         Press Kit > Milestones Milestones in the Story of Earthbound Farm 1984 Earthbound Farm is founded on a 2.5-acre plot in Carmel Valley, California, by Drew and Myra Goodman. Their first crop is organic raspberries, which they sell at their roadside stand.
1986 While still in its original Carmel Valley location, working out of the Goodmans’ 600-square-foot home, Earthbound Farm becomes the first company to successfully launch pre-washed salad packaged for retail sale. Its first blend was Mixed Baby Greens, quickly followed by Baby Spinach Salad, Asian Salad Mix, and Baby Romaine Salad. These became the foundation of the baby leaf salad category. Because of these salads’ success, Earthbound Farm is credited with popularizing spring mix salads.
1992 Earthbound Farm moves its operation to a 32-acre farm in Watsonville, CA (about 40 miles north of Carmel Valley) and builds a 9,000-square-foot production facility. Earthbound Farm opens its Farm Stand and research & development farm in Carmel Valley.
1993 Earthbound Farm begins selling its salad greens to major food retailers, including Costco, Lucky’s, Safeway, and Albertson’s.
1995 In December, Earthbound Farm partners with Mission Ranches, a group of 3rd-generation farmers from the Salinas Valley, to form a company called Natural Selection Foods. Mission Ranches brings 800 acres of organic farmland to the partnership.
1996 Earthbound Farm moves its headquarters and processing to a new 25,000-square-foot facility in San Juan Bautista, CA. The company adds organic romaine hearts, broccoli, cauliflower, and celery to its line of organic salads, beginning what would become an extensive line of organic vegetables.
1998 With 5,800 acres farmed organically, Earthbound Farm becomes the largest grower of organic produce in the country, a distinction it continues to hold today.
1999 Tanimura & Antle, one of the world’s largest conventional lettuce growers, becomes a one-third partner in the company and transitions 1,500 acres of prime farmland to organic practices. Earthbound Farm begins to add organic fruit to its line of organic salads and vegetables.
2003 Earthbound Farm’s line of organic salads, fruits, and vegetables expands to more than 100 items, and its products become available in 75 percent of the nation’s supermarkets. Founders Drew and Myra Goodman are awarded Global Green USA’s Corporate Environmental Leadership Award. Earthbound Farm opens the Organic Kitchen at its Farm Stand in Carmel Valley. It’s the 3rd certified organic kitchen in the US, serving organic prepared foods based on the seasonal harvest from the surrounding fields. Earthbound Farm begins running its Carmel Valley farming equipment, pickup trucks, and local delivery truck on cleaner-burning biodiesel.
2004 Earthbound Farm receives the Integrated Pest Management Innovator Award from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation in recognition of its pioneering efforts to manage pests without the use of chemicals.
2005 Earthbound Farm receives 2 awards:
2006 Food to Live By: The Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook, a full-color cookbook by co-founder Myra Goodman with more than 260 recipes, is published by Workman Publishing.
2007 Earthbound Farm partners in the construction of a biodiesel plant to ensure supply of this increasingly popular biofuel.
2008 Earthbound Farm’s certified organic farming on more than 40,000 acres:
The majority of Earthbound Farm partner farmers begin to run their farming equipment on biodiesel. With its usage of approximately 224 million square feet of cardboard every year, Earthbound Farm’s conversion to post-consumer recycled cardboard for its salad cartons annually conserves:
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