ASK FOR PLEASANT VALLEY FARMS PRODUCTS

AT THE MARKET AT ANACORTES

Bob Rose called to tell me that, in spite of extreme support from the staff at The Market in Anacortes, the parent corporate company in Bellingham has decided, without explanation, not to carry our wonderful local pickle products from Pleasant Valley Farms. So, when you shop at The Market (many of you live on Fidalgo), please start asking them to carry Pleasant Valley Farms pickles and sauerkraut.   You don't have to explain anything, just keep telling them about the great local products, and asking them to carry them. They promote their intention to carry good local products.  I'm sure that Kurt, the store manager, would like to carry these products, but he needs lots of customer demand to convince corporate.  Please tell your friends to ask for these products, too. This customer driven demand helped to get Breadfarm products back in The Market, and, after lots of resistance, resulted in them carrying Golden Glen Creamery milk products (and butter!).  These are both VERY successful for The Market.  Corporate just doesn't always understand the strength of the demand for quality local products, which is especially strong at our store here in Anacortes. 

Please talk up these pickle products with your friends and in the local retail outlets in our area.  Wouldn't it be nice if we could just buy these any time we shop at our local Market?

Thank you.

ch

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TELL USDA YOU CARE ABOUT GE CONTAMINATION

Call To Arms - (thanks to PCC for this update)

There's still time for you to tell USDA you care about GE contamination!

The USDA has indicated in an environmental impact statement that it has no evidence that consumers care about GE contamination in our food system.

As consumers who care about the integrity of organic food, it's time for us now to voice our opinion. The deadline for submitting comments on USDA's plan to allow GE alfalfa has been extended to March 3 - so please take action today!

USDA admits that an economic analysis shows GE alfalfa will hurt the organic industry and small farmers - yet it fails to analyze or suggest any possible protections.

Alfalfa isn't a crop that people eat directly but if you eat yogurt, cheese, milk, ice cream or beef - and if you believe that "we are what they (cows) eat" - then it's critically important.

This is a pivotal moment in the organic movement. This is the first time the USDA has done this type of analysis for any GE crop. The final decision will have broad implications for all GE crops. Currently, the USDA plans to allow GE alfalfa without any limitations or protections for farmers, consumers or the environment.

The GE alfalfa that USDA is planning to approve is Roundup Ready® alfalfa, meaning it's genetically altered to survive being sprayed with the herbicide Roundup (glyphosate). Studies have shown that glyphosate clearly is linked to non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and that glyphosate damages and kills human cells even at diluted levels far below recommendations. Glyphosate also is used on GE soybeans and GE corn.

The USDA's failure to exclude GE crops from the first version of the organic rules in 1997 was one of the main reasons that 275,000 people filed public comments, the largest outpouring of public participation in the history of U.S. administrative procedure. Of those, an estimated 30,000 comments were from PCC shoppers. Let's tell the USDA we still do care that organic foods are GE-free!