To start the story from the beginning, click here.

December 5, 2008 by Madre Naturaleza and first printed on the Fair Food Fight website.

Recapping the article “What Lurks Behind the Label, Part I”, Food Goliaths Hain Celestial Group and Small Planet Foods have gained a tight grip on the natural foods industry. They are like chameleons, blending into their surroundings with a clever disguise, thinking we won’t notice them. The center isles of the food co-op are crammed with shelves of processed foods all labeled beautifully with farm names and photos. We soon learned that the majority of these products, almost every item on my grocery list, in fact, came from the hands of only a select few decisions makers. Big Organic. What happened to our choices, farmer interactions, community, and transparency? My next job is to learn more about these Goliaths and how they have grown to be so dominant in the Organic and Natural Foods Industry.

Hain Celestial Group Inc, now owning brands such as Westbrae Natural Pasta, Bearitos Tortilla Chips, Casbah Rice Pilaf, Health Valley Cookies, Hain Pure Foods Sugar, Mountain Sun Juice, Spectrum Organics Oil, and Earth’s Best Baby Food, to name a few, has not always been so large. In fact, the Hain Celestial group began when a man named Irwin Simon founded Kineret Foods, a kosher frozen-foods company, in 1993. His claim to fame was ‘better for you’ foods and he began a number of acquisitions, starting with Hain Pure Foods in 1994. Since then he has continued with purchases of Estee, Alba, Westbrae, Shansby Group (Arrowhead Mills, Terra Chips, Garden of Eatin’), Natural Nutrition Group (Health Valley, Casbah), Earth’s Best, and many more that are all so familiar sounding. In 2002, it purchased Imagine Foods, which has a strong presence in the North American and European markets for non-dairy beverages. In 2003, it purchased Acirca and also the Walnut Acres brand. All of this acquisitioning has led Hain Celestial to reach annual revenues of well over $400 million and is the largest natural and organics food processor in the WORLD. Hain’s partnership with Heinz, which owns approximately 19% of the company, has given the company even more global reach for some of its products, such as Earth’s Best, which has a huge presence in organic baby food brands, as seen in many natural foods stores.

Small Planet Foods, Inc, although not quite as large as Hain Celestial, also has a very interesting history of development and Michael Pollan has done some good investigating with the man who made started it alI. Beginning WAY back in 1971(I bet that makes you feel your age), when Gene Kahn was 24 years old and decided he wanted to start a farm in Rockport, WA, with the idea of growing food for the collective of environmental minded hippies he had connected with in nearby Bellingham. After reading “Silent Spring” and “Diet for a Small Planet”, Kahn decided to move back to the land and was determined to change the food system with the creation of Cascadian Farm. Kahn became one of the pioneers of the organic food movement and developed a more efficient way of selling his produce. He would distribute the produce grown at his farm through something called a Cooperating Community, a network of Seattle businesses committed to ecological principles and worker self-management, which later changed to the name Community Produce. Kahn also discovered the benefits of adding value to his produce by processing it (freezing, drying, canning), and after some time realized he could make more money buying his produce from other farmers rather than growing it himself. Cascadian Farm then began processing and marketing a range of packaged foods well beyond the Seattle area. In the 1990′s, the organic industry began to boom, with mainstream companies beginning to create or acquire organic brands. At this time, Cascadian Farm itself became a mini-conglomerate, acquiring Muir Glen, the California organic tomato processors, and the combined company changed its name to Small Planet Foods. Also, in 1990, Congress passed the Organic Food Production Act. This legislation instructed the Department of Agriculture to establish uniform national standards for organic food and farming. Yet while the struggle with agribusiness over the meaning of the word “organic” was making headlines, another, equally important struggle was under way at the U.S.D.A. between Big and Little Organic, outlining many of the questions I asked after my discovery of these Big Organic Giants.

Could a factory farm be organic? Was an organic cow entitled to dine on pasture? Did food additives and synthetic chemicals have a place in organic processed food?

In the 1990′s, Big Organic won all three of these arguments. So Kahn carried on, setting the standards straight for organic TV dinners, arguing that you couldn’t have organic processed foods without synthetics. It came down to an argument between the old movement and the new industry, and the new industry won: drawing up a “national list” of permissible additives and synthetics, from ascorbic acid to xanthan gum. Yum, Yum! This opened the door for a new niche of organic products: organic Heinz ketchup, organic Hamburger Helper, organic Miracle Whip and yes, it has been done, the organic Twinkie! After this roller-coaster ride organic has been on over the last few decades, Cascadian Farm has recently become a subsidiary of General Mills, the third biggest food conglomerate in North America.

The question remains, why should we be worried about the organic food industry? Well, in the beginning, organic agriculture developed in a small-scale niche market with open structure. The markets were local & regional and farmers had access to wholesale & retail buyers that paid a fair price. This traditional approach allowed new and small companies access to the best markets. However, today’s organic marketplace is in a large industry sector. This industrial perspective takes the opportunity for investment in rapidly growing niche markets with little competition, giving their brands dominance. Is concentration a necessary cost of growth for the organic market? Concentration in the traditional food industry created giant corporations with enormous buying power that led to the ability of setting prices, limiting farmers’ return, and control of market access. Already we can see this happening in today’s organic marketplace with Hain Celestial gobbling up smaller companies and decreasing competition so that almost every item on the coop shelves come from a select few corporations and distributers.

 Concentration has many other negative impacts such as reduced innovation, less responsiveness to consumer and social interests, fewer decision makers in the industry, and the loss of genetic diversity. Cascadian Farm’s original farm is now a General Mill’s showcase-a P.R. farm. The real food production takes place elsewhere, at places like Greenways Organic Farm, a successful 2,000-acre organic-produce operation tucked into a 24,000-acre conventional farm outside Fresno, CA. Usually when you think about organic farms, images of small-scale farms, compost piles, pick-up trucks and hedgerows come to mind. However, at Greenways Organic Farm the scene is much different, where migrant laborers, combines, and thousands of acres of broccoli reach clear to the horizon. To the eye, these farms look exactly like any other industrial farm in California, and in fact the biggest organic operations in the state today are owned and operated by conventional mega-farms. The same farmer who is applying toxic fumigants to sterilize the soil in one field is in the next field applying compost to nurture the soil’s natural fertility. Like any other traditional monoculture farm, the endless rows of broccoli leave no room for other diversified plant life.

Do not let Big Organic scare you completely away just because in some cases the organic food that we purchase is grown on 2,000 acre farms next to pesticide-ridden industrial ag. crops, then shipped from California all around the U.S. Just realize that many fruits and vegetables can easily be easily grown ‘organically’, maybe not certified, in our very own state or backyard. Earth’s Best baby food can have squash and water as it’s only two ingredients, so what we need is to develop more local processing for foods that are easily adapted to our micro-climates and networking to connect those farmers, consumers, and retailers who support fair trade practices. Imagine harvesting your own butternut squash, making it into baby food, and canning it to last throughout the whole winter! This is what us concerned shoppers should take into account more, because simply picking up a can of Organic Tomato Soup is not always your cheapest, easiest, or most socially & environmentally conscious option.

Now is the time to reach back into the depths of your brain and remember what your parents and grandparents taught you growing up. They were on to something when they trapped you in the kitchen for days forcing you to help make jams, can applesauce, and pickle green beans.

Maybe what we are seeing is a shift of traditional industrial agriculture becoming all Big Organic, and then smaller sects of local and regional small-scale farms will adopt the intentions that the organic movement held in its beginning.

We cannot escape the fact that many Little Organic companies will meld into the growing Big Organic sector, but not all of them. Cascadian Farm is just one example of Little Organic growing into Big Organic. Clif Bars, on the other hand, have stayed independent and we will take a closer look at them and other independent organic processors next time in “What Lurks Behind the Label, Pt III”.

ATTN: FOOD FIGHTERS
If you are about to head down to the nearest food co-op or natural foods store for some grub, here is a helpful experience that will give you tips on which brands to be weary of. The food Goliaths are trying their hardest to hide behind these brand names, but we can see right through them!

I’ve decided to make a new lifestyle change. I want to move away from the industrial food system. I want to eat natural foods, organic foods, LOCAL foods. Now, don’t get the wrong idea about me. I’m no tofu loving, granola munching hippie, I just believe that there are better alternatives to Hamburger Helper and Kraft Mac N Cheese. Maybe it’s all the hype on TV that’s changing my mind, the buzz in the city when farmer’s markets are open, or the sense of hope and change that’s floating through the air lately. Either way, I’m ready to experience the health, ecological, and social benefits that come attached to natural foods. First item on my agenda: A visit to the local Food Co-op. Food Co-op….? I’ve never stepped foot in one before, I’m skeptical, but ready.

Grocery List
● Pasta
● Spaghetti Sauce
● Tortilla Chips
● Salsa
● Soup
● Rice Pilaf
● Beans
● Frozen Veggies
● Cereal
● Fruit Spread
● Cookies
● Juice
● Baby Food
● Sugar
● Mayo
● Olive Oil

I begin my journey weaving my cart down the center isles looking for my new and improved processed foods, full of natural goodness. Wow, I never knew there could be so much variety of natural foods. The co-op shelves make me feel right at home, lined from top to bottom with different brands of pasta, cereal, and soups for as far as the eye can see. I zip through tossing my goods into the cart feeling very impressed that I am finding everything I need. These foods sure do look healthier, chocked full of whole grains, real fruits and vegetables, and they even give you a picture of the farm it came from. Now that I can believe! After checking out, my bill was not through the roof like I expected. Most of the items I bought did not cost a whole lot more than foods from the average chain. How reassuring.

Upon returning home I empty my grocery bags and begin examining the very beginning of my lifestyle change. Just look at all these natural food brands: Bearitos Tortilla Chips, Mountain Sun Juice, Muir Glen Spaghetti Sauce and Soup, Cascadian Farm Cereal and the list goes on! Take that General Mills! Take that Kraft! Dean! Heinz! Coca Cola! I have overcome your powerful grip on the food system! I am all natural now!

This excitement only led me to explore deeper. Cascadian Farm, hey? It sure looks like a beautiful farm. I go to the website to get a closer peak. They have a 28-acre farm that you can visit anytime because they would love to meet us! Well that is sure a change from General Mills. But wait, it also says that they are the leading organic brand in the country? They have a multitude of food products that are available all over the U.S? I’m beginning to think that they can’t grow all of that food just on 28-acres! I investigate deeper. The back of the cereal box claims that it came from California from Small Planet Foods. Hey, that is the same place my Muir Glen spaghetti sauce, salsa, and soup is from! Not to mention the fruit spread and frozen veggies that are from Cascadian Farm! Hm…okay, now I am on a mission! I’m beginning to think that these natural/organic food brands aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

Small Planet Foods. It turns out that Small Planet Foods owns Muir Glen and Cascadian Farms. But you want to know what is even more of a discovery? Guess who owns Small Planet Foods? GENERAL MILLS! Let me say that again, six of the natural food items, some organic, that I bought today, are owned by General Mills! I was trying to avoid Hamburger Helper! Now I am becoming even more skeptical of the natural foods industry. I need to investigate the other brands I bought and see what is really going on here.

Westbrae Natural Pasta, Bearitos Tortilla Chips, Casbah Rice Pilaf, Health Valley Cookies, Hain Pure Foods Sugar, Mountain Sun Juice, Spectrum Organics Oil, Earth’s Best Baby Food.

These are all of the other products I bought on my grocery list today, and it turns out they are ALL owned by the Hain Celestial Group Inc. So this means that in my attempt to buy all natural foods and move away from the industrial food system, I actually ended up supporting two mega corporations that are trying to find a niche in natural foods. Do they not already have a big enough oligopoly on the food system!? Isn’t natural foods supposed to be supporting small-scale farmers? How can they grow ALL of this food without it being super industrialized? How do they separate their crops to avoid chemical/gmo contamination in the organic crops!? How large are their crops!? Do they even get all of their food from the United States?! In many of our pursuits to live a more sustainable lifestyle, I believe that we must look beyond the folksy brand images and rediscover what natural and organic really means to us, the consumers, and discover the ways in which we are being mislead.

I have so many questions to investigate now, but how easy will that be? Large corporations are not very transparent and it’s like pulling teeth trying to get information from them. I’ve run head on to what they call “Big Organic” and I have a lot of research to do on Hain Celestial and Small Planet Foods. In my own attempt to move away from ‘the beast’ I have found myself against a road block I never thought existed. I hope to dig in deep to find out what these two companies are really all about! Stay tuned as I begin to unmask the organic-industrial complex and win this FOOD FIGHT!

Battles are heating up to protest unfair trade agreements, subsidies for agribusiness in our Farm Bill, and now… Tom Vilsack, Obama’s pick for Secretary of Agriculture. Consumers, environmentalists, labor organizations, Interfaith groups, and small farmer organizations – folks are feeling angry and fed up. As well they should be.

The good news is that while these larger policy debates are raging on, consumers are increasingly demanding action on a playing field closer to home – our food markets and our grocery shelves.

If you are what you eat, and money talks, then it is time we took back our food stores. We must know whose pockets our consumer dollars are lining, what ingredients (pesticides, hormones, gmos) are filling our bodies, and the conditions of those that are toiling in the fields to feed not only ourselves, but their own families.

Fortunately, we have some strong allies. Your local food co-operative should be one of them.

And now, Equal Exchange and a group of food co-operatives in the Twin Cities areas have launched a new web-site to help us navigate our way through the policy debates as well as the concrete, “bread-and-butter” dilemmas we face when walking down the food market aisles.

Fair Food Fight. You have to check this out!

Here’s what their “Why we fight” page says:

How does it make you feel when you find out that that Whaddayasay? You ready to get in the ring?
Monsanto is suing the pants off family farmers for saving seeds? That Procter and Gamble can be certified as a “fair trade” company?

Did you know that Dagoba organic chocolate is owned by Hershey’s now? That Kellogg’s owns Gardenburger, and that Cascadian Farm is really General Mills? You do know that organic companies are getting gobbled up like bar snacks, don’t you?

Did you know that Big Organic food manufacturers worked a back room deal in Congress so that non-organic ingredients can be used in USDA certified organic foods under “emergency situations”?

How about this? Did you know that millionaire corn farmers get subsidized by tax dollars? Or that American farmers are planting more corn than ever and Americans are consuming four times as much corn sweetener as they did a generation ago?

Did you know that the cost of soda and crappy fast food has been plummeting in real dollars while the cost of fruits and veggies has been skyrocketing? Did you know the US Farm Bill promotes that?

We think this all stinks to high heaven. Not only do these corporations have all the money, but then they deliberately trick consumers by playing a shell game about who they are, or pick fights with small farmers and citizens who’re roughly a thousandth their own size, or game the federal government like its a referee in a pro wrestling match.

Doesn’t that just piss you off to no end?

Well, we’re pissed. There’s a vicious food fight going on in this country and it’s not going well, so we’re ready put on our masks, lace up the stomping boots, and jump in the ring. We’re bored with lofty discussions about alternative food systems. We want to shout. We want to cajole. We want to take some action — how about you? 

If so, it’s a simple choice about whose side we should be on. Ready for the options?

A) David

B) Goliath

In this corner, we have the champ. Huge. Megalithic. Arms the size of a national trucking network, shoulders wide as a thousand-acre factory style farm, and stomach muscles rippling with vast credit and buying power.

And in this corner, we have the challenger. All he’s got is a used pick-up, fifty acres, and a steely gaze.

We like a spirited fight against long odds, so we side with the challenger, the small food grower and creator in her long shot match against giant food companies who are literally working to buy her up or put her out of business.

If we don’t fight this fight alongside the challenger, look what we have: A handful of companies that create the vast majority of your food, with fewer, less interesting choices every year. These companies demolish rural America by bringing in feedlots for cattle and pig towns with their lovely manure lagoons, drive out small farmers, and drive down wages until whole communities screwed. That, and the health of America as a whole is threatened by centralizing the food system so that just one nasty germ in the national meat bucket or the national tomato packing plant can sicken thousands upon thousands of people.

Most insulting of all, the Food Goliaths lie through their teeth to us, showing us slick marketing initiatives starring themselves as small farmers. When they do this, they take from the small farmer the one advantage he has: His identity as the challenger.

Well, we’re here to unmask that marauder. We’re here to sort through the lying, cheating and stealing, because we think more small farmers with better access to market and fewer corporate shell-games is exactly what this country needs. More small farmers would bring: 

1. better choices to shoppers,
   
2. safer, healthier food
   
3. a thriving, independent rural class, worldwide
   

So this site is dedicated to the good fight, the fair fight, the food fight, and we need fighters to join us – food fighters – and we need lots of them, numbers, with noisy voices. If you’ve ever read the paper and said to yourself, “But what can I do?” Then you’ve found a place to vent energy and force some changes on the world. We need:

*  irrationally enthusiastic activists who are willing to be called to action at a moment’s notice 

*  food fighters who will stay informed, attend rallies, write letters, spread the word and show up for real action on behalf of small farmers and fair food

* bloggers and videographers who will create a little corner of Fair Food Fight for yourself with your own blog and your own fights and tell stories of what’s happening in your region of the country

* testimonials of great food, recipes, victories, profiles of courageous small farmers, or fights that the rest of us may need to join.

In the coming weeks, Fair Food Fight will call on you to join us in taking specific action, but, until then, just meet and greet your fellow food fighters who’re hanging around the site. Start a blog. Spar with El Dragon in the comments of the main blog. Have fun.

Many of us who are concerned about the food we eat – where it comes from, who grows it, and how it’s grown, processed, and distributed – choose to buy our groceries at the local food co-operative, where we may also choose to become members. Why favor food co-operatives over other grocery stores and supermarkets? For some, it’s to support the ideals of community control and democratic ownership. There’s a sense that the products on the shelves are healthier for us, the farmers, and the planet. Many engaged consumers also believe that food co-operatives provide a greater selection of organic, local, and Fair Trade products and will come from companies that share these principles.

For those of us who are deeply committed to these values, there’s a desire to see them reflected in our food choices: it’s just another way of voting, only in place of ballots, we’re using our consumer dollars. There’s an assumption that most, if not all, of the brands being offered also reflect this commitment to small farmers and businesses, organic and natural farming practices, and whenever possible, are locally or Fair Trade produced. I believe that most food co-op members and consumers want to know that the companies behind the products share a commitment to social change, democratic principles and are working as part of the movement to create a green and just food system.

Alas, this is not always the case. It is not even often the case.

Even natural and organic products’ origins get tricky. Check out the flow chart below, created by Dr. Phil Howard, a professor at Michigan State University who is pioneering research into the corporate consolidation of our food system.

Do you see your favorite organic brand mentioned above? Are you shocked, as I was, to see how many of those companies are actually owned by the likes of Coca-Cola, Kraft and Cargill? Is it disheartening to discover the degree to which a few corporations and their subsidiaries currently dominate the natural foods industry? Do you think that they share the same commitment to growers and consumers, workplace democracy, a transparent and fair food system (up and down the supply chain), and a healthy planet? How easy would it be even to learn this information?

On Phil Howard’s website, you can get a better view of these charts and learn more about these disturbing trends. You can also read an excellent interview with him that Equal Exchange’s marketing writer, Ashley Symons, conducted during Howard’s 4-day visit to Equal Exchange in June of this year. During our exchanges with Dr. Howard, he showed us a number of slides which graphically present how increasingly consolidated the organic industry has become. In every aspect of the supply chain – production, processing, distribution and retail – the entire food industry is in the hands of fewer and fewer multi-national companies. And so, if you thought that there was something different about the organic industry, think again.

In stark contrast, Howard has also published an “Independents” chart that represents the minimal presence of independent and cooperatively-owned businesses in the national natural foods market. You’ll see Equal Exchange on there, along with three other cooperatively owned businesses: Organic Valley, Alvarado Street Bakery, and Frontier Natural Products. Not many, are there?

Why does any of this matter?

As a co-operative business, Equal Exchange’s model shares many values with our food co-operative partners and their members and consumers. We believe in an economic model and supply chain that emphasizes small-scale farmers, independent business owners and co-operatives. We want our purchases – as a company and as individuals – to support other companies and co-operatives that are trying to restructure and revitalize our food system by strengthening democratic models, practicing sustainable agriculture methods, and whose missions share the goal of providing food for people not for the profits of a handful of food conglomerates.

What can we do about this imbalance in the food industry, now being mirrored in the organic industry? How do we “take back” our food system?

The comparison between corporate businesses versus independently-controlled brands and products is startling and bleak, but it is our belief that the actual situation is much more inspiring. The solution to corporate domination barely exists on a national level… yet. By its very nature, the hope of the organic and Fair Trade movements (as they were originally conceived) exists in co-operatives and in pockets “off the radar,” locally and regionally. Small farmers, co-operative food companies, and regional independents supply their local co-ops with produce, dairy, baked goods and bulk products. They are the real champions of a more just and environmentally-responsible food system.

Once awareness of the trends in the organic industry (which parallel similar trends in the media, banking, and other sectors) grows, it will be easier to take action. As more and more people begin to grasp the impact a corporate controlled food system is having on our lives and our planet, we believe it will be easier to take the appropriate actions – both through political arenas and through our own individual and collective behaviors.

We can take back our food system!

At Equal Exchange, we believe that the first step in fixing this broken and imbalanced food system is to understand how it currently works and who it favors. Next we can begin imagining the system we want, and working together, we can make a better, more fair system possible. This is the movement that food co-operatives, interfaith groups, and engaged consumers helped build with respect to Fair Trade, and prior to that with organics. Now it’s time to go even deeper. We believe that Phil Howard’s research and these charts are providing a great contribution to advance this movement.

We are currently working with food co-ops to help them create their own “Independents Chart” that shows the regional, independently-controlled businesses that are making a difference in their area; companies at the cusp of sustainable agriculture, community activism and social responsibility. We believe that by providing this type of information to co-op members and consumers, we can begin to help each other make more conscious choices to support the brands that are more closely aligned with these values. In this way, food co-operatives, committed to building a supply chain for people, can continue to educate members about the extent of corporate domination, but also offer an alternative – one the supports communities, co-operatives and the environment.

Nick Reid, a salesperson with our Natural Foods team, teamed up with one of our long-time food co-operative allies, Sevananda Natural Foods Market in Atlanta, Georgia, to come up with a chart that shows the local, regional and independent vendors whose products are sold in their store.

  
In the case of Sevananda, the choices are clear.  Consumers do have viable choices.   But informed decisions require information.  We believe that this is the starting point… where we end up is our choice. And it starts with the next trip for groceries.

What do you think?

Nick Reid contributed to this article.