Whole Fed

Tuesday night I went and saw a fascinating sold-out talk between, the John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, and Michael Pollan, the author of the Omnivore's Dilemma.

You can watch it yourself on this webcast.

While I love everything Pollan has written and I think he's quite brilliant, I have to say Mackey really impressed me. He gave a large overview of the history of food production and also showed a short video on how various domesticated food animals are treated in today industrial system. As an aside, Mackey said that he was now a vegetarian, while Pollan still will eat meat. While he may have reluctant at first to have a public conversation with Pollan, Mackey used the forum to really engage critics and opinion makers and present some rather exciting new initiatives that Whole Foods is taking to step up their game and really set them apart. Probably a slightly calculated move, but still responsive and intelligently done. Mackey announced:

• A new $30 million venture capital fund that will invest in artisan food start-ups and help the best and highest quality food products


• An organic farm rating system that includes animal welfare standards and gives consumer more information beyond just "organic"


• A new $10 million annually funded Local Producer Loan Program designed to promote local agriculture and strengthen connections to local producers


• A new Whole Trade guarantee program in cooperation with Fair Trade and the Rain Forest Network that will guarantee quality, price, labor practices, and environmental sustainability of foods imported from the developing world.

In all, Mackey presented a vision of a corporation that is committed to values beyond just stockholder value, that is really trying to promote a new "ecological" system of food production. He also challenged everyone to join and engage in an effort to spread compassion and love and usher in a new ecological age. Very Buddhist. Conscious Capitalism, exciting "paradigm-shifting" stuff that really makes me hopeful, and glad that I myself am working for company that has higher values then just profit.

Pollan, while reserving space for "semi-objective" journalism, also made a few advocacy points, converting land used for corn production (primary for cattle feed) into grass based grazing land, letting a lot of ideals flourish (including things we might think are "bad") and see what works, and enabling greater transparency for letting consumers know how our food is made and how it gets to us.

All good stuff and glad to see so much attention being paid to these issues. And aamde me re-think some of my own behavior.

In my earlier years, my fmaily was macrobiotic, but I've been eating dairy for more then 25 years now. Mackey made a compelling point that the dairy industry as it exists now is predominately inhumane in it's treatment of dairy cows and most often supports the veal industry as well. I really want to think about how I can eat dairy in a more ethical manner. I've also shopped at Trader Joe's for a long time, and Mackey pointed out that as a privately held company owned they've haven't had to be as public about their business practices. It was also good to hear that Whole Foods decided to match Trader Joe prices on comparative products if only to help lure customers. So given Mackey's performance and the programs Whole Foods is doing, I think I AM more inclined to shop there.

So maybe the Omnivore's Dilemma backlash against Whole Foods may reverse itself on the strength of Mackey's engagement with that criticism and it really will create something rich and more productive then what was before.