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The Provender Journal November-December 2008 Provender Elects New Board of Directors Provender Elects New Board of Directors The Provender Alliance Board of Directors election was held at the General Membership Meeting that took place on Friday, October 3rd in Hood River. Oregon. The election takes place at the Annual Educational Conference. Ballots were mailed prior to the conference and members also had the opportunity to vote on site at the conference. This year’s election had four well-qualified candidates vying for three available positions. All three board members are new to the board. The new board members include Brad Lerch, Stephen Markham and Rainbo O’Connor. They will each serve two-year terms. Brad Lerch is co-owner of Royal Blue Organics and Café Mam based in Eugene, Oregon. Brad has attended numerous conferences and Café Mam provides the coffee service at the conference. Stephen Markham (no relation to Ellen, another board member) is a regional sales rep for United Natural Foods Inc. in Washington and has served on the Provender Steering Committee for a number of years. Stephen was enthusiastically involved in coordinating the snack room at this year’s conference. Rainbo O’Connor of Ashland Food Co-op in Ashland, Oregon, is excited about serving on the board. She was unable to attend the conference due to her pregnancy (she gave birth to a healthy baby girl). Please welcome these new board members as they prepare for another Provender year with Brad Averill of Wildtime Foods, Ellen Markham, Mel Minton of Santa Rosa Community Market and Vicki Reich. They will all be working with the Policy Governance model and will continue working on the Ends of the organization. During the first meeting of the newly elected board, Vicki was reelected to serve as Board President, Brad Averill was elected to serve as Treasurer and Mel was elected to serve as Secretary/Vice President. Contact information for all board members can be found on page 27 of this Journal. Provender Alliance held its 17th Annual Award Ceremony in Hood River, Oregon on Friday, October 3rd during the 2008 Annual Educational Conference. The ceremony took place during a sumptuous and delectible buffet dinner at the Hood River Inn. Provender Alliance takes this opportunity each year to celebrate and honor outstanding or unique contributions to Provender and our extended community. There were four awards presented this year. The Evolution in Motion Award was presented to Mountain Rose Herbs. It read: Like a tadpole to a frog, evolvingthrough awareness of the environment we all share by being actively green. “The frog does not drink up the pond in which it lives. The Progressive Pollinator Award was presented to Hummingbird Wholesale for fostering the local economy by infusing the community with insight, innovation and ethics to bring a greener outlook to fruition. The Rollin’ River Award was given to Sweet Creek Foods for progressive action, supporting local farmers and doing right for the right reasons. In your time, in your time, those pickles will roll, roll, roll. The Global Steward Award was presented to Oregon Tilth for upholding high standards recognized the world over for the betterment of ecosystems everywhere. The award recipients are chosen by the Provender Alliance Board of Directors, with recommendations from the membership. The award recipients are kept in strictest confidence until the actual presentation so it is a great surprise for everyone. We welcome your suggestions for future award recipients. Please feel free to contact the office at 888.352.7431 or 503.859.3600, or contact one of your board representatives. You can find their contact information listed on page 27 of this Journal. —from Oregon Department of Agriculture, www.oregon.gov/ODA The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) is offering reimbursement for some of the costs to become organically certified by a U.S. Department of Agriculture accredited certifier. This reimbursement is also available to Oregon growers or processors renewing their certification. Eligibility is based upon certification costs incurred AFTER October 1, 2008, through September 30, 2009. Any qualified grower or processor obtaining organic certification or renewal of their organic certification is encouraged to apply. Reimbursements are limited to 75 percent, with a maximum of $750. Authorized by the Farm Bill, the program is designed to assist producers, handlers, and processors of agricultural products in obtaining certification under the national organic guidelines. ODA was awarded $202,500 in reimbursement funds, which will be available on a first come, first served basis until all funds have been distributed. An estimated 350 to 400 certified organic growers and producers in Oregon are potentially eligible for partial reimbursement. Applications for reimbursement may be downloaded from the ODA web site at www.oregon.gov/ODA/ADMD. —by Andrew Rodman, Editor, In Good Tilth, www.tilth.org This song was performed by Andrew Rodman at the 32nd Annual Provender Alliance Educational Conference during the Friday evening performance of Karaoke From Hell (karaoke with a LIVE band). (Sung to the tune of White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane) Biotech just gets bigger Mainstreaming on the horizon White men in the boardroom When profits and proportion —by Kristy Korb, Certification Director, Oregon Tilth, www.tilth.org On October 24, 2008 the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) published the proposed rule for Access to Pasture (Livestock) in the Federal Register. This proposed rule was a multiple year effort to address concerns, comments and complaints raised by the industry that, simply put, organic cows should be living in a pasture based environment, rather than simply having access to pasture. Below is a short summary of the changes in this proposed rule and some of the industry identified issues presented with the changes. Proposed summary of changes: A major change is that there is no exception for inclement weather for confinement of ruminants, they must be managed year-round” on pasture. This is a concern for many producers as it is not only an animal welfare issue in harsh winter conditions in the Midwest, or during the raining season here in the Pacific Northwest, but it is also an environmental issue in regards to the health of a pasture. Pasture has to provide 30% Dry Matter Intake (DMI) during the growing season, which is defined as frost to frost. Because frost to frost varies so dramatically across the country, this could be a year round requirement, for others it would be the minimum defined days, which is 120 days. Sacrificial pasture must be supplied when soils are too wet. This is a new defined term, sacrifical pasture, in this proposed rule. It is proposed that every operator define and maintain a sacrificial pasture. Beef cattle may not be finished in feedlots/ dry lots. In the beef industry it is very common to finish beef cattle on grain. They are pastured the majority of time, and prior to slaughter are finished on grain to create the beef profile that consumers across the country have come to enjoy. This would be prohibited in this new proposed rule. Oregon Tilth is working with producers, consumers, members and groups to provide comments to the program on this proposed rule. If you would like to provide comments on your own, they should be submitted to : Richard H. Mathews, Chief, Standards Development and Review Branch, National Organic Program, Transportation and Marketing Programs, USDA–AMS–TMP–NOP, 1400 Independence Ave., SW., Room 4008– So., Ag Stop 0268, Washington, DC 20250. Written comments on this proposed rule should be identified with the docket number AMS–TM–06–0198; TM–05–14. Comments must be received by December 23, 2008. For more specific information or to view the entire proposed rule please visit the USDA NOP website. —from Advantage Natural Sales & Marketing, Seattle, Washington Advantage Natural Sales & Marketing would like to wish Cal Miller farewell and best wishes as he leaves the natural foods industry and begins a new path. With a 17-year tenure at Advantage (formerly Northwest Specialties), Cal was the longest serving Northwest employee. Cal came to the Seattle-based natural brokerage in 1991. Hired by owner Don Nordness, he was the company’s fourth employee and first Sales Rep. He called on dozens of retailers across Oregon and parts beyond including Ashland Food Co-op, Market of Choice, Boise Co-op, and First Alternative and was a frequent Provender Conference attendee. In addition he served on the Provender Board of Directors from 1992 through 1994. Previous to his career as a broker representative, Cal was Grocery Manager at Sundance Natural Foods and worked with Emerald Valley Kitchen and Oasis Marketplace and Deli all in Eugene, Oregon. He leaves us for a position with Northern California based Feeney Inc., a designer of architectural products and installations and we wish him great success. Provender Member Forums Now On-Line Special thanks to Craig Winters of Full Spectrum Internet for the information in this article. The Provender Alliance web site has been upgraded to now include Member Forums. The Provender Member Forums offer you an easy way to share your news, views and opinions – and network with other Provender members. In order to prevent non-Provender members from viewing or posting to the Provender Member Forums, you will need to log in. However, in order to log in, you must first register. Registering is a relatively easy process. Simply go to the Provender web site at www.provender.org and click on the Member Forums link on the home page. Next, click on the “Register” link at the top. A page will come up that has the terms of use you will need to agree to. Next, select a “Username” and “Password” and provide your e-mail address, your name and the name of the company or store you work for. To prevent spam, you will also need to enter a Confirmation Code that appears on the page. After clicking the “Submit” button, you will receive an e-mail confirming your registration, but notifying you that your account is still “inactive” until approved by the Provender forum administrators. Since the use of the forums is limited to Provender members only, we will first need to review your registration and confirm you or the company or store you work for is an active Provender member. This approval may take from 12 to 48 hours. Once approved, you will receive an e-mail indicating your forum membership is now active. We have established five initial forums. They are: GMOs, Organics, Local Production, Provender Conference, and Member Issues/Concerns/Comments. If you have any ideas for additional forums, just let us know by posting your comments in the Forums! Provender Conference Draws Record-Breaking Crowd The 32nd Annual Provender Alliance Educational Conference was held in Hood River, Oregon. This year’s conference broke all previous attendance records by drawing over 330 people to the event. Attendees came from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, California, Colorado, Wisconsin and British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskacthewan Provinces in Canada as well as many points beyond. The Rising Stars training drew folks as far away as Maine and Connecticut. The conference theme, “Sharing Our Values, Achieving Our Vision,” was well represented by workshops, keynotes and attendees alike. The pre-conference Produce Intensive had fewer participants than last year but all enjoyed their time and drew a tremendous amount of applicable information from the session. Equal Exchange hosted over 170 guests at the barbecue. All workshops well very well attended and several were standing room only. Several topics continue to be captivating discussions and we will continue to provide knowledgeable presenters to address new developments. We will also continue to develop sessions addressing industry issues that impact a broad range of sectors including industry consolidation, domestic fair trade and GMO issues and impacts. We are already in the planning stages for 2009 so if you have ideas for presenters or topics you’d like to see addressed, please contact the Provender office or any of the representatives listed on page 27 of this Journal. You can reach the office by phone at 888.352.7431 or 503.859.3600, by fax at 503.859.3608 or by e-mail at info@provnder.org. We seek and welcome your input. Frances Moore Lappé Keynote Video Available If you attended the 32nd Annual Provender Alliance Educational Conference you likely had the opportunity to see and hear one of our most intriguing and well-known keynote speakers to date. Frances Moore Lappé graced us with a thought-provoking and inspired presentation on Liberation Ecology. We had her presentation video taped and we are very pleased to announce that we have two hard copies available for checkout from our library. In addition, you can view the video on-line at http://video.google.com/videoplay? docid=-1532518441309747708&hl=en. If you would like this link emailed to you, please contact the Provender office. ATTENTION: Delay in Conference Credit Card Charges If you had the opportunity to attend the conference in Hood River in October, you likely saw and craved many of the fabulous items we had for sale or purchased raffle tickets to partake in the frenzy for donated items. Perhaps you used your credit card to satisfy some of those urges. If you wondering why those charges haven’t shown up yet…well…we had a technical difficulty and your credit card has not yet been charged. You will see Provender charges showing up on your bill in the coming month, much later than you were expecting. If you have any questions about your charges, please contact the Provender office.
Provender Alliance
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