Recently brought on board as General Manager of Goodness Greeness, Warren King brings with him nearly twenty-five years in agri-business, an accumulation of experience that includes strategic planning, international business development, market analysis, consulting, and sales. He recently sat down to talk about his perspective on Goodness Greeness and organics today and where they are both heading to make way for a sustainable tomorrow.
Mercedee Renz: Give us a brief history of how you came to be General Manager of Goodness Greeness.
Warren King: I was hired as a consult to GG in early 2006 to build a business case for the development of a new distribution center. The case was part of a study on the feasibility of creating a sustainable supply of organic food to meet demand in Illinois. This led to further work to study building and funding for the distribution center. Eventually I was offered a position to direct this effort and bring strategic focus to the business from inside the company.
What are the daily operations and responsibilities of your position?
I oversee every aspect of the business but am particularly focused on operations involving our warehouse and developing new business. This includes sales, distribution, accounting, marketing, and our branded products.
In your opinion, where is the organic industry today?
The industry is at a critical juncture. The consumer demand for organic products exceeds availability on a global basis. There is a growing awareness that all food consumption has an impact on the environment and that something needs to be done to lessen the negative consequences, particularly from energy use and the production of greenhouse gases. If we truly want our food grown closer to where it’s consumed, then we have to have the infrastructure locally to accomplish that. And we also have to have the productive capacity to achieve it.
Where is organics heading?
The markets are here. The brands that consumers trust have a head start over others that are just entering the game. I know this may not be taken well, but the growers that have the ability to specialize in what might be called “commodity crops” and still retain the integrity of an organic production system will be the leaders in future industry growth. As much as I love my weekly CSA box, I don’t believe it’s the production model that will sustain the growth of the organic food industry.
Where do you see the local organic industry and where it is heading?
The production side of the industry is more regional than local. We can’t today grow enough food within 100 miles of Chicago to meet the demand here. But if you expand the circle to a 36-hour drive, you can now tap growers in Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Mississippi, and even Canada. With that mindset, the prospect of creating a “local” organic food supply looks more feasible in time.
From the processing side, there’s a lot of infrastructure here already that could be converted to organic uses if the supply was available. Remember, there are about 10 million people that live within 60 miles of downtown Chicago. This is an ideal market for organic entrepreneurs to offer locally and regionally manufactured products.
Where does Goodness Greeness stand within this industry? What is your vision of where we are heading?
We are the leading source of organic food in the region. I believe we have a strong brand that means quality and integrity to consumers. We are long time supporters of local and regional organic farming. We have strong connections to organizations that are promoting healthy lifestyles and choices in our communities. We will continue to focus on the greater Chicago region and offer more choices of organic food to consumers through wholesale, retail, and food service channels.
Based on your years of experience in the food industry, what changes need to be made for the organic food system to sustain itself?
First and foremost we need more growers. More efforts are needed to train new farmers and convert existing conventional growers to organic production. Also, attracting more private and public investment is key. More focus must be made on collecting and sharing economic and business data about the organic industry. One of the reasons conventional agriculture has been so successful in terms of production and related industries is because of the wealth of business information. It’s hard to make investments for the future when you can’t see where you’ve been. Lastly, we need public policy that rewards farmers for being stewards of our resources and not just for producing volumes of food we can’t directly consume.
Warren King, General Manager, Goodness Greeness
