"Companies like Dean and WhiteWave, that do billions of dollars' worth of business, can 'buy influence' in the organic community the same way their lobbyists buy influence in Washington with large campaign contributions," Kastel added.
It's been estimated that Dean Foods/WhiteWave, over the last 10 years, has been the largest corporate contributor to organic nonprofits, either directly or by laundering their money through Farm Aid, where Silk and Horizon brands had long been marquee sponsors of their concert.
"MOSES has been an important part of Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest becoming 'Ground Zero' in the burgeoning organic movement," Kees said. "They deserve our respect and admiration."
"We know their board and leadership. They are respected in our community and I'm sure they will take appropriate corrective action to make sure that large and powerful organizations don't use their conference for 'greenwashing' of less than ethical activities," Kees affirmed.
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Midwest organic farmer cooperatives that handle grain, including soybeans, are quoted in the authoritative Cornucopia report Behind the Bean, testifying that Dean/WhiteWave purchasing officials told the farmers that if they could not match the prices for imported Chinese soybeans that they would lose the Silk account.
After cutting off some of their domestic purchases, Dean/WhiteWave claimed that they purchased Chinese soybeans because of a "shortage" of U.S. produced beans, a statement contradicted by the co-op officials.
"After the melamine scandal we don't even trust the Chinese for ingredients in our dog and cat food let alone the organic food we are feeding our children," stated Cornucopia's Mark Kastel.
During a surplus of organic milk, in 2009, Dean/WhiteWave sent a letter to all dairy farmers they were purchasing milk from in Nebraska stating that they would arbitrarily discontinue picking up their milk even though the producers were in the middle of a three-year contract. After securing legal advice, with the help of The Cornucopia Institute and the Center for Rural Affairs, the farmers were able to negotiate a settlement, for cents on the dollar with the dairy behemoth, doing $12 billion worth of annual sales at the time. With one exception, without a market for conventional or organic milk, all of these farm families were forced out of the dairy business.
The Cornucopia Institute filed a new formal legal complaint with the USDA, in February, after learning that the cows, at their Paul, Idaho CAFO, were being milked three times per day, and confined between two of the three milkings every day -- in conflict with federal requirements. Fresh, high producing cows were being milked four times per day and were being confined 100% of the time.
"Real organic farmers can't produce 26,000 pounds of milk, on average, from their cows," Cornucopia's dairy policy expert Kastel said. "This outfit is gaming the system. They are placing ethical dairy farmers here in Wisconsin, Minnesota and surrounding states at a competitive disadvantage."
In addition to its mostly organic line of Horizon products, and its few organic options in the Silk line of soy, almond, coconut and hazelnut beverages, WhiteWave markets a myriad of popular conventional products including International Delight nondairy coffee creamer and a new line of creamers that will carry the Dunkin' Donuts label.
WhiteWave recently announced the acquisition of another major organic brand, Earthbound Farms.
"If you read the ingredient list on their dairy imitations you will know why many of us in Wisconsin refer to the faux food products as 'white death,'" Kastel lamented.
Signage in the new upscale Colorado headquarters of WhiteWave proclaims, "Every Day We're Changing " The Way the World Eats for the Better."
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