Organic Meadow Cooperative is an

agricultural cooperative An agricultural cooperative, also known as a farmers' co-op, is a cooperative in which farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activity. A broad typology of agricultural cooperatives distinguishes between agricultural service cooperati ...

in Ontario. The cooperative originated in 1989 after local farmers sitting around a kitchen table realized that commercialized farming practices were not

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

for them. They all agreed that it was time to give back to the land and produce food the way that their grandparents had; without any synthetically produced chemicals,

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...

fungicide Fungicides are biocidal chemical compounds or biological organisms used to kill parasitic fungi or their spores. A fungistatic inhibits their growth. Fungi can cause serious damage in agriculture, resulting in critical losses of yield, quality, ...

s and

herbicide Herbicides (, ), also commonly known as weedkillers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds.EPA. February 201Pesticides Industry. Sales and Usage 2006 and 2007: Market Estimates. Summary in press releasMain page fo ...

s. With this thought in mind, they created what is now, one of Canada’s most successful farmer's

co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

s. Organic Meadow began by growing certified organic

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

s and it wasn't until 1995 that Organic Meadow certified organic milk was produced and sent to customers. By word of mouth alone, the enthusiasm for Canada's first organic milk spread fast. In 1998, several other products such as eggs and frozen vegetables were added to the list of Organic Meadow products available.Dale, Geoff
Creativity a key for beginning farmers.
''The Canadian Farm Business Management Council.'' 1 Nov. 2009. There are now more than 65 different certified organic products carrying the Organic Meadow name.

Retailers

* Loblaws * Real Canadian Super Stores * Fortinos *

Zehrs Zehrmart Inc. (doing business as Zehrs Markets or simply Zehrs ), is a Canadian supermarket chain in southern Ontario. The chain has 43 locations and is a part of Loblaw Companies Limited which purchased the Zehrs chain in the mid-1970s. Hist ...

* Whole Foods Market * A&P *

Ultra Food & Drug Ultra Food & Drug was a supermarket and drug store chain in Ontario, Canada from the 1980s to 2008. It was begun in the 1980s as Miracle Ultra Mart, and was an attempt by the Miracle Mart department store and Miracle Food Mart supermarket chain ...

* Metro Stores *

Galleria Superkmarket Galleria may refer to Shopping centres named ''Galleria'' Australia *Galleria Shopping Centre (Perth), Morley, Western Australia *Galleria Shopping Centre (Melbourne), Melbourne, Victoria Canada *Allen Lambert Galleria, Toronto, Ontario *Gal ...

Sobeys Sobeys Inc. is the second largest supermarket chain in Canada, with over 1,500 stores operating across Canada under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales o ...

The Big Carrot ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

Independent Health Food Stores Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independen ...

Longo's Longo Brothers Fruit Markets Inc., known simply as Longo's is a chain of retail supermarkets and grocery delivery service serving Southern Ontario, Canada, controlled by Sobeys parent Empire Company in partnership with the founding Longo fami ...

Distributors

Liberté Natural Foods Liberté may refer to: Geography * Liberté (Paris Métro), a Paris Métro station * Fort-Liberté, the administrative capital of the Nord-Est department, Haiti * Liberté (Hong Kong), a project of residential skyscrapers in Cheung Sha Wan, Hong ...

References

External links

Organic Meadow
Agricultural cooperatives in Canada Dairy products companies of Canada 1989 establishments in Ontario Organizations based in Guelph {{Canada-corp-stub