|
|
Evans' background is in business and he has been the chief financial officer at several corporations. Before becoming self-employed, he was the financial controller for Civco Medical Solutions in Kalona.
He first set foot into the world of organic foods five years ago when he began as a financial consultant for the Amish/Mennonite-owned creamery as its facility was still under construction. He soon realized that the creamery, as well as other local organic food suppliers, had a need for marketing expertise. Thus the beginning of Kalona Organics.
"I started out in sales and found I had a knack for it" related Evans. "There are a lot of great products and great ideas, but most producers don't have the know-how to market them."
He added that his marketing firm is cost effective since Kalona Organics is already working with the same buyers and companies that are the market for most organic producers.
Evans admits its been a learning process, having had no experience in dairying, let alone with the organic market and its dairy processing.
"We had to learn a lot of things ourselves, there was no one else to learn from. It's not as if we could go to Robert's Dairy and ask," he observed of the organic and minimum-processing techniques involved.
But learn they did. Besides processing milk under its own name, the creamery also produces the organic milk now sold under a Hy-Vee label.
With the creamery as his first account, he began adding other organic-related producers such as Farmer's Hen House, owned by a group of Amish egg producers. It packs 30,000 dozen organic eggs a day produced from cage-free hens. The eggs are mostly purchased in the southeast region of Iowa from Amish and Mennonite farmers. The organic eggs are sold in Dahl's stores and Hy-Vee stores.
Evans eventually bought into the All Natural Farmers' Creamery and became one of his own customers at Kalona Organics. He is also a Kalona Organics client through a start-up company he formed with two partners in Wisconsin - Cultural Revolution - which produces yogurt that is sold in food coops and Hy-Vee.
Evans said his marketing company is expanding into organic meats and other sustainable-agriculture produce.
The downturn in the economy is affecting the organic food market. Until recently, U.S. organic sales were growing 20 percent each year and Kalona Organics was aggressively pursuing a growing share of the market. It saw a 40 percent increase in sales from 2006 to 2007 - from $4.7 million to $6.5 million.
"We've been able to compete because we have unique products," said Evans of All Natural Farmers' Creamery and Cultural Revolution. There are now numerous organic dairy products on store shelves, but most are what Evans describes as over-processed. Not so Kalona Organic products.
Pasteurization at extremely high temperatures (usually at 280 degrees) is faster and results in longer shelf life for milk, but affects both the nutritional content and taste. The All Natural Farmers' Creamery uses the longer vat process that pasteurizes milk at the lowest possible temperature - 145 degrees.
Also affecting taste is after milk is homogenized. Straight from the cow, cream will separate from milk like oil and water. Homogenized milk is run through tiny tubes to blend fat and liquid molecules together. The fat molecules are reduced in size as well, which also helps the cream to be more evenly distributed and not float to the top. But this also affects the taste, charges Evans. Customers of the local creamery can either shake the non-homogenized milk to blend the cream and milk or skim the cream for other uses.
These principles are the same for the creamery's cottage cheese, sour cream and yogurt. In addition, most organic dairy products are even further processed. Fillers and sweeteners are routinely added to yogurts, which Evans says again affects the true flavor of the food.
When talking about organic, grass-fed beef, Evans says, "When cows eat what they're supposed to eat, the meat benefits."
He pointed to people now eating more fish for its high content of omega 3 fats, which has been shown to play an important role in the prevention of coronary artery disease, hypertension, arthritis and other inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Cattle raised on grass have a high level of omega 3 fats.
Evans also speaks of sustainable agriculture, practice that is also healthful for the environment. It is based on three main goals - environmental stewardship, farm profitability and prosperous farming communities - all which are practiced by the local Amish and Mennonite farmers. Practices such as rotating crops and using livestock manure rather than chemical fertilizers are part of sustainable agriculture. Crop rotation also breaks the life cycles of pests, where modern farm practices call for chemical pesticides.
Sustainable agriculture also calls for more local markets. According to the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, which is based in Iowa, the average apple travels 1,555 miles to a Chicago terminal market where wholesalers sell the produce then on to grocery stores.
It's not difficult to differentiate between the taste of a homegrown tomato or the ones specially selected to withstand the rigors of truck transportation.
Consumers no longer know where their food originates or how safe it is. Evans points to the recent deaths and illnesses caused by contaminated peanut products.
"There was a time when there was a dairy in every town," he said. "It is sad that this is no longer the case."
"We're really unique," he says of Kalona Organics and the local farmers. "It's based on a relationship in a community that really understands what community means."
