- Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States since about 1850.

- Until fairly recently, all Christmas trees came from the forest.

- More than 2,000 trees are usually planted per acre. On an average 1,000-1,500 of these trees will survive. In the North, maybe, 750 trees will remain. Almost all trees require shearing to attain the Christmas tree shape. At six to seven feet, trees are ready for harvest. It takes six to ten years of fighting heavy rain, wind, hail and drought to get a mature tree.

- Growing Christmas trees provides a habitat for wildlife.

- Recycled trees have been used to make sand and soil erosion barriers and been placed in ponds for fish shelter.

- Christmas trees remove dust and pollen from the air.

- 100,000 people are employed in the Christmas tree industry.

- 98 percent of all Christmas trees are grown on farms.

- In 1856 Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States, was the first President to place a Christmas tree in the White House.

- President Coolidge started the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the White House lawn in 1923.

- In 2002, 21% of United States households had a real tree, 48% had an artificial tree and 32% had no tree.

- 73 million new Christmas trees will be planted this year.

- You should not burn your Christmas tree in the fireplace; it can contribute to creosote buildup.

- Artificial trees will last for six years in your home, but for centuries in a landfill.

- Thomas Edison’s assistant, Edward Johnson, came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees in 1882.

- Teddy Roosevelt banned the Christmas tree from the White House for environmental reasons.

- In the first week, a tree in your home will consume as much as a quart of water per day.

- One Christmas tree decoration was banned by the government. Tinsel contained lead at one time, now it’s made of plastic.

- 93% of real Christmas tree consumers recycle their tree in community recycling programs, their garden or backyard.

- 30-35 million Real Christmas Trees are sold in the U.S. every year.

- In the United States, there are more than 4,000 Christmas tree recycling programs.

- In 2007, 23% of real Christmas trees sold were from chain stores, 9% by non-profit groups. 12% from retail lots and 21% from choose and cut farms.

- An estimated 175,000 Real Christmas Trees are sold via e-commerce or catalogue and shipped mail-order.

- In 2007 the retail market value of the 31.3 million trees purchased at the mean average purchase price of $41.50 was $1.3 billion.

- An acre of Christmas trees provides for the daily oxygen requirements of 18 people.

Christmas Tree links for making an eco-friendly choice this winter:

http://www.green-talk.com/2008/12/12/buy-a-rea-christmas-tree-just-like-charlie-brown/
http://www.christmastree.org/debate.cfm

2010 has been dominated by extreme natural phenomena, becoming known as the year of “global weirding”. Heat waves are just one of the many dramatic forces in weather that have been wreaking havoc across the world, scorching populations from South America to the Middle East. Fifteen countries have set new records for high temperatures so far this year, and two have matched their prior record.

The ramifications of these weather conditions are extremely significant and are becoming more frequent and impacting with greater severity. Peaches, nectarines, and plums can actually reverse their sugar content when the temperature goes over 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Oranges need a certain number of cool nights in order for the sugar and color to be just perfect. Apples that experience too much rain and cold during bloom can show condition problems months later after they come out of CA storage. Strawberries will literally melt on the vine if temperatures get too far above 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

Weather affects agriculture – that’s not a secret or even a mystery. We all understand that . . . well, until we notice that our favorite items are unavailable or cost much more than we expected. Our food is intrinsically connected to the forces of nature – we see this every time we purchase that strawberry or stock that apple. The quality of our food depends not only on the soil and water, but the weather conditions that occur daily throughout the world. Huge price and availability fluctuations are becoming the norm in our business, as the earth’s climate indeed seems to be changing.

While farmers scramble to adapt to the changing climate, retailers must do the same. If growers come up short, so will you. We will all be impacted. As retailers of fresh organic produce, it’s important to be adaptable and flexible. As weather patterns become more unpredictable (and all indications point to this being the norm) it becomes increasingly more important for you to become knowledgeable on weather and climate and how it affects our food supply. Shoppers will easily understand that there are no blueberries today when it is explained to them how recent drought conditions have limited this years crop. They tend to be less understanding, however, if our only response isthat ” they just aren’t available right now.” Increasingly, our success in the key role we play within our communities’ food supply will be linked to our ability and openness to become an information resource on farming conditions; most particularly, how Climate Change impacts our food supply. Information is power! Let’s breathe it in . . . and share it!

On the surface these numbers are pretty stunning. I am always a tad cautious about polls and surveys because how the question is asked can be a very significant variable in what type of response you receive. Still, these numbers are quite strong and suggest that we are currently lagging behind in the message war when it comes to organic.

So, how does such misinformation get out there? Frankly, I fault the media. I realize that’s an easy target, and to be clear, I’m not referring here to industry publications, but rather mainstream national media publications. Their existence thrives on stories that portray controversy or tension. Presenting both sides of an issue (even if one side is so wrong it shouldn’t even be presented as relevant) and finding the “tense-spot” in the argument is how these publications seem to survive. From newspapers to magazines, I have read at least a dozen articles this year still questioning the legitimacy of organic foods. Are pesticides really that harmful? The answer is unequivocally, yes! Any true scholar or scientist will confirm that the use of pesticides in our food supply can cause serious health problems and is destructive to our land and water. That’s it. This is not something that should be continually debated by reasonable people. Facts are facts, and just because you don’t like the outcome of where the facts lead, does not mean that they are incorrect. As the old saying goes, “you are entitled to your own story, but not your own facts.” With all this said, these mainstream publications reach a wide audience and are taken seriously by those who read them.

Organic is typically tossed about in the media with controversy and tension headlining the story. Rarely is there a “feel good” piece written on the subject. So over time, depending on which snippet or headline a consumer gleans from the story, they come to understand organic food as something that may be illegitimate in its claims, certainly over-priced, and maybe not even as nutritious as conventional food. Even as organic is gaining ground in the marketplace, it is also gaining ground in controversy.

On the other hand, “natural” is able to take advantage of “organic” getting beat up a bit. Even though natural is a very vague, unregulated, and often dubious claim, it’s looking better and better to shoppers because no one is really attacking it. It’s unscathed. Sure, within the industry there are huge questions and an ongoing debate, but in the world-at-large, natural is benefiting from all of the negative and controversial attention being focused on organic.

We need to take control of the messaging on organic foods, and by we, I mean all of us involved in the organic industry. I particularly look to the retailers, after all, you have the most direct contact with consumers. You are face to face with them everyday. You touch their food and you can also touch their lives. At the very least, you can provide an opportunity for them to understand the food they eat. We all need to support this effort. Think about this: more people (at least according to a survey that we shouldn’t take lightly) believe that they are better served by buying foods labeled as natural (this could be Corn Puffs even) rather than organic, and by a significant margin. We can change this, and we need to. It will take reaching out more to customers, initiating more interaction with them, sharing information, asking questions, and just generally getting more involved in their food choices. In a nutshell, be more hands on with your customers. The idea that shoppers looking for organic and natural foods tend to be knowledgeable about the foods they eat just took a bit of a hit. We have all been served a wake up notice. Shoppers need help. So let’s get passionate about changing this conversation. Let’s put organic foods first in the minds of our shoppers. And who knows, along the way, we just may all sell a little more organic food . . . even better, consumers may eat a little more organic food.

Biochar is charcoal produced by heating wood, grass, cornstalks or other organic matter in the absence of oxygen. The heat drives off gases that can be collected and burned to produce energy. It leaves behind charcoal rich in carbon.

Amazonian Indians mixed a combination of charcoal and organic matter into the soil to improve soil fertility, a fact that got the scientists interested in studying biochar’s modern potential.

The study involved a “life-cycle analysis” of biochar production, a comprehensive cradle-to-grave look at its potential in fighting global climate change and all the possible consequences of using the material. It concludes that several biochar production systems have the potential for being an economically viable way of sequestering carbon — permanently storing it — while producing renewable energy and enhancing soil fertility.

As much as 12 percent of the world’s human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be sustainably offset by producing biochar, a charcoal-like substance made from plants and other organic materials. That’s more than what could be offset if the same plants and materials were burned to generate energy, concludes a study published August 10 in the journal Nature Communications.

Nitrous oxide accounts for about 60% of the total emissions from the agricultural sector. Nitrous oxide is produced naturally in soils through the microbial processes. If it turns out that biochar is a reasonable solution in the farming sector, this could be a huge deal. Stay tuned.

On Tuesday, the USDA announced a nationwide recall involving 380,000 pounds of deli meat, sold through Wal-Mart and supplied from Zemco Industries in Buffalo, NY. There have not been any illnesses reported from the meat so far, but the USDA said, ““Consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, an uncommon but potentially fatal disease. Healthy people rarely contract listeriosis. However, listeriosis can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea.” Listeria monocytogenes is what was detected in the meat samples collected by inspectors.

Clearly, we have very serious food safety issues in our country that need to be addressed – and addressed immediately. If people cannot trust their food supply and feel nervous and cautious about shopping in their local markets for fear of getting sick, then we have a major problem. If we want to have a conversation about National Security in this country, then issues concerning the health and well being of our food supply need to be part of the dialog. It’s difficult to think of anything that would make someone feel more insecure than having to constantly be concerned about whether or not the very food that they put into their bodies will cause them harm. An uneasy feeling of “what’s next” becomes the norm. This level of tainted food in our system is simply unacceptable – there is no other way to put it. At a time when many voices are crying for deregulation, certainly within our food industry, what we need is much tighter regulation with much more stringent oversight . . . which is a perfect seguay into this announcement last Thursday from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on the appointment of Dr. Elisabeth Hagen as Under Secretary for Food Safety.

“There is no higher priority at USDA than ensuring that Americans have access to a safe and healthy food supply, and Dr. Hagen’s background as the Chief Medical Officer and senior executive within USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service will enable her to successfully lead the effort to develop and execute the agency’s scientific and public health agenda, and continue to build the coordination with public health partners at federal, state, and local level needed to achieve the objectives of President Obama’s Food Safety Working Group.”

I’m guessing that Dr. Hagen won’t need much direction in terms of prioritization on her first day at her new job. Here’s hoping that the Department of Agriculture and our Congress get serious about regulating large agribusiness! It is indeed an issue of National Security.

Sun Chips New Bag – This has been the big buzz this week, not just in food news, but in national news as well. Frito Lay has produced a 100% compostable chip bag for its SunChips packaging. The bag is made from 90% renewable, plant based materials, and as a result, the bag will completely break down into compost in a hot, active compost pile in approximately 14 weeks. Although the bag was launched on Earth Day in the U.S., that actually received very little attention from the press; but this week, the big stir was, get ready, the sound of the bag. Apparently the bag is rather noisy, and this seems to be quite a problem for many shoppers. So, just to be clear, the damage to our environment from all of the other plastic, non compostable bags doesn’t seem to be that much of a bother, but, a 100% compostable bag is bothersome because it makes a little more noise while you eat them. To the credit of Frito Lay, when asked to comment on the “noisy” packaging, their reply was “that is the sound of change.”

What is Denny’s Thinking ? – This week restaurant chain Denny’s updated its value menu (and updated may not actually be the correct word here) with its new sandwich, The Fried Cheese Melt, made with “four fried mozzarella sticks and melted American cheese grilled between two slices of sourdough bread.” It’s also served with french fries and a side of marinara sauce. So, just to re-state, Denny’s new sandwich contains deep-fried cheese sticks inside a pan-fried grilled cheese sandwich. All of this magnificent ingenuity and innovation comes on the heels of recent reports detailing the huge (pardon the pun) obesity problem in our country. This is a little like if suddenly an auto maker today decided that the perfect car for these times would be to create something that’s just a tad more roomier than a Hummer. For those who count calories, the sandwich clocks in at 900 calories (actually 895, but at this point can 5 calories matter). If you clean your plate and eat all of your fries and sauce as well, then you just put down 1,500 calories. Be afraid.

Whole-Wheat takes the lead – According to the Nielsen Company, in July, 52-week dollar sales of packaged wheat bread topped those of white bread for the first time in U.S. supermarkets. Wheat bread sales increased 0.6 percent to $2.6 billion, while white bread sales declined 7 percent to $2.5 billion. White bread is still ahead in volume, but the margin is shrinking. Americans bought 1.5 billion packages of white bread in the last year, a 3 percent decrease, and 1.3 billion packages of wheat bread, a 5 percent increase. Although all wheat bread is not equal, and some just barely qualify as whole-wheat, it’s still an encouraging trend. Just imagine how much more whole-wheat bread could be sold if the new Fried Cheese Melt replaced its sourdough offering with wheat.

Have a great weekend . . . and stay informed.

Greet Your Customers
The most important aspect in any type of sales environment is to connect with your customers. It’s important that they feel welcome and comfortable in your department. The initial step in the sales process is to greet the customer. It sounds simple – and it can be – but you would be amazed at how often the first words to a customer are “may I help you?” In response to that simple question, the first words coming from the customer are often “no thanks.” Providing the customer with an opportunity to say “NO” is the cardinal sin of greeting. You place yourself at a huge disadvantage to further try and meet this customer’s needs. The key to getting involved with customers is to create a comfortable environment for them from the very first interaction. Begin with something as simple as “hello”, “welcome”, “good morning”, or “how are you today?” The goal is to connect.

Assess the Customers Needs
Once you have successfully greeted your customers it’s time to assess what they are shopping for. In this phase of the selling process you are looking to connect your product with the customer. To be effective on the sales floor it’s critical that you’re able to make the transition from greeting the customer to helping them with their decision-making process. The tools most needed during this phase are listening, watching and responding accordingly. The goal here is simple – you help the customer figure out exactly what they want. Notice where the customer has landed, and what item(s) they’re looking at.

Involve the Customer with Your Product
Once you have determined what the shopper is looking for it is time to connect them with the product. You want the customer to interact with your merchandise! You want to present your product in the most appealing way possible. In produce the best way to do this is through sampling. For example, you may notice someone looking through your navel orange display. You approach them and offer them a sample of the fruit. As well, you may add that perhaps they would also like to try a red navel orange – something they have never had before. If all goes well your customer leaves with a bag full of both oranges.

Create Lifetime Customers
The final phase of the selling process is critical – you connect the customer with your store – you change the dynamic of the relationship from customer to client. You establish a relationship that goes beyond today’s sale. This part of the process is particularly important with first-time shoppers in your store. The moment a customer engages in the buying process with your products you begin a relationship with them. Ask them to let you know how their kids liked the red navel oranges the next time that they are in the store (implying that you are confident that they will be a return customer). Make sure and recall their name and use it when saying goodbye.

Throughout the course of the year you will most likely see some new faces shopping in your produce department. Will they turn out to be shoppers who are just looking for a few items, or will they become long term clients? Perhaps it’s time to revisit your sales strategy and make sure that you are maximizing your relationship opportunities with your customers!

And composting is not just limited to personal gardening. More and more large-scale farms (even conventional ones) are seeing the benefit of having rich healthy soil and composting is finding its way onto some pretty large fields. It used to be that cover crops were the way to go for large scale farming, and for some reason, growers tended to see cover crops and composting as an either/or scenario. Now, because cover crops can require extra water as well as create a fairly complicated growing schedule, composting is definitely gaining in popularity. It’s so popular in fact, that they even do it at the White House. Check out the video for a little visual tour of the White House composting operation. Pretty cool.

And while Farmers Markets are enjoying a boon with the surge in demand for locally grown products, there is also the issue that many markets are facing – ensuring that organic product that is being sold as organic is really what it claims to be. What many Farmers Markets are now experiencing is a microcosm of what the organic industry in general went through during the 1970’s and early 1980’s. During this time, well before any rules or regulations were strictly enforced, there were certainly those who took advantage of the system. To be fair, most growers were very legitimate organic farmers, leading the way and pioneering the organic industry to what it is today. As with any field (particularly without regulations) there will always be a small number who place profitability over integrity, and we certainly saw this occurring, particularly during the 1970’s. Fortunately these folks were rooted out, the National Organic Standards were put in place, and we are where we are today – tremendously improved, but not perfect.

The challenge that farmers markets face is that, while on one hand, most of the participants are community farmers who completely abide by the organic rules and whose farms are certified; there are some who are managing to take advantage of a fairly unregulated environment, and choosing to mislead the market goers about how their food was raised in order to charge higher prices.

You will also see some growers, particularly at the smaller markets, who can’t afford the costs of certification, and even though they have been farming according to organic methods for years, they can’t promote their food as organic according the the National Organic Standards. Dan Best, the coordinator of Certified Farmers’ Markets of Sacramento lays out the problem best when he said “I’ve got several growers who everyone knows to be organic, but they don’t use the label because they can’t meet all the regulation requirements. “We want to be sure people aren’t misrepresenting their produce, we want to be safe, but the current regulations are a huge cost to growers.”

In March, an internal audit of the National Organic Program found numerous lapses in regulation enforcement. Even as enforcement looks to improve, it is unlikely that Farmers Markets will be getting strong attention anytime soon. In the meantime, let’s celebrate Farmers Markets this week, and acknowledge what a great opportunity they provide for the growers, the consumers and their communities. We simply want to make sure, as always, that if someone is led to believe that they are buying organic food, then that is indeed what they are getting. I am not advocating against farmers markets at all – quite the opposite. It’s exciting to see that they are on the rise, but as can happen, it seems they are experiencing some growing pains, and how they manage this growth will go a long way towards their overall success.

Support your local growers, and if your shopping at a market and looking to buy food from someone you are not familiar with (who is claiming that their wares are organic) don’t be shy about asking a few questions. It protects you and it also protects the organic farmers who are legitimately raising their food according to standards.