MichaelStraus’s Recent Comments

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  Why was dairy De-Certified?

  Has there been any additional news as to the specific reasons for the de-certification? All the stories (articles, blogs) were very light on details.On Dairy farmers' organic practices called into question posted 2 years, 5 months ago 13 Responses

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  Reusable Bottles - Milk

  When our family dairy went organic and opened our bottling facility in 1994, we decided to use returnable, refillable glass milk bottles. At the time, one of my jobs was to figure out how to expand distribution - it was really complicated.

  We discovered that the distribution and retail infrastructure had all but disappeared over the past 30 years, and that in order to succeed, we needed to recreate that infrastructure - including working with wholesale food distributors to work out hauling / safety / transportation costs; working with retailers to integrate deposit keys in their computerized cashiers; educating our customers on how to wash and return bottles, etc.

  It's been an amazing experience, and very successful (depending on how the milk is distributed - eg. via a grocery store or via home delivery - bottles last anywhere between 10 - 150 times before they disappear, crack, break, etc.  My brother restored ancient bottle washing equipment so that we would be extremely water efficient (using 90% less water than as originally designed in the 1960s).

  Today, now that the infrastructure is back in place, more dairies and beverage companies are starting to bottle and distribute returnable glass (and/or Lexan) bottles. The cost of the milk is greater at the store, in part b/c at every step of the way (distributor, retailer), they take a larger margin   to compensate for the extra handling (ie. taking the bottles back). However, there's also something very satisfying about knowing that the product's pricing is much more 'full-cost' -- that when you buy the milk, there are no hidden costs passed on down the line (eg. garbage fees, recycling fees, excess unrecyclable waste, etc).  

  I've worked on passing the bottle bill in california in 1985 and now, based on my experience with the creamery, I believe that one of the best options for improving beverage container recycling is to fight for something the beverage industry hates the most -- increasing the $$ deposit from measly $0.05 - $0.15 -- to levels that actually MEAN something.  

  It's a cradle-to-cradle approach that pairs increased consumer incentives with mandatory responsibility by manufacturers.

  / Michael Straus, former VP Marketing, Straus Family Creamery (www.StrausFamilyCreamery.com); now: Straus Communications (www.StrausCom.com)On Umbra on returnable bottles posted 2 years, 5 months ago 10 Responses

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  Green Wedding Resources -

  I'd recommend two excellent green wedding and events resources:

  • Portovert magazine (www.portovert.com) - publication specializing in green weddings and events

  • Vibrant Events (www.vibrantevents.net) - green wedding and event consulting

  / Michael Straus
  Straus Communications
  www.StrausCom.com
  www.BeyondOrganic.com
  www.SustainableNew.orgOn Umbra on greening your wedding posted 2 years, 8 months ago 11 Responses

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  US v. Them

  Organics will not be the sole savior of small family farms - it's one of many paths that will need to be followed (organics, local, direct marketing to restaurants and farmers markets, artisan and on-farm production, agri-tourism, farm B&Bs, marketing / sales alliances with larger companies who 'get it') - just to name a few.

  This isn't an issue of big organic v. small organic, local organic v. imported organic, small retailers and wholesalers v. large / corporate players.

  We have to start from the assumption that the entire  food / agriculture production system (from the perspective of the small, mid-sized players) is screwed, and it's going to take a LOT of work, from all sectors (including not only enlightened individuals at corporations and enlightened corporations, but also a tremendous amount of creativity and flexibility from the farming community) to develop and implement a vision that will meet many (and often conflicting) needs.

  / Michael Straus
  Michael@StrausCom.com
  

  • Straus Communications
    
  • Beyond Organic Radio
    
  (and long-time member of this sustainable community)On Big buyers make organic farmers feel smaller than ever posted 3 years, 3 months ago 25 Responses