Stonyfield Farm, Inc., also simply called Stonyfield, is an organic

yogurt Yogurt (; , from , ; also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial Fermentation (food), fermentation of milk. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bacteria produces lactic acid, which acts on milk protein to ...

maker and dairy company located in

Londonderry, New Hampshire Londonderry is a town in western Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. It sits between Manchester and Derry, the largest and fourth-largest communities in the state. The population was 25,826 at the 2020 census. Londonderry is known f ...

, United States. Stonyfield Farm was founded by Samuel Kaymen in 1983, on a 19th-century farmstead in

Wilton, New Hampshire Wilton is a New England town, town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,896 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Like many small New England towns, it grew up arou ...

, as an organic farming school. The company makes the second leading brand of organic yogurt in North America, with 13.3% of the market. The company is owned by the largest dairy company in the world, the French group

Lactalis Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...

History

In 2001,

Groupe Danone Danone S.A. () is a French multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in 1919 in Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris, where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock market index. Some of the company's produ ...

, a French food product company whose brands include

Evian Evian (, ; , stylized as evian) is a French brand that bottles mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. Evian is owned by Danone, a French multinational corporation. In addition to the miner ...

bottled water and Danone/Dannon yogurt, purchased an initial 40% of Stonyfield shares. This was followed with additional purchases such that Group Danone owned the entire company by 2014. Gary Hirshberg is chairman and former president and CEO of Stonyfield Farm. Through its Profits for the Planet program, Stonyfield gives 10% of profits to environmental causes. Its milk comes from New England and

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

dairy farmers through the CROPP (

Organic Valley Organic Valley (OV) is an organic food brand and independent agricultural cooperative, cooperative of Organic farming, organic farmers based in La Farge, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1988 and it is the largest farmer owned organic colle ...

) cooperative. In 2003, Stonyfield Farm acquired Brown Cow. In 2006, Stonyfield entered the French market with its Les 2 Vaches (The Two Cows) brand. It also expanded to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, with yogurt produced in Quebec. In June 2007, Stonyfield Farm launched its first brand in the UK, Stony, Yogurt on a Mission, though the line has since been discontinued. An organic yogurt brand named Glenisk, however, was successfully launched in Ireland. On March 31, 2017,

announced its intention to sell the Stonyfield subsidiary to avoid antitrust claims and to clear the way for the acquisition of more significant U.S. organic food producer

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, cof ...

. In July 2017 it was announced that Danone had agreed to sell Stonyfield to

for $875 million. The sale was completed and Stonyfield is now entirely owned by a second French dairy giant.

Legal Issues

Emails leaked by WikiLeaks revealed that Stonyfield chairman Gary Hirshberg lobbied

John Podesta John David Podesta Jr. (born January 8, 1949) is an American political consultant who served as Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy from 2024 to 2025, having previously served as the Senior Advisor to the President ...

, the chairman of

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

's presidential campaign, to have Hillary Clinton deliver a strong message in support of mandatory labeling of

genetically modified food Genetically modified foods (GM foods), also known as genetically engineered foods (GE foods), or bioengineered foods are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using various methods of genetic engineering. G ...

. As part of the communication, Hirshberg noted that he raised $400,000 for the Clinton campaign. In response to pressure from regulators to decrease the amount of

added sugar Added sugars or free sugars are sugar carbohydrates (caloric sweeteners) added to food and beverages at some point before their consumption. These include added carbohydrates ( monosaccharides and disaccharides), and more broadly, sugars nat ...

in its products, Stonyfield Farm announced a plan to reduce added sugars by 25% in its yogurt line in 2017. In January 2018, Stonyfield launched an anti-GMO campaign featuring children reading scripted messages of questionable validity. In response to criticism of this ad on their Facebook page, Stonyfield deleted comments, blocked responders, and labeled critics as "trolls" who had violated the company's terms of use.

References

External links

* * {{Danone Brand name yogurts Certified B Corporations in the Food & Beverage Industry Organic farming organizations Dairy products companies of the United States Companies based in Rockingham County, New Hampshire Food and drink companies established in 1983 1983 establishments in New Hampshire Londonderry, New Hampshire 2017 mergers and acquisitions Lactalis brands