Earthbound Farm’s Mission

Our mission is to bring the benefits of organic food to as many people as possible and serve as a catalyst for positive change.

The benefits of organic food

Twenty-six years ago, Earthbound Farm started in a backyard garden, where we grew food we felt good about serving to our friends and family. And that meant farming organically.

Today, our commitment to the health of those who enjoy our harvest is stronger than ever. Earthbound Farm certified organic produce is grown by about 150 dedicated farmers, who use the same organic farming methods on the smallest farm (about 5 acres) as on the largest (about 680 acres). Together, we’re working to bring healthy and delicious organic food to people wherever they live and shop, and to protect the environment.

We do our best to reduce our environmental impact. In 2010 alone, our organic farming on more than 35,000 acres will:

• avoid use of over 338,000 pounds of toxic and persistent pesticides;
• avoid use of nearly 11.2 million pounds of synthetic fertilizers;
• conserve an estimated 1.8 million gallons of petroleum by avoiding the use of petroleum-based pesticides and fertilizers; and
• fight global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, at an estimated rate equivalent to taking more than 7,800 cars off the road.

A catalyst for positive change

Challenging the conventional is part of Earthbound Farm’s culture. To be a catalyst for positive change, we’ve challenged a lot of conventional thinking. From the beginning, we’ve worked to produce the healthiest food possible and have a positive effect on our environment; that’s meant fundamentally changing the way food is farmed. With the growth of our business, Earthbound Farm has shown that organic farming can, indeed, feed millions.

We’ve committed ourselves to seek sustainability in all parts of our business. We’ve switched to 100% post-consumer recycled PET for our plastic salad containers and 99% post-consumer/1% post-industrial recycled corrugate for our shipping cartons, reducing our environmental impact while helping to create market demand for more environmentally responsible post-consumer recycled materials.

We’ve also questioned conventional wisdom about farming with fossil fuels. Earthbound Farm now uses biodiesel in our farm equipment and new company vehicles, and most of our partner farmers are converting their farming equipment, too. Clean-burning biodiesel drastically reduces ozone-depleting carbon emissions and uses fewer non-renewable resources. (To learn more about the benefits of biodiesel, go to www.biodiesel.org.)

And in the critical area of food safety, we’ve challenged ourselves to develop next-generation standards to ensure the safety of our produce. The time for change is now, and under the guidance of the nation’s top food safety specialists, we’ve made important progress. To read about Earthbound Farm’s unparalleled food safety program, visit our Quality and Food Safety page.

In everything we do at Earthbound Farm — farming, energy efficiency, environmental protection, food safety, contributing to our communities — we’re serious about our role as a catalyst for positive change. We’re constantly striving to do more and do better, because what we do today leaves a legacy for the generations that follow.