Grocery Executive Takes Helm at F&E

Announces E-commerce plans and Issues call for nominations for farm stewardship award

May 16, 2005

Seattle, Washington–

Farming and the Environment is pleased to announce that Jeffrey R. Voltz will be its new executive director. Voltz will lead the organization’s efforts to develop market-based incentives to improve both the economic viability of Washington State farmers and ranchers, and the environmental health of the state’s agricultural lands.

"With more than 25 years of experience in the grocery industry, including nine years as the CEO and President of PCC Natural Markets, Jeffrey R. Voltz is the ideal person to lead Farming and the Environment at this stage of its growth," said Peter Goldmark, Okanogan rancher and chair of the Board of Directors.

Voltz will apply his extensive experience in food marketing to launching a first-of-its-kind, online "stewardship farmers market". The marketplace will connect consumers, restaurants, and institutions to farmers and ranchers who grow their products according to environmentally-sound farming practices.

"There’s a lot at stake for Washingtonians. It’s a bitter irony that we’re losing thousands of acres of farmland each year, family farmers are struggling to stay in farming, and yet there is a growing demand for farm fresh foods," said Voltz, pointing to the increasing popularity of farmers markets in the region and nationally. In King County alone, the number of farmers markets has doubled in the last five years and experts say there’s still unmet demand.

Voltz added, "Consumers want more access to healthy, locally-grown foods and Washington residents care deeply about protecting land, water and air quality. What began last year as an effort to reward farmers who practice good stewardship through the Vim Wright Award, will grow exponentially by using technology to bring consumer and stewardship farmers together in an online marketplace."

Washington farmers who work the land with a strong stewardship ethic are urged to contact Farming and the Environment right away to apply for membership in the new online market. These farmers can also be nominated for this year’s Vim Wright Stewardship Award. Nominations for the award close July 1. The award will honor an individual or team of operators that recognize, appreciate and implement exemplary stewardship of the natural resources they manage. The winner will be honored with a cash award of $2500 and recognized at an October 2^nd banquet in Ellensberg, Washington.

In addition to serving for nine years as CEO of PCC Natural Markets, Voltz also served as the Executive Director of DownHome Washington, and as a board member of Frontier Natural Products Co-op and the PCC Farmland Fund. While at PCC Natural markets, he helped to establish the PCC Farmland Fund, a private nonprofit corporation dedicated to preserving local farmland for organic agriculture.

"It is an honor to lead Farming and the Environment’s effort to support sound environmental stewardship of our farmlands," Voltz stated. "Sustaining the beauty and bounty of our land is vital. Sustaining the people who grow the wonderful food that nourishes us is equally important. It is my hope and aspiration, that we at Farming and the Environment, along with the many other leaders in the food, farming, and environmental communities, can forge a profound and personal connection between those who eat, those who provide, and the land that sustains us all."

Farming and the Environment is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the economic vitality of farming and promoting environmental stewardship on Washington’s farms.

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