Translations

The Organic adventure of STONYFIELD Farm Organic

1. Organizational Governance

Strategy and organization

Sector Food-processing

Year 2008

Country United States

Transmitter

Context

In the United States, the organic food turnover has increased threefold within three years and now accounts for 30 billion dollars. This growth was achieved as people are more and more careful about what they eat.

Stonyfield Farm Organic was one of the first businesses which realised the
importance of this topic. On the basis of an environmentally-friendly business model, the organisation launched a range of dairy products labeled as Organic.

Objectives

- Showing that a company whose core business is to sell an environmentally-friendly product which is good for the health can profit.

APPROACH

Stonyfield Farm got a foothold in the little-known organic food industry in 1983, with seven cows and a yoghurt recipe.

Equipment, production, packaging and marketing costs made it difficult for the organisation to experience any profit in the first 8 years and the business reached its break-even point in 1991, thanks to external investors. From 1991 on, Stonyfield Farm has made investments in innovative and original product marketing and its sales boomed. As the company was then viable, its founders dedicated their efforts to the achievement of their environmental objectives:

- “No-emission”: after reducing plant energy consumption to a minimum,Stonyfield offset the few remaining gas emissions and planned a reforestation project in Oregon Recycling: 75% of solid waste is recycled

- Eco-farming: Stonyfield Farm offers bonuses to the farmers who do not use any growth hormones or agricultural chemicals to increase their yield.

The business keeps progressing and still focuses on its healthy, environmentally-friendly food objectives. It also continues its environmental or/and health awareness-raising campaigns through a guidebook to fight climate change, the promotion of eco-farming and the installation of vending machines providing organic and natural products in Californian schools.