Stonyfield Farm's Hirshberg's New Book on Organics Stirs It Up

related articles

"A Heart of Green" is the first in a series of conversations between TheDailyGreen's founder, Deborah Jones Barrow, and leaders in the green consumer revolution.

Can you imagine trying to sell organic yogurt to a supermarket chain 25 years ago?

During the Reagan Revolution?

Neither can I.

Gary Hirshberg CEO of Stonyfield Farms can. He was there at the very beginning of this country's dietary revolt against unhealthy, over additive-ed,faux foods. He's still there, but now he's running one of the most successful food package goods businesses in America.

The journey from hand-milking cows to the corporate suite is the basis for Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save The World, his new book that traces how he's turned "green ideas into greenbacks" and helped reinvent the dairy aisle in supermarkets from coast to coast. It also profiles other green entrepreneurs saving the world one product at a time, from the leading fashion designer Eileen Fisher to Nell Newman, the green goddess of Newman's Own Organics.

Speaking with Gary Hirshberg is a very reassuring thing.

Gary Hirshberg, "CE-YO" of Stonyfield Farm

When I told him I was furious at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's plan to cave into Monsanto's lobbyist efforts to outlaw the labeling of milk that's free of artificial growth hormones, he assured me there was no way that hair-brained ruling would stand. Sure enough, within the week, sanity prevailed in the Keystone State, and the labels will not be banned.

When I told him I was concerned that the looming recession could hurt demand for organics, he assured me that he's seen booms, recessions and everything in between and with 80% of today's consumers concerned with the healthy foods, it's a tidal wave that won't go away.

Twenty five years in the organic food business--you know when to push the panic button and when to chill.

COMMENTS ()