Horizon Organic is an American company, founded in 1991, that produces

organic milk Organic milk refers to a number of milk products from livestock raised according to organic farming methods. In most jurisdictions, use of the term "organic" or equivalents like "bio" or "eco", on any product is regulated by food authorities. In ...

and other

organic food Organic food, ecological food or biological food are food and drinks produced by methods complying with the standards of organic farming. Standards vary worldwide, but organic farming features practices that cycle resources, promote ecological ...

products. Horizon Organic is the largest supplier of organic milk in North America. Its products are sold in supermarkets and grocery stores. Horizon produces

in Maryland and also purchases the majority of its organic milk (more than 99 percent) from more than 700 dairies in 23 states. Prior to being acquired by (now former parent company)

Dean Foods Dean Foods was an American food and beverage company and the largest dairy company in the United States. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company maintained plants and distributors in the United States. Dean Foods had 66 manufacturing faciliti ...

, Horizon was a public company and owner of the organic dairy brands: Juniper Valley Farms, The Organic Cow of Vermont and United Kingdom brand

Rachel's Organic Rachel's is an organic dairy products company based in Aberystwyth, Wales. Founded by local farmers but now a subsidiary of French company Lactalis, it was the United Kingdom's first certified organic dairy. Background The Williams family took ...

. Horizon Organic's products are certified organic by the

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

and advertised as free of antibiotics, growth hormones and pesticides.

History

Horizon was founded in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

in 1991 and began selling nationally in 1994. The company sponsored a local K-8 school's extracurricular activities and even named their mascot, the Horizon Heifers. The company went public in 1998 and was acquired by

in 2004. In 2006, the

Organic Consumers Association The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is a non-profit advocacy group for the organic agriculture industry based in Minnesota. The organization's members include subscribers to their online newsletters, volunteers, supporters, and retail outlets ...

organized a boycott of Horizon Organic (and

Aurora Organic Dairy Aurora Organic Dairy is an American company, based in Boulder, Colorado, which operates large factory farms, each with thousands of dairy cows, in Colorado and Texas. The company supplies and packages private-label, store-brand, organic dairy pr ...

), alleging that the company was not following organic standards.Lorraine Helle
Horizon dairy targeted for lacking organic practices
''Dairy Reporter/Food Navigator'', 18 August 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2006Andrew Marti
Organic*
''Chicago Tribune'', 20 August 2006. Retrieved 18 June 2014. In August, the

Cornucopia Institute The Cornucopia Institute is a national food and farm policy watchdog group working to uphold the integrity of organic, local, and other forms of alternative agriculture. The 501(c)(3) non-profit organization is headquartered in Cornucopia, Wiscons ...

filed a complaint with the USDA alleging that Horizon Organic violated

National Organic Program The National Organic Program (NOP) is the federal regulatory framework in the United States of America governing organic food. It is also the name of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) program r ...

standards in reference to the amount of time their dairy cows should spend in pasture.Mark Chedia
Suppliers of organic milk draw criticism
''Orlando Sentinel'', 17 August 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2006. Chris Gu
Shore farm accused of skirting standards
''The Baltimore Sun'', 28 August 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2006. As a result of the boycott, one of the largest natural food cooperatives,

PCC Natural Markets PCC Community Markets is a food cooperative based in Seattle, Washington. With over 58,000 members, it is the largest consumer-owned food cooperative in the United States. Both members and non-members may shop at the retail locations, but membe ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, decided to discontinue Horizon Organic products from their customer offerings.Melissa Alliso
PCC says Horizon milk will be pulled
''The Seattle Times'', 11 August 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2006. Karen Robinson-Jacob

''The Dallas Morning News'', 19 August 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2006. In 2009, (now former) parent company Dean Foods was sued by a group of dairymen for allegedly creating a monopoly on milk in the Southeastern U.S.Burnett, John
"Independent Farmers Feel Squeezed By Milk Cartel"
''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'',

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

. 20 August 2009. In 2010 Horizon published "Organic Standards of Care" guidelines which outlines its livestock and organic dairy practices In 2013,

WhiteWave Foods Danone North America is a consumer packaged food and beverage company based in White Plains, New York, U.S., that manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells branded premium dairy products (including yogurt), plant-based foods and beverages, c ...

(owner of the Horizon brand) became an independent company from Dean Foods. In July 2016 it was announced that the French company

Danone Danone S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock market index. Some of t ...

would purchase WhiteWave Foods for $10.4 billion. The acquisition was completed in April 2017 and newly formed company is named DanoneWave

References

External links

* {{Group Danone Agriculture companies of the United States Dairy products companies of the United States 1991 establishments in Colorado Organic farming organizations Organic farming in the United States Groupe Danone brands