Faces of the Green Pages
Conversations with Today's Green Business Leaders
David Vetterl
Grain Place Foods; Aurora, NE
When Don Vetter began questioning the science and ethics of the emerging agricultural practices of the 1950s, he began to adopt organic farming methods for his family farm near Marquette, NE. Sixty years later, that farm has grown into Grain Place Foods, a family business that employs three generations of Vetters, and helps steward other local farms in their journey toward organic production.
"Currently, we're seeing a demand for organic grains that supasses our ability to produce in this country," says Don's son, David, when asked what makes him hopeful about the future of the green economy. We asked David to tell us more about farming in Nebraska and the history of Grain Place Foods...
Peter Krull
Krull & Company; Asheville, NC
As the climate-divestment movement takes off, Green America has been proud to launch our Fossil-Free investing Web page and publish a whole issue of our Green American magazine devoted to divesting. In our research for these materials, we learned about a new fossil-free investing index launched by Krull & Company, long-term members of our Green Business Network.
We asked Pete Krull to tell us more about the index, responsible investing, and his green plans for the future...
Tom Neuhaus
Mama Ganache; San Luis Obispo, CA
As part-owner of Mama Ganache Artisan Chocolates, Tom Neuhaus is not only a green enetrepreneur, but also a green-economy educator and advocate whose annual travels to the cocoa-producing countries of West Africa will soon result in a cocoa study center slated to open its doors this summer.
Located in Ekona, Cameroon, the center will will serve, Tom tells us, "as a site for the meeting of minds—of university students, of small business owners, and of cocoa farmers"—with a goal of helping farmers set up their own artisan chocolate businesses. We asked Tom to tell us more about his own artisan chocolate business and about his travels to Africa...
Michael GirkoutJanuary 2013 —
Was the bread in your toaster or on your sandwich at lunchtime baked by the sun? If it came from the Alvarado Street Bakery it was. This commitment to renewable energy in its business practices got the bakery nominated for a People & Planet Award from Green America, though it is only one of many green facets of Alvarado Street Bakery.
From waste-reduction principles to a commitment to organics and non-GMO products to its worker-owned structure, the bakery embodies green principles throughout. We asked worker-owner Michael Girkout to tell us more about Alvarado's busienss model, its sprouted-wheat bread, and the mysterious cat on the logo...
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