Our Green Rule .... Wholesome Sweeteners' ethos is shaped by a deep concern for the long-term health of the planet and all of its inhabitants. We believe in sustainability, traditionally made artisanal products and a very light footprint. It's a big job, but we're making progress. We use traditional methods ... From the seed stock to harvest, our sugar cane is cultivated by hand and grown without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides Wherever possible, we work with Fair Trade CertifiedTM farmers cooperatives  At the small mills, our products are made simply and the spent sugar cane or blue agave remnants, called bagasse, are recycled as fuel to generate electricity for the mill and nearby villages.     The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Organic logo is Wholesome's promise that we hold every product to a high environmental standard. Each product bearing the Organic logo has been grown and milled to the USDA's National Organic Program (NOP) standards and without the aid of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or chemicals. Our suppliers are routinely inspected by Wholesome's operations team as well as inspectors from Quality Assurance International, a third-party certifier, to assure that we maintain USDA Organic Standards. The Sugar Business... The US is an important sugar grower, producing more than 80% of the sugar consumed domestically. It's mostly from beets and cane, but because of soil conditions here, growing substantial quantities of either crop organically is practically impossible. (And of special note: genetically modified beets are an emerging crop in the American Midwest.) Too often, the small percentage of sugar that the US imports is grown by impoverished sugar cane farmers in the developing world, most often in or very near the tropics (between the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere--23°30' north and south of the equator). With the exception of Fair Trade Certified farmers cooperatives, plantation-style factory farms are the norm, and the farmers are frequently subjected to a fluctuating--often declining--world market price, unscrupulous middlemen, environmental degradation and hazardous working conditions. The everyday processes used to grow conventional cane can be devastating to the soil, water, air and the people who grow the crops, which are often treated with chemical herbicides and pesticides. The cane fields are burned before harvest to remove any unwanted leaves and field debris to make it easier for harvesting machines to get to the cane. Once harvested, the juice from the crushed cane is often treated with chemical flocculants, clarifying agents and filtering aids, then sodium, bleaches or bone char to whiten and brighten the final product. (Bone char is the reason conventionally refined sugar is not recommended for vegetarians) The Wholesome Sweeteners Approach While the proverbial jury is still out on the long-term effects of these practices to consumers, at Wholesome, we'd rather err on the side of the people and the planet.   Wholesome Sweeteners buys organic cane from independently certified farmers in Brazil, Costa Rica, Malawi and Paraguay. We guarantee that our organically certified sugars, syrups and nectars are cultivated without herbicides and pesticides. Rather than spread chemicals or burn the fields, Wholesome Sweeteners' farmers let nature support the crop's cultivation. Recycled chicken feed is used as occasional fertilizer. The cane's trimmed leaves and stalks are left in the fields, providing cover and forage for wildlife, then decomposing naturally, returning important nutrients to the soil, helping retain moisture and acting as a natural form of weed control.  In 2001, Wholesome Sweeteners' first year of operation under the Billington's/Imperial sugar partnership, we bought just 3,000 metric tons* (or 6.6 million pounds) of organic sugar from Paraguayan farmers. On average, an acre can produce about 35 metric tons of organic cane or 3.5 metric tons of organic sugar.  In 2007, Wholesome bought nearly 30,000 metric tons (66.2 million pounds) of organic sugar from Paraguay. Between 2001 and 2007, there was a 10-fold increase in land dedicated to organic cane cultivation in Paraguay alone--from 10,000 acres to nearly 100,000 acres. Wholesome Sweeteners' Fair Trade programs help small sugar farmers earn more so they can pay for organic certification and training in sustainable agriculture techniques as well as converting land to organic cultivation. Paraguay and Costa Rica grow organic Fair Trade Certified sugar cane.   *A metric ton is the industry standard for describing the weight of sugar. A metric ton weighs about 2205 lbs.	Monitoring Food Miles Fostering Sustainability Raising Cane & Making Sugar The Honey Makers Hecho en Mexico: Organic Blue Agave Production & Processing
Monitoring Food Miles We're concerned about more than organic impacts, we're also concerned about sustainability. Because the natural range of organic cane is limited (and in many cases far beyond the boundaries of the United States), our sources for organic sugar are in far-away places. Wholesome uses the most efficient combination of transportation methods (ship, rail and truck) to move our products from the fields and mills to your store's shelves. To help offset our carbon footprint, Wholesome invests in renewable, sustainable energy resources, including wind and solar power.
Fostering Sustainability Although the investment of Fair Trade premiums is determined by the co-op members themselves, far from any influence by Wholesome Sweeteners, we're happy to report that the co-ops are developing an ever-increasing number of environmentally oriented programs. In Costa Rica on Fair Trade Certified and organic farms, burning gasoline-soaked tires in the furnaces that boiled the cane juice or cutting trees down for fuel are things of the past. Reforestation projects have brought diversity back to ecosystems and the farmers have invested in improved organic furnaces that burn the crushed cane (called bagasse) after the cane juice has been collected. In Malawi, the premiums have been invested in replanting and improving the cane crop, as well as other traditional food crops. In Paraguay, the co-op has invested Fair Trade Certified premiums in orange and grapefruit trees and land for a small orchard. The citrus trees are intercropped with other trees to promote biodiversity, and the members have fresh fruit to eat at home and sell at the market. And as the traditional keepers of cures, the women of the coop have planted and tend a medicinal garden. It's a great opportunity to begin teaching the next generation about sustainability and stewardship.