Boulder Daily Camera By Alicia Wallace, Camera Business Writer Move comes in wake of WhiteWave shifting Silk away from certified organic soybeans Fourteen years ago, a burgeoning Boulder company -- White Wave Inc. -- was responsible for launching Silk soymilk, a brand that is now the category leader. So when Whole Foods Market wanted to boost its organic soymilk options a year after Dean Foods' WhiteWave Foods shifted most of its Silk products away from certified organic soybeans, the Austin, Texas, grocer turned to a burgeoning Boulder County firm -- one stocked with former White Wave employees. Whole Foods this week announced an agreement with Longmont-based Earth Balance under which the natural foods division of New Jersey-based spreads company Smart Balance Inc. would launch its line of organic soymilks at Whole Foods stores nationwide.

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Sno Pac Foods has stayed independent even as big players took over much of the organic food business Minneapolis Star Tribune By Mike Hughlett CALEDONIA, MINN. -- It's the height of the pea pick, and rivers of emerald green are flowing down the production line at Sno Pac Foods. The peas come fresh from a field about 30 miles away, and they're headed for the frozen food sections of co-ops and supermarkets across the country. Oh, and these peas are organically grown. So are the green beans, spinach, carrots, blueberries, cranberries -- any of the frozen vegetables and fruits sold by Sno Pac. In recent years, organic food has become big business, dominated by publicly traded packaged food companies like Golden Valley-based General Mills Inc., a fact that some devoted organic consumers aren't keen on. But Sno Pac has stuck to its roots: It's family-owned and based in farm country, something many organic brands can't claim.

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New Haven Register By Cara Baruzzi, Register Business Editor At Hindinger Farm, co-owner George Hindinger and his partners enjoy selling the fruits and vegetables they grow on their Hamden land, at farm stands and various farmers’ markets, but they are preparing to potentially sell more goods on a much large scale. A newly enacted state law, though, gives the Hindingers and other farmers in Connecticut the chance to sell many more products directly to consumers than they previously were permitted to. In the past, those wanting to sell salsas, pickles and other products derived from their farm-grown produce typically had to do so through a third party. The new law “gives us more opportunities to use what we grow here and direct-market it to the consumer,” he said, which will help meet the growing demand for locally grown food. “It’s a win-win situation. It’s not only for the farmers, but it’s for the consumers as well.”

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The Durango Telegraph By Ari LeVaux Arapaho Ranch produces the kind of beef your inner cowboy wants to eat. With 595,000-acres sprawling across Wyoming’s wild and rugged Owl Mountains, the ranch is home to native grasses, wolves, mountain lions and grizzlies. The cattle are herded by Indian cowboys, each with his own fleet of seven horses – one for each day of the week. It’s the largest certified organic cattle operation in the U.S., which isn’t saying much given what’s permitted under today’s organic standards. While organic cattle can be confined for up to eight months a year without losing certification, the cattle at Arapaho Ranch spend their entire lives grazing outside. They follow the melting snow up the mountain in springtime and retreat to lower ground in fall. The cattle breed naturally, without the help of artificial insemination, as do the ranch horses. The word “organic,” while applicable to the beef produced on Arapaho Ranch, doesn’t do it justice.

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Miami Herald By Ana Veciana-Suarez On a muggy summer day, as bruised clouds gather overhead, Margie Pikarsky wends her way through her five-acre farm pointing proudly at strips of cultivated land and a growing compost pile. A blue jay swoops across the field, then another. In the distance a cardinal trills. "I feel very connected to nature,'' Pikarsky, 57, says, and then adds with a wry laugh. ``I have this Mother Earth thing going.'' Indeed. Pikarsky has been running Bee Heaven, an organic farm in South Dade's Redland area, since 1995, when pesticide-free farming was more a boutique niche than thriving business. She harvests honey, collects organic eggs and grows familiar fruits and vegetables as well as exotics -- mostly Asian greens -- that do well in South Florida soil.

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