Abundance Food Co-op Blog #4 by Elizabeth Henderson
If you have not yet discovered them, the Cornucopia Institute has a series of helpful scorecards on organic foods – dairy, eggs, poultry, plant-based beverages, beef, and soy foods. For each product, the scorecard explains the criteria behind the ratings. The scorecards rate farms and brands from one to five, but explain that all the organic brands are still better than the products from brands that use chemicals: “When you can’t find top-rated brands (the 4s and 5s), do the best you can: purchasing any brand on our scorecard, even those at the bottom, is a vote for a food system free from the most toxic agrochemicals.” Abundance carries many of the products Cornucopia rates so you can get more background information to help you choose what to buy.
The most recent scorecard is an update on dairy products. At this time, buying from NY organic dairies is especially significant. Dairy farms, especially mid-sized and smaller one, are going out of business at an alarming rate. The number of cows and the amount of milk in New York and all of New England is not changing – what is changing is the number of dairy farms. There are fewer and fewer as only the biggest most industrialized survive. As Cornucopia puts it: “Purchasing authentic organic is an investment in healthy systems — and one way to resist the industrialization of organic dairy. Use our Organic Dairy Scorecard to support authentic organic dairy farms. And choose local, organic dairy if you can!”
| Cornucopia evaluates dairies according to the list of criteria below, gives 50 extra credit points to Animal Welfare Approved and Regenerative Organic Certified gold levels and 25 to Organic Plus Trust Grass-Fed Livestock Certified Grassfed by AGW, Real Organic Project, and Regenerative Organic Certified bronze and silver levels. They also do an on-site visit. Their grading system definitely favors smaller and more local brands. Transparency and Disclosure Milk Supply and Ownership Structure Commitment to Organic Label Pasture Management Grass-Fed Percentage Supplemental Feed and Ingredients Calves Times Milked Per Day Deaths & Culls Environmental Impacts and Stewardship Animal Welfare Organic Certifier (Informational) Add On Labels (Informational) Herd Size(s) (Informational) Extra Credit Adjustments & Notes |
Abundance carries products from some of the NY/Northeast farms that top the list with 5s and 4s – Hawthorne Valley, Seven Stars, and Rumiano. Stoneyfield rates a 3, Organic Valley a 2, with Alden’s Organic ice cream a 1.
In the egg department, Vital Organics rates a 4 star. Meadowcreek does not have a Cornucopia rating. Among the milk substitutes, the Eden Soy and Pacific Foods brands rate high.
…all the organic brands are still better than the products from brands that use chemicals: “When you can’t find top-rated brands (the 4s and 5s), do the best you can: purchasing any brand on our scorecard, even those at the bottom, is a vote for a food system free from the most toxic agrochemicals.”
A food coop member since the 1970’s wherever she lived, Elizabeth Henderson has been a shareholder in Abundance Food Co-op for decades. She founded the Community Supported Agriculture Project, which has its designated pick up location at Abundance from the months of June through November. The vegetables come from Ruth Blackwell’s Mud Creek Farm these days since Elizabeth retired as an organic farmer. Elizabeth continues to be active as a member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association Policy Committee, the Rochester Food Policy Council and the Urban Agriculture Working Group. She also helps out at the Magnolia Street community garden and mentors organic farmers and gardeners.