Table of Contents

FTSLA News:
~ FTSLA Webinar 1/26: Sustainable Packaging;
~ Membership & Sponsorship Renewals;
~ FTSLA Retreat 1/23;
~ FTSLA Annual Report;
~ Updated Logo and New 'FTSLA Member' Logo

Member News

Sustainability Resources: Measuring and reducing fuel and energy use

ANSI Sustainable Agriculture Standard Development Update

Sustainability News Headlines

FTSLA News

Special Announcement: Donations for Haiti

Nature's Path and FTSLA are working to coordinate food donations from the organic/natural trade for the Haiti earthquake relief. We encourage our peers to donate. Product should have at least 4 months of shelf life remaining. In the US, single-serve, non-perishable food items can be shipped to the Yele Foundation, with arrival by 1/19 requested for the first shipment. Please contact Carlene Blanchfield at 914-844-2917 to arrange for donations. In Canada, donations can be shipped to Feed the Children. Please contact Melissa Schweisguth at FTSLA for information. For financial donations, see this New York Times article including a list of verified, reputable organizations.

FTSLA Webinar 1/26, register today!
Responsible Packaging: Guidelines & Best Practices
for the Organic Sector

When: January 26, 2-3 PM Eastern Time (11 AM-Noon Pacific Time)
Cost: $25 for FTSLA members and e-news subscribers
Register online here.
Contact Melissa Schweisguth at FTSLA with any questions or needs

Speakers: Tom Wright (SustainableBizness.com), Robert Combs (Burt's Bees), Melissa Schweisguth (FTSLA), Tessa Young (Organic Trade Association)

Why attend? Packaging is necessary to ensure product quality and safety from farm to consumer. Yet, it adds ecological, social and financial costs, impacting companies, the environment and consumer perception. Sustainable packaging is becoming an increasingly important and growing area, bringing many opportunities, questions and challenges, as well as the development of guidelines and metrics. This engaging webinar with industry experts and an interactive Q&A will help you advance your sustainable packaging efforts and engage peers to develop shared standards & metrics that optimize success. Don't miss out!

Learning Objectives: We'll address these areas to empower you for successful action:
1. Business case for responsible packaging
2. Guidelines & principles in an organic context
3. Metrics and tools for evaluating materials and design
4. Assessing packaging systems, retail unit to pallet
5. Best practice examples and guidance from peers
6. Opportunities to shape shared industry guidelines for responsible packaging

More details on agenda & speakers here.

Join Us: 1/23 - Board/Member Retreat After Eco-Farm

FTSLA is holding a Board and Member Retreat after Eco-Farm, on 1/23 from 9 am-4 pm. It is located in the Asilomar Conference Center, Evergreen room; Pacific Grove, CA. You can view more details and link to the Eco-Farm site for maps, directions, travel and lodging information online. There is still time to register if you haven't already. To register, or if you have any questions or needs, contact Melissa Schweisguth at FTSLA. We will be sending pre-reading materials

Time to Renew FTSLA Memberships & Sponsorships!

Membership renewal letters and sponsorship requests were sent in January. If you did not receive yours or have questions, please contact Natalie Reitman-White. We look forward to your renewals and continuing to serve you. If you provided a sponsorship in 2009, we thank you deeply and ask that you consider continuing at that level, or increasing if able able. If you haven't sponsored, we appreciate you considering it. We've expanded the benefits for sponsorships to deliver added visibility and educational support to advance your business and sustainability programs.

FTSLA Annual Report - A Year of Sustainable Growth and Progress!

FTSLA released our 2009 Annual Report. Read it here, and check out highlights on our collective impacts:

* FTSLA now has 40 members and grew 30% in 2009
* Members are achieving broad progress and submitting sustainability reports. Members can view these online.
* We launched a webinar series, bringing interactive, expert-led learning to members
* We collaborated with the Rodale Institute, Whole Foods Green Mission, Sustainablebizness.com, Natural Products Expos, the OTA and the Climate Neutral Business Network on presentations and policy engagement around organics and sustainable business.
* We gave 22 presentations for EcoFarm, Organicology, MOSES, All Things Organic, The Organic Summit, Natural Products Expos, Provender Alliance, a Sustainable Business Intensive and other venues, informing stakeholders across the industry about our mission, sustainable business practices and member achievements.

New Logo and Member Logo

FTSLA recently updated our logo and created a 'FTSLA Member' logo that members can use to communicate their participation and commitment to our mission. Members who wish to use the logo should return the logo usage policy that was sent in December. If you did not receive this or have questions, contact Natalie Reitman-White.

Member News

Welcome new members - Straus Creamery, Small Planet Foods, Wedge
Co-op! We will share more information about these businesses in our next newsletter.

Clif Bar & Co's sustainability efforts were recently featured in the San Francisco Western Edition. Read the article here.

Frontier Natural Products Co-op and Simply Organic have contributed $130,000 to The Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at the University of California Santa Cruz to support an annual scholarship for an apprenticeship in ecological horticulture.

GloryBee Foods added two new local, raw honeys to its offerings: Northwest Raw Blackberry and Northwest Raw Blueberry. Both are produced by Oregon beekeepers. This expands GloryBee's local and regional sourcing, and reduces transportation emissions in their distribution chain.

UNFI recently submitted their Annual Sustainability Report to FTSLA. Members may view this in the members' section of our website.

Affiliates

The Organic Trade Association is hiring a Legislative/Advocacy Manager (DC) and a New Media/Consumer Outreach Manager (MA/DC)

Sustainability Resources

The Scala Group recently released a report identifying needs and opportunities to improve efficiency in distribution and related fuel use for the food industry

The US EPA also launched a vehicle emissions simulator program, which can be downloaded free online. This is a great tool for managing fuel use (and related emissions/climate impact) in corporate fleets and distribution.

PSE&G recently published an updated list of 16 ways for small businesses to save energy (and costs). Flex your power and save!

Special Update on ANSI Sustainable Agriculture Standards Development Process

by Jim Pierce, FTSLA Board Member

As the Leonardo Academy's ANSI Sustainable Agriculture Standards Development project prepares for its next meeting (tentatively scheduled for March at the U. of Arkansas), activity on the Criteria Development Subcommittees is ramping up.While the atmosphere of cooperation along the spectrum of representatives continues, there appears to be a building sense of priority to begin addressing "Elephant in the Room" issues such as GMO technology, synthetic inputs and Social Justice. Since the last in person meeting in May 2009 significant progress has been made to develop the framework for the final product: an extensive Reference Library, a Document Control System, a Standard Outline Template, Recommendations for Consistency and Statements of Principle are in place, or close to completion. Now it's time for the three Criteria Development Subcommittees -Environmental, Social and Economic- to begin proposing metrics and practices.

Within the Full Committee there continues to be a fairly well organized "Earthworm" coalition of organic and progressive minded committee members. Together we are working to maintain rigor, transparency and inclusiveness as we confront efforts to stall the process and/or to classify much of non-organic (conventional) agriculture as Sustainable.Recently, when six vacant committee seats were announced, the Earthworms successfully recruited several agricultural progressives to apply. The coming weeks will tell how much fruit our efforts will bear. The Leonardo Academy and the Earthworms, welcome Observer participation especially at the Subcommittee level. For more information, visit the Standards Development Process website. You are, of course, also welcome to contact Jim Pierce to discuss questions, concerns and opinions.

Sustainability News Headlines

Transcripts from National Organic Standards Board meeting (Nov 2009) are now on-line, offering a good reference on the issues and perspectives raised at the meeting

Yale360 recently published an excellent article on the role of pesticides in the mass die-off of bats, bees, amphibians and other species. This highlights the benefit of organic farming methods in protecting species.

Sustainable Industries Journal produced a good review of product lifecycle assessment, calling it one of the top growing issues and management tools for sustainable businesses

The USDA, FDA and CDC recently expressed concerns the overuse of antibiotics in farm animals, calling this a "serious emerging concern" leading to the breeding drug-resistant diseases. This represents added support for organic, which do not allow these practices

For updates on sustainability news and resources, and FTSLA member accomplishments, follow our twitter feed.

Contact Info

Natalie Reitman-White, Executive Director
541.852.0745 or info@ftsla.org