The goal of Marin Organic is to create the first organic county in the nation. This includes building an infrastructure for local producers to help them remain economically viable, while producing foods that a growing number of people appreciate and prefer.

For Marin Organic the definition of an organic county extends far beyond just the production of food. It also includes serving healthy local food in schools, elderly care facilities, hospitals, and prisons; hosting educational programs and farm tours in which we re-connect children, and us, as a people, with the land; and fostering a high level of eco-literacy among the public – including the awareness that our food choices determine the well-being of our entire society.

In partnership with dedicated individuals and foundations, local businesses and other like-minded organizations and agencies throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, Marin Organic has helped Marin County to become one of the most progressive regions in the organic food movement in the United States. As a model for other counties and countries, Marin Organic offers innovative solutions to today’s challenges, including:

• The Marin Organic School Lunch and Gleaning Program – The program incorporates food with slight cosmetic blemishes to the quantity of food ordered by local schools, making it possible to give over 12,000 children in Marin access to healthy, organic foods every week – all while working within the limited school food budgets.
• The Marin Climate Initiative – Marin Organic is part of a collaborative effort that includes UC Berkeley, governmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations, and local farmers and ranchers, aiming to address global climate change by increasing the soil’s natural ability to sequester CO2 from the atmosphere and to store it back in the earth – thereby directly reducing global warming.
• Rural Development Initiatives – Marin Organic has been invited to apply its holistic approach towards implementing solutions that are economically feasible, ecologically sound, socially responsible, and culturally appropriate, to regions far beyond the Marin County line. In 2007, Marin Organic assisted in the development of an organic apple juice processing facility in India, and that same year, the organization helped design a strategy for increasing organic vegetable production in Northern China.

Furthermore, Marin Organic regularly hosts groups and governmental officials from countries around the world. Visitors have come from countries such as India, Thailand, England, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Norway, Canada, Costa Rica, Argentina, and Brasil, and include such dignitaries as T.R.H. The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.

Marin Organic is setting a new benchmark for creative, economically sound solutions in the sustainable food movement.

Your contribution today has a direct impact on Marin Organic’s work locally and beyond, and helps build a world in which all beings thrive.

Thank you for becoming a partner in our work.