2008 PRESS RELEASES
April 24, 2008
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA SHOWCASES ITS ORGANIC AGRICULTURE
Contact: Marion Horsley, 804.225.3820
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), Division of Marketing, is showcasing the state’s organic producers and processors at the All Things Organic trade show in Chicago, April 27-29, 2008.
Joining VDACS in its booth are six certified organic producers and processors, which highlight the diversity of products available from Virginia. These include:
Agnes’ Very Very makes Bake’mmm Bagels, the only shelf-stable, unbaked New York-style bagel to receive a U.S. Patent. Willard Scott of the NBC Today Show named them “One of the Country’s Top Ten New York Bagels!”
Mom Made Foods, LLC, the Mid-Atlantic’s first organically-certified producer of fresh frozen foods for children, is introducing its two new product lines, Mom Made Meals and Mom Made Munchies. These join Mom Made for Baby, which has been featured on Oprah and recently named in the top ten baby foods by online e-zine Babyzone.
Piney River Organics celebrated the Grand Opening of the first organic free-range egg laying operation of its kind in the U.S. on April 16, 2008. The state-of-the-art laying operation is located at Black Eagle Farm, a family farm located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Prime Choice Foods manufactures tortilla chips, baked chips, taco shells and pita chips, all made with fresh, clean, filtered water, expeller pressed seed oils, and white, yellow, blue, and red organic corn, using family recipes and years of tradition.
Quail Cove Farms on Virginia’s Eastern Shore raises organic sweet potatoes, mixed vegetables and peanuts. Their sweet potatoes are sold fresh and used in Mom Made baby foods. They are also used for Route 11 Sweet Potato Chips, which was recently named a silver finalist for Outstanding Snack Food by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. Quail Cove Farms was the first to raise organic peanuts and is the only producer of canned, roasted organic peanuts in Virginia.
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange offers a large variety of vegetable and flowers seeds. The company serves as a source for new, high performance varieties, and more importantly, as a preservation tool for collecting and distributing varieties with special qualities: varieties with heritage, flavor, disease-resistance, or other qualities of interest to gardeners.
VDACS is giving out the Virginia Organic Directory at the show. It contains a complete listing of Virginia’s certified organic producers and processors. The Directory is also available online at www.vdacs.virginia.gov/organic/index.shtml.
The sale of organic food and beverages continues to be one of the fastest growing segments of the industry, growing 20 percent a year. U. S. sales are expected to reach $23.6 billion in 2008, according to the Organic Trade Association, sponsor of All Things Organic. The annual show features more than 600 exhibitors of all types of organic products and draws more than 15,000 buyers, distributors and manufacturers from around the world.