I'm here with an Advisory Council member, Christie Zimmerman. She is a Product Standards for Natural Grocers. Christie, could you tell us a little about your background? >> Sure. >> What brought you to sustainability and how you filled your passion. >> Absolutely, my background varies. I've worked and lived in Latin America for a number of years working in education and working with agricultural companies, coffee companies, Quinoa, Llama farmers all over. And I also spent five years in Washington DC working in health policy. And then came to Colorado to do my MBA because I really saw the value in using the marketplace for sustainability and being able to work in public and private sector. But doing it through the markets to be able to affect the environment and social things that I am really concerned and passionate about. >> And what's your job now? >> My job now is Product Standards Manager for Natural Grocers, which means I work in the purchasing arm of our corporate office. And we vet new companies and supply for new products. Specifically, I really focus on animal welfare and product standards. >> Excellent. Can you tell us a little bit about life cycle thinking. >> Sure. >> We've talked to the students about that and we're trying to get a few examples. So how does that fit into what you're doing? >> Well, last night I was putting together the triple bottom line components for our coconut supply chain in Sri Lanka. We're doing a private label for coconut oil. And so, I did the fair trade analysis as well as life cycle analysis for our coconut supply. Which meant talking to our folks in Sri Lanka and understanding what it is that they do in terms of from the seedling all the way through the production of the coconut oil. And that helps us understand that they're using the entire tree and being able to have almost zero waste. Which is really great to understand that they're doing everything they can to use every component of the tree and the plant. >> Does it get into the workforce practices, workplace safety? >> Yes, so the company that we're working with is going through Fair Trade USA certification, but they haven't completed it yet. So I sent them a long list of exhaustive questions trying to understand wages, safety for the workers, as well as what their maternity leave practices are. And if they have other benefits in terms of retirement. Education and health care is free there, so that isn't something the company is supplying. But they're also working on building 100 houses in that region to supply better housing for their employees. They also have transportation within a ten mile radius of their facility that comes around and picks people up, so that they don't have to walk to work. because these are in rural areas, people certainly don't have cars. And so, it's asking all of those questions getting into the minutia of the daily life there. >> So why are you motivated? Why are you asking this? What does it matter to Natural Grocers? >> It matters because our customers are really conscientious. They're very educated and concerned as to what they're consuming. They care about where their dollars go. And we want to support companies that are doing things that positively impact not only your body, and the nutrients and food you want to consume. But that you can understand that you're supporting companies and jobs, and you're fighting against child labor, and all sorts of big-headed ideas. As well as just making sure that your produce tastes good. >> Thank you. What are the some of the most important things you think about and deal with in supply chain management? >> So within purchasing for food, our main supply chain challenges are having enough supply for 130 retail locations. And doing it in a way that's efficient for people's time and resources. As well as trying to support local products in different regions. And trying to keep everything at an affordable price point. It shouldn't be unaffordable to eat healthy. And so, that's a big supply change challenge for us. >> Can you give us an example of just what you're talking about here? >> Yeah, so most produce is not grown in Colorado that you eat in terms of fruit. So if you want to have good bananas, they generally will come from Latin America. Specifically maybe Guatemala and other countries in Central America. We don't grow bananas in Colorado because they don't grow at this altitude or climate very well. And so, there is a reason why you buy certain things in other locations. And in Colorado, there's a lot of things we do grow well. You can grow quinoa at this altitude and you can't grow that in hot, humid climates. And so, you want to grow things in the appropriate place where they're actually going to thrive. And so, if you want to source things locally, you need to do it in a way that makes sense for the land management and water management of that region as well. Not just buying everything or thinking you can get everything produced locally only. It gets to be a big challenge for your wallet as well. >> Yeah, so in your procurement process what is some of the decisions? What are some of the metrics you use to evaluate sustainability? >> Yeah, for every animal category we have different metrics. We have our base level metrics, which is for animals. You want to look at the space that they have outside which is going to vary. If you're looking at laying hens who produce eggs versus broiler chickens, which is what you use for meat. Even, there's a differentiation between those two chickens and birds. And so, you look at the space and the food that they need to eat, as well as. Then when you're looking at ruminants, if you're trying to look at carbon footprints. >> And what's a ruminant? >> Sorry, a ruminant is beef cattle, or anything with a hoof. >> A lot of methane. >> Yes, and so that's something we're still looking at. Right now our main focus has been on the animal welfare side. Trying to make sure that we're promoting the animals eating what they naturally would eat and not having all of your beef cattle coming from feedlots. And so, that is one way that we're trying to contribute to lessening the carbon footprint, is that you are trying to promote real grass-fed beef. >> Okay, so you're an organics grocer, so that automatically puts you in one class compared to the general generic meats and produce that you raised. What are the things that differentiate among organic farms, organic groceries? How does a consumer differentiate? >> So Natural Grocers, we do have 100% organic produce. When you're looking at shelf stable or fresh frozen items that isn't all organic, much of it is or non-GMO. When you're looking at animals with antibiotics, we require that there are no sub-therapeutic antibiotics. Which means that they're not getting steroids or growth promoters. Things that really change the animal and the meat and speed up maybe their growth to an unhealthy level. When you hear about turkeys at Thanksgiving time that can't even walk because they've been pushed to grow so fast in time for November. That is something that we don't push at all. There's a new push in the industry, not new but a bigger push, called heritage breeds and slow growth. Specifically for birds to make sure that the animals are not being pushed to grow too fast and that they're living natural lives that they would naturally live. And so, our standards really speak to the antibiotics, growth promoters, free range pasture-based, ruminant in dairy that they're really out living the natural life that they would normally live. >> Now do you just let the natural environment, let a market, dictate? So you just say, we want to buy X tons of turkey and it needs to meet these standards, or do you work with the producers to meet those standards? >> So for turkey specifically we work only with Mary's, or Organic Mary's Chicken. They're out in California and they are phenomenal. They are really doing things the right way. And so all of our turkeys come from them at Thanksgiving. And we know generally what our supply need is and so we do lots of preorders all throughout October and November so that we can for the next year help them know how much they should expect. That they can control their supply chain and their growth because they have to start that process much earlier in the year. >> So what are some of the cutting edge issues that are coming up in the industry? >> So in the natural organic world and specifically for what I do it's continuing to raise standards and maintain supply and not gouge customers or charge them more than what's reasonable. We're really trying to keep things affordable for our customers. Specifically related to sustainability, the organic regulations have recently changed, and we contributed comments to that. The new rules that they have for livestock animals in regards to outdoor access, and space being a requirement for organic. And so, we were really happy to see some of those changes now, that will be implemented to the organic label. And then, another major issue we're going through as an industry is non-GMO labeling. And that customers understand their transparency and what the ingredients are in their products. And so, that gets into sort of the policy side of things. But those pushes all really come from the customers. Customers all want transparency, they want to understand what they're eating. And that pushes to the retailers, and pushes to the policymakers and we really are trying to represent what customers want. Which is clear identified labels, not QR codes, which is what has recently been passed, to say that that will count as labeling. We want clear text statements, so that people can read a label and say, I understand what this product is. I don't have to have a smartphone to scan it, to go to a website to see what it is that I'm eating. They can read a label, make their ten second decision, and move on. People aren't spending 25 minutes picking out their eggs. >> [LAUGH] So the market is amazing, a great tool, but sometimes they just don't work or don't move fast enough. So, what's the role of public policy? What's the role of health policy and food policy? And can you give us an example of where that was necessary to make the market function? >> Absolutely, there's a lot of farms that are maybe conventional farms that want to move to being an organic farm. And that process is a three year time to transition your land, and your feed, and your animals. Specifically land is the major component, you have to let the land sit essentially without any pesticides or anything on it. And that's a very long time, people have kids, and college tuition to pay, and their own food to put on the table. So for them to not have an income for three years is not realistic. And so recently, the organic industry has pushed forward a certified transition label to bridge that three year gap. Which provides help and assistance as well as there's a lot of grant money and money out there to help farms transition if they want to be organic. Some of the challenge is communicating that with the Agricultural Marketing Service. The AMS is trying to get that word out that if you're wanting to go to be organic, there are resources, there are federal and private sector resources to help you bridge that. So that you can make all the requirements that make you an organic farm, to make it easier. >> And that's in the US, do you know if Europe, Asia, other? >> Europe doesn't allow, everything in terms of agriculture in Europe is generally all organic. So they don't have those say of issues that we have, which is why when you go to France, you can eat the bread there if you are gluten intolerant or have Celiac. It's not going to affect you there, because the food hasn't been altered the way it has been here. >> Interesting. I understand you're a buyer, so there must be a lot of companies that want to place merchandise in your stores, and sell to you. What is some of the things you look for? How do you know that they're walking the walk? How do you verify? >> Yeah, so when a new company comes to us, and we'll send samples and say, we're interested in being a Natural Grocers shelf. The buyer for that specific category, if it's a dairy product, they would send their products and information to us, and if we're interested in it, then it comes to me as the standards person. And then, I put them through a pretty rigorous process of a long questionnaire that we've developed that specifically drills down to all of the very nitty-gritty of animal welfare. As well as space, feed, really how the animal operations are on the farm or the ranch, wherever they are. And that even gets down to specifically how many days the cattle are on pasture, and how much grass they're eating. And we try to drill down to all of that so that when you're reading your labels, you can actually understand, at a broad level, what you're getting. And that supply chain then allows us to be able to source things that customers can really feel good about buying. There is no set industry standard, which is why labeling is very difficult. Some words are regulated by the government, and some are not. >> How frequently do you visit the farms, ranches, suppliers? >> It depends on the time of year. In the winter, it's a little harder to see operations, but, in the summertime, it's as needed. We get a lot of invitations to go see farms, and see operations. It's more, when it's educational and something we're trying to understand, something that we're not as well versed in. Or, if they have a specific operation, maybe biodynamic farming that we want to see in person and maybe understand a little better. >> So seafood is a big issue. Fisheries are often in decline a lot of places around the world. How are you addressing that? >> That's my major project for next year actually, is that we're trying to push for better labeling and clear understanding as to where the fish are coming from. Identifying that they are the actual fish they are. Sometimes you see salmon in restaurants and it is definitely not salmon. It's another similar red fish. And so, we're really conscientious of trying to source sustainably, not over fish the oceans. Make sure that we're working with the Monterey Bay Council, in trying to understand how we can provide seafood products for customers at a rate and price that is going to maintain the oceans, and maintain all the marine life that we're trying to protect.
