Organic Matters
Organic Matters
Americans today are more confused than ever about organic food. Is it more nutritious? Why is it so expensive? Is organic farming really better for our health and the environment? And, is there scientific evidence to prove it? Moderated by Maria Rodale, Chairman and CEO of Rodale Inc. and author of Organic Manifesto: How Organic Farming Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe, this panel will cut through the confusion and misinformation
Maria Rodale, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Rodale Inc.
Maria Rodale is the CEO and Chairman of Rodale Inc., the world’s leading multimedia company with a focus on health, wellness, and the environment, and the largest independent book publisher in the United States. Rodale reaches 70 million people worldwide through brands such as Prevention and Men’s Health; through books such as The South Beach Diet and Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth; and through numerous digital properties. She is founding editor of the company’s newest online venture, Rodale.com, which features the latest news and information about healthy living on a healthy planet, as well as her blog, Maria’s Farm Country Kitchen. Rodale is the author of three books. Her most recent work is entitled Organic Manifesto: How Organic Farming Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe (scheduled to be released in March 2010). Organic Manifesto cuts through the confusion and misinformation to provide an indispensable and highly readable look at why chemical-free farming unquestionably holds the key to better health for our families—and the planet. Maria Rodale joined Rodale in 1987, first working in circulation and direct marketing and eventually leading Rodale’s in-house direct marketing agency. In 1998, she served as director of strategy, where she led the strategic review, planning processes, and management changes that refocused the company on publishing information on healthy, active lifestyles. Rodale also led the company’s Organic Living division, Rodale’s first integrated brand division, where she was the Editor-in-Chief of Organic Gardening and oversaw all of Rodale’s gardening books. She joined the Rodale board in 1991 and was elected Chairman in 2007. Rodale has won numerous awards, including in 2004 the National Audubon Society’s “Rachel Carson Award” and in 2007 the United Nations Population Fund’s “Award for the Health and Dignity of Women.” In 2009 she was named to Pennsylvania’s “Best 50 Women in Business” List. She is also a member of the board of Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project, co-chair of the Rodale Institute, and a board member of the Lehigh Valley Health Network. Maria is a mother, an activist, and businesswoman, and has made promoting the benefits of an organic lifestyle both her personal mission and her business. She lives in an ecologically friendly house in Bethlehem, PA with her husband, three children, one dog, one cat and six guinea hens.
Theresa Marquez, Chief Marketing Executive, Organic Valley Farms
Theresa Marquez has been involved in food and farming since the mid 1970s. Wearing a variety of hats throughout the past 35 years, her current job is Chief Marketing Executive for the largest organic farmer cooperative in the United States, CROPP Cooperative, and its brands Organic Valley Family of Farms® and Organic Prairie Family of Farms®. (www.organicvalley.coop, www.organicprairie.com, www.farmers.coop) CROPP consists of over 1300 small and mid-size family farmers and markets over 200 certified organic products including milk, soy, cheese, butter, spreads, eggs, produce, and meat. Marquez joined the Cooperative in 1995 and has helped to grow the business from $5 million to $527 million in 2008. Marquez has served on the Board of Directors of the Organic Trade Association (OTA) (www.ota.com) and The Organic Center for Promotion & Education, (www.organic-center.org) a non profit organization dedicated to proving the benefits of organic. She has also served on the Oregon Tilth Certification Advisory Board. Marquez has been a guest speaker at numerous events and conferences including Natural Products Expo, National Nutritional Foods Association, American Marketing Association, Organic Trade Association, Food Marketing Institute, and WKKF Foundation. In addition she pioneered the Food Alliance eco-label and is currently working hard to start a new national tradition – The Earth Dinner (www.earthdinner.org). “As a marketer, I truly enjoy being a catalyst to bring people closer to food, farming and the environment. Besides the obvious benefits of taste and beauty, it is a joy to work and create together for a common goal.”
Ashley Koff, Registered Dietician
Ashley Koff is a Los Angeles-based registered dietitian whose mission is to make nutrition a way of life for all, and she regularly helps clients make healthier food choices for both themselves and their families. Educated at both Duke and New York Universities, Koff trained at LA, USC and Columbus Children’s hospitals, and also completed integrative medicine coursework for certification as a certified clinical nutritionist (CCN). She has authored her own book on digestive wellness, and consulted for a number of books including Elisabeth Hasslebeck’s “The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide.” Ashley regularly works with celebrities, restaurants and entertainment studios as a nutritional consultant and often does studio makeovers to provide healthier options in Craft Services. Ashley is also a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.
Dag Falck Organic Program Manager, Nature’s Path Foods, Inc.
With a unique expertise and passion for organic farming, Dag Falck was a natural fit for Nature’s Path, a company dedicated to being a trusted name for organic foods in every home; socially responsible, environmentally sustainable and economically viable. So much of a fit that Arran Stephens, President and Founder, created a position that would make use of his distinctive talents and role as a pioneer and leader in the organic movement to help not only the company, but the organic sector as a whole. And, so in 2003 , Dag Falck became the Organic Program Manager for Nature’s Path. His duties include overseeing all aspects of the company’s organic supplies, policies and consumer interaction; building strong organic networks and connections between farmers, manufacturing and consumers; helping to ensure that enough cropland is converted to Certified Organic; enabling uninterrupted organic production and providing organic farmers (including those new to organic) with access to organic agronomic resources and growing and harvesting techniques that ensure the highest quality of organic crops. Prior to his work at Nature’s Path, Dag was an organic inspector for 14 years in Western Canada and the United States. In those roles, he inspected a variety of farm operations from market gardens to large field crop ventures as well as complex processing businesses, helping to develop his unique perspective of the organic sector. He began his organic career in 1990 as the first inspector for Islands Organic Producers Association on Vancouver Island. Dag is extremely active in the development of the organic sector, currently serving as a board member of the Organic Center of Canada (OACC) dedicated to promoting organic industry research and infrastructure development; a member of the CHFA Organic council working to assist retailers in marketing organic products and conveying the organic message to consumers; a member of the Canadian Health Food Association’s Organic Advisory Council and a member of the Organic Regulatory Committee, as well as a past board member of the Independent Organic Inspectors Association. Committed to promoting organic development, Dag has also served on grassroots committees including one created to help form the Canadian Organic Trade Association and one formed at Guelph Organic Conference to propose ways to form a Canadian Organic Partnership. Educated as an agronomist in Norway, he has also trained in conflict resolution and mediation. Dag resides in the interior of BC with his wife and spends his free time organic gardening (of course), and horseback riding.
Dr. Charles Benbrook, Chief Scientist Organic Center
Dr. Charles Benbrook worked in Washington, D.C. on agricultural policy, science and regulatory issues from 1979 through 1997. He served for 1.5 years as the agricultural staff expert on the Council for Environmental Quality at the end of the Carter Administration. Following the election of Ronald Reagan, he moved to Capitol Hill in early 1981 and was the Executive Director of the Subcommittee of the House Committee on Agriculture with jurisdiction over pesticide regulation, research, trade and foreign agricultural issues. In 1984 Benbrook was recruited to the job of Executive Director, Board on Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences, a position he held for seven years. Several influential NAS reports were done in this period on the need for and aspects of sustainable agriculture. In late 1990 he formed Benbrook Consulting Services. Chuck has written many reports, books, and peer reviewed articles on agricultural science, technology, public health, and environmental issues.