does with his time and product outside of his contract with Organic Valley is a blow below the belt and just plain wrong.
Direct sales to the consumer are one of the smartest business decisions a small farmer can make to keep his operation profitable. Â Â Forbidding this type of activity threatens the economic sustainability of its small farms, ironically one of Organic Valley’s stated goals.
Such an outrageous and hypocritical corporate decision requires swift and decisive action on the part of the consumer.
For my part, I will no longer be buying any Organic Valley products.
I never did buy their milk, but I will no longer buy their cheese, butter, or other dairy items either.
I hope you will join me in a boycott of this company that pretends to be a friend of the environment, farmers, and consumers but is nothing short of a wolf in sheep’s clothing to the sustainable and local family farm movement.
Organic Valley’s business practices are simply a modern form of feudalism that benefits the nobles and squashes the peasants.
Organic Valley's own press release posted on it's own website says it was the board that made the decision.
thank you for the link, we will join the ban.
Thanks for another great post, Sarah!! Passing it on far and wide.
I called & complained about the decision & the representative I spoke with said that it was voted on by the farmers – not by a board. Interesting.
Good point .. we do need to follow up the boycott with writing them. They do have plenty of corporate cronies crawling the internet for these types of stories though. Corporations LOVE to know what their public relations image is on the web. Note BP trying to buy Google top search results recently to try and polish up its tarnished image by blocking negative stories as the top search result.
I started boycotting them back in April because I held them indirectly responsible for the raw milk crackdown in WI. After this decision, there is no turning back. It's funny – we were at the store in another state looking for cheese and my friend's hand automatically went for the OG cheese. I almost let her do it before I regained my senses and told her we had to buy something else. We got tillamook. I used to buy 2 gallons of milk, and cheese and butter by the case before this. Oh well.
Don't just boycott. Make sure you WRITE, CALL AND EMAIL the company to let them know that you will be boycotting them BECAUSE OF THIS DECISION. Make sure to mention the products you buy and the frequency (if regularly) you purchase them. Tell them specifically what competitors you will be buying from (if you know they don't have a similar policy) or from local sources. Include how disappointed you are in their policies contradicting their advertised mission statement. If enough people not only boycott but let it be known that they are boycotting BECAUSE of this new policy they may reverse their decision.
I also will discontinue buying my butter from OV. I think it is also important to tell them that. Email them at [email protected] if you feel strongly about this. Not sure if it will help, but I would love to see them flooded with emails to let them know how we feel. Eventually, they should see it in their sales, but sometimes we need to connect the dots…….
Thanks for the info. A small dairy farm very near here is being affected by this. They sell cow shares and have been told by OV they need to stop. Sadly, OV buys 75% of their raw milk so it will be a very tough decision. This farm also makes and sells raw cheeses. Their latest talks with OV center around that. If OV lets them continue their cheese business they will possibly discontinue their milk shares. This is the farm we have been looking into for a cow share so I have been following this issue closely.
The only thing I buy now and then has been their cheese. I will no longer be doing that!! Thanks for the heads up on this.