Public Relations Specialist Elizabeth McMullen and Sustainability Funding and Communications Specialist Garland Mason of Organic Valley Cooperative join Mary and Eric to share about the common ties that are essential to the farmer-owned cooperative. Cooperation and a strong commitment to the sustainability of small and mid-size family farms, local culture, and community are the most basic ties. In this episode, Elizabeth and Garland outline the history of Organic Valley and how the business started as a vegetable cooperative in 1988 and now has over 1,500 dairy farmer-member owners in 29 states with an average herd size of 70 cows per farm. 

Preserving small family farms was an impetus for Organic Valley's start. In carrying that mission forward, Organic Valley assists farmer member-owners to be sustainable and profitable through on-farm practices such as solar, composting, solid and liquid separation of manure, reduced tillage, and nutrition management to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and gas emissions. Most recently, OV farmers have experimented with Agolin Naturu, which is an organic certified enteric feed supplement made of essential oils of coriander, clove, and carrot that results in better fermentation, digestibility, and less burping.

To learn more about Organic Valley's commitment to cooperation, sustainability, and soil health, please visit https://www.organicvalley.coop/  The website also provides recipes and a searchable database of Organic Valley farms near you.

As always, we encourage you to cooperate with other farmers and follow the four core soil health principles: 1) Keep the Soil Covered -- Cover crops are our friends; 2) Minimize soil disturbance -- Practice no-till or gentle tillage in your field or garden as much as possible; 3) Maximize living roots year-round -- to improve biodiversity and life in the soil; and 4) Energize with diversity -- through crop rotation and/or livestock integration. Yes, soil health is a great conversation starter because we can all be 4 The Soil and for the future! 

To enjoy recent 4 The Soil blog posts and additional soil health resources, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/blog and https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. For questions about soil and water conservation practices and outdoor educational activities for youth, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.