In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

EDITORIAL

In Business, July-August, 2005, Vol. 27, No. 4, p. 2

THINKING LOCAL FIRST
Sustainable Lancaster in Pennsylvania is a newly formed organization based on the concept of creating a local living economy, e-mails coordinator Fritz Schroeder who has been working closely with the Sustainable Business Network and BALLE in Philadelphia. “I've also been an avid reader of your

publication for over five years,” he adds.
This summer, the group participated in its first campaign - the Regional “Buy Fresh, Buy Local Week” with three Lancaster nonprofits, Sustainable Lancaster, Friends of Central Market and the Threshold Foundation.
Long recognized for its agricultural community, Lancaster is working hard to preserve this heritage. Notes Schroeder: “The weeklong campaign included Lancaster Central Market, the oldest continually running market in the U.S., Threshold's Dig It! Community Urban garden, several local CSAs, as well as many restaurants. Support was overwhelmingly positive. Sustainable Lancaster hopes to use the inherent benefit of buying local food to continue the conversation about 'Thinking Local First' and will be delving into energy independence and renewable alternatives this fall. We also would love to spread the word about the good work In Business is doing. For more information, please contact: sustainablelancaster@juno.com.”
This issue of our magazine opens with two articles about natural foods companies - Oregon's Columbia Gorge Organic and Maine's GrandyOats - and their challenges in getting shelf space nationwide. Both enterprises are all-organic, family-owned and bucking the Big Guys. As the article explains, a group of natural food retailers gave Columbia Gorge 12 tips that included this advice: Stay organic; Create high-quality products that meet market demands; Identify and serve markets well; Choose distributors that meet retailers' needs; Price competitively but beware of “underselling yourselves;” and Let people know about you and your farm.
GrandyOats partners Aaron Anker and Nat Pierce (see p. 14) now have 55 new products with a special focus on sales of bulk items. “We want to grow without having to wear helmets,” says Anker, who also answers the question: “Why get into the natural products industry now ... when it's gotten so competitive?” One reason - “Being small can be good; people are tired of the big companies.”
As you continue through the pages of this issue, you'll come across a wide variety of sustainable businesses - GreenFuel Technologies, Edenspace Systems, Ecolotree, MountainLumber, Boston's Hyatt Regency with its food residuals composting helped by Herb's Disposal at the back end, Energy Trust of Oregon, Inc. and Eco-Cell that is working with zoos to raise money to benefit animals while putting old cell phones to good use.
There are lots of models out there who in the words of Merrian Fuller in her BALLE BEAT column (p. 31) are “bringing the lessons home.” -- JG