Thursday, June 21, 2007

Buy Out = Corruption?

"Steve Demos, founder and former president of Broomfield-based soy-foods giant White Wave, came out of a self-imposed two-year "exile" Wednesday with a message for his organic brethren.

"Dream big or don't leave home," he told more than 100 industry leaders at New Hope Natural Media's inaugural Organic Summit.

"We need to grow up, and we need to make money," he said. "The best recommendation for this industry is, make a bucketful of money - because you're moral, you're ethical and you'll figure out the right thing to do with that scale of influence and power once you have it."

Demos served as chief executive of White Wave until 2005 - three years after it was acquired by Dallas-based Dean Foods Co.

Demos was among the panelists speaking in a session titled "Is This the Organic We Wanted?"

Many critics have questioned whether organic-food sellers and producers will lose touch with their roots once big corporations get involved."


Read the article