Bee Sweet Citrus Joins National Campaign to Support Healthy Eating

Bee Sweet Creates Everyday Healthy Eating Habits

News Release Edited By Patrick Cavanaugh

For the third consecutive year, Bee Sweet Citrus is eager to help kick off the Power Your Lunchbox Promise with Produce for Kids. The Power Your Lunchbox Promise, a national campaign, aims to encourage families and their children to eat healthier lunches, afterschool snacks and everyday dinners.

“Bee Sweet Citrus is very excited to take part in such an amazing, health-oriented campaign,” said Bee Sweet Citrus Director of Communications Monique Bienvenue. “For the past five years, Produce for Kids has done an amazing job of sharing healthy tips and recipes with families and educators. We’re eager to see how our combined efforts can help encourage healthy habits at home and in the classroom.”

The Power Your Lunchbox campaign ends on September 23rd. Throughout the campaign, families will be encouraged to take an online promise that supports healthy eating at home and at school. For every promise made, sponsors of the Power Your Lunchbox Promise will make a collective $1 donation to Feeding America programs that support families and children.

In addition to the online promotion, Produce for Kids will be marketing register dietitian-approved recipes and nutrition tips on their online and social media platforms. Supporters are encouraged to use the #PowerYourLunchbox hashtag throughout the campaign to help spread awareness on their own social media accounts as well.

“As we celebrate the 5th year of the Power Your Lunchbox Promise, and over 1 million meals donated to Feeding America through the program, we could not have made such an impact without the support of passionate partners like Bee Sweet Citrus,” said Amber Bloom, the digital marketing manager for Produce for Kids. “Together, we’re creating a healthier generation one promise, lunchbox and meal donated at a time.”

California Ag Today2018-08-20T16:31:29-07:00August 20th, 2018|

National Dairy Crisis Continues—Part 2

National Dairy Crisis—A Way Forward, Part 2

By Laurie Greene, Editor

In our continuing coverage of the national dairy crisis marked by high inventories and below-production costs-prices, industry proponents are considering ‘market responsive’ ways to help with inventories, such as donating to the Feeding America organization or to other food banks. Tom Van Nortwick, owner and publisher of Fresno-based Agribusiness Publications, which has published a dairy magazine for 35 years, has been closely involved with hundreds of dairy producers from 2009 through June 2014 in the organization and establishment of the National Dairy Producers Organization. This nationwide organization focuses on keeping dairies profitable especially when market conditions squash dairy pricing.

Van Nortwick, who believes donating excess milk would be relatively easy and painless for the dairy industry, commented, “We are not going to specially package it; it is going to be what it is and where it is. It is then their responsibility to deal with it after that. The milk has already been processed and stored, and it’s waiting to be sold.”

In picking up all these excess dairy products, food banks such as Feeding America would dramatically reduce inventories. Van Nortwick explained, “We have found in studying these inventory levels, that when inventory gets to a certain level, it starts to impact the value of what someone is willing to pay me—a dairy producer—for the milk that I am pulling out of our cow today. And so we are recommending to our dairy producers that it might take literally 15 cents to impact the price of milk today which is currently $5 under the price of production and $7-$10 away from profitability.”

“The idea,” he continued, “is to have producers put up 15 cents per hundredweight into a savings account, which, when needed, would buy up excess inventory on the finished product side—the milk, cheese, milk powder and butter markets. Producers would then donate the purchased product to churches, food banks and Feeding America.

Tom Van Nortwick further expounded, “What if you invest $1 and get a $10 return? What if you invested 15 cents and got a $10 return? Is that a great plan? That is a great plan. The ‘investment’ is actually buying up [excess] inventory from the inventory [of processors and manufacturers] so it is no longer there. Because all of that is tracked, everybody knows how much there is and where it is. So if you are watching the market, you know if you should be buying more cheese, or making more cheese, or more powder. GM doesn’t make more cars than the dealers can sell; otherwise GM shuts the plant down. Everybody screams and hollers, but guess what? They know if they are going to survive, they have got to back off and not make more cars until the dealers, the selling organizations, pick up the slack.”

Van Nortwick says the dairy industry needs to focus more on the milk after it leaves the farm, “It is vitally important that we in the dairy producers sector start paying attention to what is going on with the milk, and the products being manufactured from milk after it leaves the farm. We are doing a wonderful job in how we produce it, the care and keeping of the animals, the sustainability of the environment, the recycling of the waste material; all of that we do better than anybody else in the world.”

“Do we need to be ever watchful?” he asked. “We have a new program called, ‘Picture Perfect’ in the industry, especially agriculture. All of agriculture needs to be ‘Picture Perfect.’ Do you know why? ‘Because everyone has a camera. Everyone’s got their own video recorder and anything can be seen anytime and filmed anytime. And a picture taken can go viral tomorrow, or tonight—even while we are asleep. So, we have to be picture perfect. We already do that.

He implored, “I want to say to dairy producers across the country, ‘You win. You make the most. You make the best. But that is not what we need right now in order to be sustainable. We need you to pay attention to your milk and what happens with your milk after it leaves the farm.”

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Links:

National Dairy Producers Organization

Feeding America

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:17:14-07:00February 25th, 2016|

BASF Helps Fight Hunger With $75,000 Donation To Feeding America

Contribution will help provide nearly 340 tons of fresh fruits and vegetables to U.S. food banks

By Laurie Greene, CalAgToday Editor, Reporter

BASF is donating $75,000 to Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, to help feed struggling families and individuals throughout the U.S.

“Hunger is a very real problem for tens of millions of people in America, including low-income families and seniors,” said Scott Kay, Vice President, U.S. Crop Protection for BASF. “Through our contribution to Feeding America, we can help provide healthy fruits and vegetables to people and communities who may not have regular access to them. In many ways, this partnership is an extension of the work we do every day with growers to help them feed our hungry world population.”

The donation will support Feeding America’s National Produce Program, an initiative that helps with planning, transportation and logistics to ensure fresh produce deliveries to the 200 member food banks around the country.

The commitment from BASF will help Feeding America provide 675,000 pounds of produce to families and individuals in need. The donation includes $5,000 in contributions from BASF grower customers who chose to be part of this donation.

“BASF was a natural fit to partner with Feeding America as we continue to focus on providing more nutritious fruits and vegetables for the clients we serve,” said Nancy Curby, vice president of corporate partnerships for Feeding America. “Their support will help extend the reach of our National Produce Program and help more Americans in need.”

Employees at the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, BASF headquarters also raised more than $18,000 for the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina through a virtual food drive and a special showing of the movie “Farmland.” The BASF Crop Protection division is also sponsoring the local ABC network affiliate WTVD’s “Heart of Carolina” food drive during the holiday season to collect food and raise money for the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina and the Second Harvest Food Bank.

“Our business and our employees are very pleased to partner with the many dedicated food bank volunteers who share our commitment to feeding those facing hunger, not only during the holidays, but all year long,” Kay said.

BASF’s Crop Protection division provides innovative solutions in crop protection, seed treatment and biological control as well as solutions to manage water, nutrients, plant stress, pest control and public health. The Crop Protection division supports growers to optimize agricultural production, improve their business efficiency and enhance the quality of life for a growing world population. Further information can be found on the web at www.agro.basf.com or through our social media channels.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:32:11-07:00December 11th, 2014|