#4 - Horizon Organic's "F You" to 89 Family Farms

Kate Mendenhall, Executive Director of the Organic Farmers Association interviews: -Ed Maltby, Executive Director of the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance-Brad Santy, Organic Dairy Farmer from Maine who recently lost his contract with Horizon Organic-Jill Smith, Executive Director of the Western Organic Dairy Producers Alliance-Jennifer Beretta, Board President of the Western Organic Dairy Producers Alliance and California Organic Dairy FarmerDiscussing how Horizon Organic just canceled their contracts with 89 Family Farms in the northeast region of the USA, creating a crisis and threatening to force those 89 Family Farms out of business.Horizon Organic's "F You" to 89 Family Farms:Be "a force for good" and conduct business "as if people and place mattered."That's what it means to be a B corporation, according to the B Corp Declaration of Interdependence.So why is B corp Danone dropping 89 family farms that produce milk for its Horizon Organic label?Lifelong dairy farmer, Wayne Bragg, 74, told the Press Herald that Danone would rather buy milk from larger farms.“They can make more money,” Bragg said. His son, Cliff Bragg, now runs Bragg Homestead in Sidney, Maine, where they have 50 milk cows. “It’s not that the small farmer can’t make it nowadays, but they just don’t want to pick you up.”
 
Danone is leaving the Northeast region and replacing these 89 farms with larger ones closer to their processing facility in Elma, New York.Putting small pasture-based organic dairy farms out of business and replacing them with factory-farmed organic is a clear violation of B Corp ethics. That's why a coalition organized by the Organic Farmers Association has filed a complaint with B Lab. But they need your help, please support their cause by signing their petition:SIGN THE PETITION: If Horizon Organic drops small family farms, B Lab should drop Danone: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/blabcomplaint