Baltimore Journal: News and Notes From Expo East
Published: Monday, November 01, 1999
Annie’s Homegrown Inc. of Wakefield, MA, has taken on a $3 million investment from Homegrown Holdings Corp., a newly formed private investment group. Homegrown will buy 1 million shares of Annie’s convertible preferred stock at $2/share and will provide $1 million in debt financing.
E-tailer MotherNature.com is expected to launch its IPO in early December. Meanwhile, Webvan’s IPO was delayed by the SEC after the company in a conference call released information to institutional investors that was not contained in Webvan’s prospectus. Lifestyle products marketer Gaiam Inc.’s IPO was scheduled to go out late in the week of Oct. 25.
The Organic Trade Association’s board of directors unanimously ratified the American Organic Standards as the standards and guidelines of the association. OTA now former president Mark Retzloff, who served as OTA president for three years, was replaced by industry veteran Bill Knudsen. The group has joined with the Organic Alliance to create a month-long Earth Day 2000 organic promotion called Mother Earth’s Organic Food Festival to be featured in 550 supermarkets nationwide. Call 651.265.3678 for more information.
After 16 years, the Quinn family has sold the Montana Flour & Grain Co. to its CFO, Andre Giles, a seven-year employee. Bob Quinn will focus on the family’s Montana farm and also the Kamut Association, of which he is president.
Fourteen organic certifiers, including four U.S. certifiers, have signed a reciprocity agreement. All 14 certifiers have been accredited by the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM). The four U.S. certifiers are California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), Organic Growers and Buyers Association, Oregon Tilth Certified Organic, and Farm Verified Organic (FVO).
The supply of non-GMO soybeans and soy isolate for use in consumer goods should be great enough to fill all industry manufacturing needs within the next six months to a year, according to Peter Golbitz, director of the Soyfoods Association of America. Golbitz says decisions by major players Archer Daniels Midland and Protein Technologies to segregate GMO crops is shifting farm-level soy production back to non-GMO beans.
Winners of the 1999 Socially Responsible Business Awards were Candleworks of Iowa City, IA; Emerald Valley Kitchen, Eugene, OR; Equal Exchange, Canton, MA; Once Again Nut Butter, Nunda, NY; and Organic Valley/CROPP, La Farge, WI.
Country Life has become the third company to pass NNFA’s GMP certification program, joining Nature’s Way Products and Wakunaga of America Co.
The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) will be conducting a tonnage survey on 1999 usage of botanical raw materials including goldenseal, ginseng, echinacea and six other herbs. Contact AHPA, 301.588.1171, e-mail mmcguffin@ahpa.org.
Natural products retail veteran Richard Lewis is opening Nature’s Work, a full-service, 6,500-sq.-ft. natural foods store in Melbourne, FL. Lewis is the former director of operations of the Unicorn Village in N. Miami Beach, FL, a “supernatural” grocery that was sold to Whole Foods Market (WFMI) in 1995.
Nature Care Products Co., a marketer of Ayurvedic products under the Nature Care and Dabur brands, has changed its name to Nature’s Formulary LLC and introduced the Nature’s Formulary line of herbal Ayurvedic supplements in vegetarian capsules.
Approximately 140 friends and colleagues attended a memorial tribute to former NNFA Executive Director Michael Ford at the Baltimore Aquarium on Friday night at the show. Ford died suddenly on Sept. 23 while in Denver. A scholarship fund has been established in his name. For information, contact the NNFA at 800.966.6632.