Year of the Bird: Industrial Farming Causing Bird Populations to Plummet
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For Presence Marketing Newsletter, October 2018
By Steven Hoffman
Humanity may need to add another meaning to the story of the birds and the bees. As industrial-scale farming has come to dominate agricultural regions in the U.S. and the EU, the birds and the bees are disappearing. Since 1980, the number of birds that typically inhabit European farmlands has decreased by 55 percent, and in the past 17 years alone, bird counts in agricultural regions in France have dropped by 33 percent, a “level approaching an ecological catastrophe,” according to a September 2018 report in National Geographic.
According to National Geographic, intensive industrial agriculture, increasingly dependent on the use of toxic, synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, is driving the losses of European bird and insect populations. Habitats where birds once bred, nested, and wintered now bear crops, and pesticides have killed off birds’ prey. Even avian species adapted to humans have dwindled on farms, reports National Geographic, suggesting that the land is less able to sustain all kinds of birds. To curb the losses of farmland birds, avian researchers contend that agriculture must be remade in nature’s image, i.e., less dependent on the addition of toxic, synthetic chemicals, more diverse in its flora, and more hospitable to local fauna.
In North America, researchers reported in July 2018 in the Journal of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry that hummingbirds and bumble bees are being exposed to neonicotinoid and other pesticides through “routes that are widespread and complex.”
Scientists studying blueberry fields in British Columbia detected pesticides and related compounds in cloacal fluid and fecal pellets of hummingbirds, revealing for the first time that hummingbirds are exposed to and accumulate pesticides of multiple types. In addition, bumble bees, their pollen, and blueberry flowers contained pesticides, with the highest concentration of the insecticide imidacloprid in pollen from organic farms, according to a release published in Science Daily.
"Hummingbirds and bumble bees are important pollinators of wild and agricultural plants and they survive each day on a razor's edge due to their high energy needs," said lead study author Dr. Christine Bishop, of Environment and Climate Change Canada. "Pesticide exposure in these animals may have impacts on their health and the ecosystem services they provide to humans and wildlife."
Among threatened birds living today, industrial agriculture poses the single biggest extinction threat, according to BirdLife International's 2018 State of the World's Birds Report, available as a free .pdf download. To spur a rebound, researchers say that farming practices must change radically to become more sustainable.
“It is estimated that of the roughly 672 million birds exposed annually to pesticides on U.S. agricultural lands, 10 percent, or 67 million, are killed as a result,” said Dr. Greg Harrison, DVM, a renowned avian health expert and founder of Wild Wings organic bird seed. “Ironically it is often the same sunflower and/or other grains intended to feed backyard birds that may have been sprayed with lethal pesticides to keep pests (often including birds) at bay. Just like in human health, birds and animals are affected by widespread usage of glyphosate and other toxic, synthetic pesticides,” he said.
National Geographic, has been reporting on the impact of agricultural pesticides on bird populations and declared 2018 the Year of the Bird to mark the centennial of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, “the most powerful and important bird-protection law ever passed,” and encourages nature lovers to get involved.
Consumers are responding and realizing that, like their own health, animals also benefit from natural and organic food. Natural pet food sales reached $8.2 billion in 2016 and now make up 25 percent of the pet food market in the United States, according to Packaged Facts. Another report, The U.S. Market for Natural Pet Products, predicts the industry will grow by 11 percent to reach $14 billion by 2021. Packaged Facts found that 72 percent of pet owners buy natural and organic pet food because they believe the nutritional quality is better.
After Centuries, George Washington’s Mt. Vernon Farm Is Growing Hemp Again
The father of our country, George Washington, grew hemp on his farm in Mt. Vernon, VA. In the 1760s, Washington predicted that hemp could be a more profitable crop than tobacco and he grew it in commercial quantities on his farm. More than 250 years later, horticulturists at Mt. Vernon and the University of Virginia planted an experimental hemp crop. Telling NPR he is a “hemp patriot,” Charlottesville, VA, farmer Brian Walden hopes growing the crop at Washington’s home farm again could give hemp a public image makeover and “get the message that this is an innocuous plant that has real benefits and our Founding Fathers knew that and they planted it,” Walden told NPR. According to NPR, hemp is still considered a controlled substance by the federal government, although 38 states considered industrial hemp legislation in 2018. According to a June report by the Congressional Research Service, "the global market for hemp consists of more than 25,000 products in nine submarkets." Hemp fibers can be made into yarns, paper, construction materials, even parts for automobiles. Hemp oil can be used in lotions and cosmetics, and full spectrum hemp extract is emerging as a popular dietary supplement. To learn more, attend the Southern Hemp Expo, Sept. 28-29, Nashville, TN, www.southernhempexpo.com.
Bye Bye By-Products: Pet Foods Go Upscale
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Pet care is an anchor to center store as the number two reason consumers leave the house to go to the store, and 75% of U.S. households shop the pet food section, Joe Toscano, VP at Nestle Purina, told Food Dive. And it is driving demand for higher quality, natural and organic pet food, said David Lummis, pet market analyst for Packaged Facts. While larger companies such as Quaker Oats, Mars and Nabisco sold pet foods as early as the 1950s and 1960s, “What is newer is the introduction of specialized ingredients, senior pet food and functional kinds of pet food,” said Lummis. Valued at $26.4 billion in 2016, Packaged Facts estimates the U.S. market for pet food will grow to $30 billion by 2022. According to Packaged Facts analysts, natural pet food sales reached $8.2 billion in 2016 and now make up 25% of the total U.S. pet food market. Natural pet food sales grew by a compound annual growth rate of 12.1% between 2012 and 2016.
Organic Personal Care Market to Grow to $25 Billion by 2025
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Growing demand for organic products is leading to an increase in their availability in natural foods stores, supermarkets, drugstores, convenience stores, online stores and elsewhere. The growth in e-commerce, in particular has provided consumers opportunity to access products that might not otherwise be available in local stores. This increased accessibility is credited for an expected growth rate in organic personal care products of 9.5% CAGR between now and 2025, when the market for organic personal care products is expected to reach $25.11 billion in sales, says research firm Grand View Research in a new report. North America was the largest market for organic personal care in 2017. Key findings include:
In terms of value, the global revenue for hair care is anticipated to reach $6.62 billion by 2025, rising at a CAGR of 9.8% from 2017 to 2025.
Skin care application dominated the market in terms of revenue in 2017, commanding over one third of the market, owing to ability of organic ingredients to impart antioxidation properties and improve skin health.
The U.S. organic personal care market is poised to exceed $7.7 billion by 2025 owing to presence of various manufacturers of organic personal care products in the country.
The market is highly competitive with presence of a number of multinational companies with wide product portfolios.
Major companies in the market lay high emphasis on expanding their presence in the global market, in an attempt to increase market shares and drive revenues. For instance, Estee Lauder acquired various companies such as BECCA Cosmetics, Too Faced, and Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, over the past few years in order to expand its product portfolio.
Source: Grand View Research
CPG Giants Enter Supplements Space
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As consumers turn increasingly to natural health options, a number of CPG giants have entered or expanded into the dietary supplements space, beginning in the past year with Nestle’s acquisition of leading non-GMO and organic supplement brand Garden of Life in December 2017. In April 2018, Procter & Gamble announced the purchase of Merck KGaA’s consumer health unit, adding vitamin brands including Seven Seas, Femibion and Neurobion to its supplement subsidiaries portfolio, which includes Metamucil and leading natural brand New Chapter, which Procter & Gamble acquired in 2012 (in July 2018, New Chapter cofounders Barbi and Paul Schulick announced their departure from the company). Natural immune support supplement maker Zarbee’s Naturals was purchased in July 2018, marking Johnson & Johnson’s first foray into dietary supplements. In June 2018, General Mills led a $12 million investment round in Boulder, CO-based functional beverage maker GoodBelly. California-based Clorox Company, known around the world for its laundry bleach, purchased Objective Wellness in March 2018, adding such brands as NeoCell, Rainbow Light, Blessed Herbs and Stop Aging Now to its portfolio. To top off this most recent spate of investments and acquisitions, Japanese beer maker Kirin, together with multi-portfolio firm Mitsui, announced in July 2018 that each had purchased 30% of supplement maker Thorne Research’s stock. Thorne Research is a leading dietary supplement brand specializing in the healthcare practitioner market.
Supplements Market Research Highlights
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Overall sales of dietary supplements are slowing, but it’s also a bigger and more complicated marketplace, says Claire Morton, Nutrition Business Journal's senior industry analyst. Top takeaways from the 2018 Supplement Business Report include:
• Mass market retail dominates sales in the natural and organic products industry with more than half of total market share and over $120 billion in annual sales.
• E-commerce, while frequently discussed and rapidly growing in the double-digits, still represents only 4 percent of total market share.
• Consumers report frequenting mass, grocery and natural stores over other retail channels, including e-commerce.
• Manufacturers rate the top three challenges of online retail as driving awareness of product, navigating Amazon and standing out.
• Natural and specialty retail has lost market share consistently since 2006, with growth slowing exponentially since 2015.
Companies Could Save Up to $700 Billion Annually in Food Waste Costs
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Annual food waste is expected to grow explosively between now and 2030, projected the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in a new report. “Roughly one-third of the food produced around the world goes to waste,” says Esben Hegnsholt, a BCG partner and co-author of the report. “This represents a challenge so massive that it was included in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. But while it is a daunting problem, there are steps that can be taken today, actions that draw on currently available technology and know-how, to dramatically slash food loss and waste across the value chain.” While food waste and loss are expected to reach 2.1 billion tons, worth $1.5 trillion, by 2030, by taking assertive action, companies, agricultural players, governments and others can take steps that could save up to $700 billion in food waste annually. The report identified initiatives companies can take to address the issue, including:
Educating farmers, consumers, and company employees on the issue of food loss and waste and steps they can take to reduce it.
Improving supply chain infrastructure for the food industry, including investment in cold chain systems.
Adopting digital, big data, and other tools to slash loss and waste and developing company KPIs and processes to drive reductions.
Improving collaboration across the food value chain, including between agricultural producers and food processors.
Advocating for changes to regulations and tax policies that would reduce loss and waste and encourage the repurposing and recycling of food.
A copy of the report can be downloaded here.
BeyondBrands to Debut Good Catch and Petal at Natural Products Expo East
Visit BeyondBrands this weekend at Natural Products Expo East, Sept. 13-15, 2018, Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, MD, alongside Partner Brands Good Catch Foods (Booth #1739) and Petal (Booth #1735)
Good Catch Foods - Booth #1739
Crabless crab cakes, anyone? Come visit Good Catch Foods to learn how they launched this sea-saving brand, and taste their new plant-based tuna, crab cakes and more. Good Catch exists to create delicious plant-based seafood options that are accessible to everyone. You’ll love their new creations whether you already enjoy a plant-based diet or are just trying something new. And just think, with every bite, you help protect the oceans and ecosystems, humans and animals. That puts the good in Good Catch!
Petal - Booth #1735
Stop & Sip the Roses! Petal is a unique rose water-based beverage with no sugar, no caffeine, and lots of sparkles. Made with Certified Organic ingredients, and crafted with the finest botanical blends, Petal is rosy rocket fuel for the soul, packed with powerful antioxidants. All containing zero calories, the beverage comes in three incredible flavors: Original Rose, Mint Rose and Lychee Rose. Be the first to try the new brand at Expo East!
About BeyondBrands
BeyondBrands is a team of highly experienced veterans who have led some of the most successful brands in the natural products world and beyond. Our Conscious Collective seeks to build profitable businesses that benefit people and the planet. We love what we do, and the people and brands we work with. Find us at beyondbrands.org.
Contact
Jon Lapham, 844.837.3383, jlapham@beyondbrands.org
My Visit to Gaia Herbs Farm
Or the Tale of Rare White Squirrels, Ginkgo Groves, Fields of Echinacea to the Horizon, Dedicated People, and Organic Products that Care for Health and the Environment
Profile by Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural
Asheville, NC (September 6, 2018) - Driving southwest on Highway 64 out of Asheville, North Carolina, on this early morning in late summer, in and out of thick fog and cool mountain air as my rental car navigates hills and valleys, I am struck by the lush, verdant, and primordial landscape of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
I am headed to the legendary, certified organic Gaia Herbs Farm.
Located in its own little valley, protected from pesticide drift by mountains on all sides, and bordered by the French Broad River and the 530,000-acre Nantahala National Forest to the west, the farm is in a uniquely biodiverse, temperate rainforest region where the Blue Ridge Mountains meet the Great Smoky Mountains in Western North Carolina. In fact, nearly 80 percent of all plant species used in North American herbalism are native to this region – a key reason Gaia Herbs established itself here more than 32 years ago.
This was my first visit to the Asheville area, and for a guy from Boulder, Colorado, I felt right at home in this densely forested, rugged, mountainous region – an ancient geologic area left untouched by the glaciers of the last ice age that flattened much of the Northern Appalachians, with rock formations that are nearly half as old as Earth itself, and home to the highest peaks east of the Mississippi River. Plus, what they say about Asheville is true – it’s a mecca for nature lovers and outdoor enthusiasts, and a delightful, historic town full of restaurants, craft breweries, shops, music, unique architecture, art, culture and more.
The good folks at Gaia Herbs, one of the nation’s leading herbal products brands – invited me to visit Gaia’s proprietary 350-acre organic herb farm where it grows up to 6.5 million plants a year to satisfy demand for pure, safe and efficacious herbal remedies.
The team hosted me for a full day of meetings and tours of the farm, as well as the analytical and quality assurance laboratories, and extraction and processing facilities located right on the property.
Offering more than 200 products and with a commitment to regenerative organic agriculture practices, Gaia Herbs is a truly vertically integrated herbal products manufacturer committed to health and the environment. With its farm, laboratories and processing facilities primarily in one location, the company ensures quality, integrity, potency, safety and efficacy from seed to shelf.
Discovering a Verdant Valley … and White Squirrels
More than 32 years ago, Massachusetts-based Medical Herbalist Ric Scalzo was searching for a location where he could grow the medicinal herbs he used in the formulas he developed for patients. Demand was growing for the products he created, and the farming season in New England was too short for the crops he had in mind. So, Ric headed south and stopped in his tracks when he discovered a fertile little valley tucked just outside of the rural town of Brevard, North Carolina, about 45 minutes south of Asheville.
The property that caught his eye was an old dairy farm. Protected from other industrial agriculture and with pure mountain water from Cathey’s Creek, a designated Wild Trout stream running through the farm on its way to the French Broad River, Scalzo knew that this rich bottom land would soon be home to Gaia Herbs.
(Now, here’s where the white squirrels come in: Brevard, founded in 1861 as the county seat in Transylvania County, is also known as home to a thriving, rare white squirrel population said to have descended from a pair of escaped carnival animals. The animals are unique to the area and so loved by the community that in 1986 the Brevard City Council voted unanimously to establish the town as a sanctuary for white squirrels.
After hearing numerous times from friendly staff about these elusive white squirrels, I finally got to see one hanging out in a Hawthorn tree grove near Gaia’s main farmhouse (the floral buds of the Hawthorn trees, too, are harvested for Gaia’s herbal product formulations). Not albinos, these cute critters – all white with a dark stripe running from the top of their head down their back – are a unique strain of the common gray squirrel that thrives in this particular area.)
Gaia Herbs – Next Generation
Today, Gaia Herbs employs more than 250 people and grows about a third of the plants it needs on the Brevard farm. The company also operates an organic farm in Costa Rica where it cultivates turmeric and other herbs, and plants are also sourced from certified organic farmers and ethical wildcrafters who sustainably harvest plants from nature. After completing a $5 million, state-of-the-art expansion in 2016 of its manufacturing facilities on the farm in Brevard and opening a 60,000 square-foot greenhouse in nearby Mills River, NC, Gaia Herbs is an internationally respected brand, known for its authenticity, purity, potency, efficacy, transparency, and commitment to health, organic agriculture and the environment.
With its Meet Your Herbs® transparency program from seed to shelf, and building on a platform of “Purity + Integrity = Potency,” Gaia Herbs is developing new products and herbal blends to serve an increasingly savvy and demanding natural health consumer. Under leadership of President Angela McElwee, a natural product industry veteran who started her career at age 16 helping customers in the aisles of Healthy Alternative, an independent natural foods retail chain based in Dayton, OH, the “Gaia Difference” is being well received, and Gaia Herbs continues to foster its position as an innovator and brand leader in the natural, organic, and herbal products market.
Meet Your Herbs® – Setting a New Standard for Traceability
For consumers, Gaia’s Meet Your Herbs® program raises the bar for transparency and traceability, says the company. For every Gaia Herbs product, a customer can enter a unique ID number located on the package to “virtually experience” how the botanical ingredients of a particular product were grown, cultivated and harvested, and then tested down to the DNA level in Gaia’s state-of-the-art analytical laboratories for quality and potency, efficacy and safety. Meet Your Herbs® also presents easy-to-understand science validating each step in Gaia’s process from seed to shelf, and anyone can explore the history, uses and function of each particular herb in their Gaia Herbs product formulation.
The company will showcase its new blends, including Calm A.S.A.P. and Mood Uplift, at the upcoming Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore, MD. Unlike many herbal products that claim to support emotional coping skills by recommending a maintenance dose, Calm A.S.A.P. was specifically formulated for relief in the moment.* Blended from herbs cultivated on the company’s organic farms and sourced from an “impeccably transparent supply chain,” Calm A.S.A.P. was recently recognized as a 2018 NEXTY AwardFinalist for Best Condition-Specific Supplement by New Hope Network, producer of Natural Products Expo and publisher of leading trade and consumer magazines in the natural, nutritional and organic products market.
Mood Uplift, a new Gaia Herbs product designed to support mental and emotional wellbeing, combines herbal extracts traditionally used to help the body cope with daily stress, nourish the nervous system, calm the mind, support a balanced mood and help foster a better outlook on life.*
These new products, along with other Gaia Herbs’ liquid extracts, are available in Vegan Liquid Phyto Caps™. Designed for rapid absorption, Gaia’s plant-based Phyto Caps™ are a unique patented delivery system developed exclusively by the company to deliver the concentrated potency of a liquid extract in the convenience of an easily digestible, fast-dissolving capsule.
Giving Back – A Team Effort
As a socially responsible, mission-driven company, Gaia Herbs cares for its employees first, along with the local community and organizations dedicated to food, agriculture and the environment. Each year, a portion of the farm’s acreage is dedicated to growing vegetables for the company’s employees; the Gaia Employee CSA (community supported agriculture) provides 20,000 pounds of farm-fresh organic vegetables to the staff each season. In addition, team members benefit from employee wellness programs, living wage certification, and a paid volunteer program. Outside the farm, Gaia supports mission-aligned organizations including the Bread of Life Free Community Kitchen in Transylvania County, the Pisgah Conservancy to support environmental preservation in the region, Golden Courage, an international organization with a mission to end child poverty, and more.
Learn More about Gaia Herb’s Traceability Program, Meet Your Herbs®, in Part 2 of My Visit to Gaia Herbs Farm, coming next month!
Learn more at www.GaiaHerbs.com, and visit Gaia Herbs at Booth #3163 at Natural Products Expo East, Sept. 13-15, 2018, at the Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, MD.
Steven Hoffman is Managing Director of Compass Natural, providing brand marketing, PR, social media, and strategic business development services to natural, organic and sustainable products businesses. Contact steve@compassnaturalmarketing.com.
Photos: Compass Natural, Wikimedia Commons, Gaia Herbs
*This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Judge Rules Case Can Proceed Against USDA’s Withdrawal of Organic Welfare Rule
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A judge for the federal court for the Northern District of California on August 21 concluded that a legal challenge filed by the Center for Food Safety (CFS) against the USDA’s decision to withdraw organic animal welfare regulations could move forward. In March, seven nonprofit organizations, led by CFS, sued the USDA and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, challenging its decision to withdraw the organic standards for animals on certified organic farms, called the “Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices” rule. The regulation, finalized by the USDA under the Obama administration in early 2017, strengthened the requirements for the care and wellbeing of animals on organic farms. “We are very gratified that the Court agrees we can challenge the unlawful withdrawal of these hard-won animal care protections in organic production,” said George Kimbrell, CFS legal director and counsel in the case. “The Trump administration unlawfully reversed 28 years of well-settled organic law and policy. We look forward to protecting the public’s right to a meaningful organic seal.”