Sara Lee advertises benefits of using fewer inputs in growing wheat

By STEVE BROWN
Capital Press

When Sara Lee launched its Eco-Grain marketing program to promote its EarthGrains breads, it raised the hackles of the Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based organic watchdog.

"They claimed Eco-Grain is better than organic," said Charlotte Vallaeys, a spokeswoman for Cornucopia. "They're targeting consumers who assume Eco-Grain is doing a lot, not realizing how Eco-Grain doesn't have any advantage."

Sara Matheu, spokeswoman at EarthGrains, said, "At no point have we ever stated, implied or marketed our product as organic. We removed a small portion of our EarthGrains Web site comparing our farming methods with organic farming methods ... because the organic farming community raised questions about these claims, which misled people about the nature of our campaign."

In essence, she said, the Eco-Grain advantage is that five family farmers in Idaho raise 500 acres of Snowcrest, a hard white spring wheat. Variable-rate application allows fertilizer use to be reduced by 15 percent.

"It takes energy to manufacture and apply fertilizer -- so when less fertilizer is needed, less energy is used," Matheu said.

"On average this energy savings is equivalent to 8 gallons of diesel fuel per acre," she said. "Depending on the field and how the soil changes within it, we can grow anywhere from 5 to 20 percent more wheat on the same amount of land."

Horizon Milling, a joint venture of Cargill Inc. and CHS Inc., keeps the grain segregated all the way through the supply chain, from grower to retail.

EarthGrain breads are 20 percent Eco-Grain, but Sara Lee plans to increase the percentage as more farmers are identified to grow the crop.

"In all of our materials and on EarthGrains.com, we've been completely transparent about the environmental benefits of Eco-Grain wheat," Sara Lee's Matheu said.

She said the Web site includes an interactive feature to illustrate how much impact each loaf of EarthGrains bread has on the environment.

"With Eco-Grain we can specifically track the benefits -- fertilizer and fuel savings -- which cannot be done with general commodity wheat, because it is kept separate from commodity wheat," she said.

"We feel that by commercializing innovative farming practices like precision farming, which has a number of benefits for both the consumer and environment, EarthGrains can help to lead the bread industry in the right direction."

Online

www.cornucopia.org

http://earthgrains.com/