Earthbound Farm
Earthbound Farm is an American farm located near San Juan Bautista, California. It is the largest producer of organic salads in the United States.[1] It was also the first company to produce prewashed, packaged salad greens on an industrial scale.[2]
Type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Food |
Founded | 1984 |
Founders | Drew and Myra Goodman |
Headquarters | San Juan Bautista, CA, U.S. |
Products | Organic food |
Parent |
|
Website | earthboundfarm.com |
History
Earthbound Farm was founded in 1984 by Drew and Myra Goodman, on a 2.5 acres (10,000 m2) farm in California’s Carmel Valley.[1][3] Just over two decades later, the company employed over 150 growers on 30,000 acres.[4] By 2015, nearly 50,000 acres were in production.[5] In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan referred to Earthbound Farm as "a company that arguably represents industrial organic farming at its best."[6]
In 2009, HM Capital acquired Earthbound Farm.[7] In 2013, Earthbound Farm was acquired by WhiteWave Foods, owner of Horizon Organic milk, for $600 million.[8] In July 2016, it was announced that the French company Danone would purchase WhiteWave Foods for $10.4 billion.[9] The acquisition was completed in April 2017, and the newly formed company was named "DanoneWave".[10] Finally, Earthbound Farm was acquired in April 2019 by Taylor Farms.[11]
References
- Amanda Hesser, Salad in Sealed Bags Isn't So Simple, It Seems, The New York Times, January 14, 2003.
- Samuel Fromartz (2005). Organic Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew. Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-15-603242-1.
- Dawn Withers, Earthbound Farm turns 25, sees organic remaining strong, The Packer, August 25, 2009.
- Whitney, Jake (28 January 2007). "Organic Erosion: Will the term organic still mean anything when it's adopted whole hog by behemoths such as Wal-Mart?". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
- "Earthbound Farm Organic: Our Story". Earthbound Farm. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
- Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, The Penguin Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1-59420-082-3, Pg. 162.
- Griffith, Erin (2009-07-21). "HM Capital Buys The (Organic) Farm". PE HUB. Retrieved 2015-04-19.
- Anderson, Mark C. (9 December 2013). "Locally-based organic giant Earthbound Farm sells to WhiteWave Foods". Monterey County Weekly. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
- "Danone CEO: Here's Why We're Buying WhiteWave".
- "Danone completes acquisition of WhiteWave to create DanoneWave".
- "Taylor Farms buys Earthbound Farm from Danone". www.foodbusinessnews.net. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
External links
- Official website
- Jennifer McNulty, Alum brings organic produce into the mainstream, Currents online (University of California, Santa Cruz), November 8, 2004