Posted: 07.25.2010

Speaker, Dr. Temple Grandin, was one reason the 2010 Kickapoo Country Fair was a big success in LaFarge over the weekend.

Dr. Grandin, recognized around the world for her unique ability to design animal handling systems that keep animals calm, packed the "Word Tent" on the Organic Valley Coop headquarters in LaFarge on Saturday.  Dr. Grandin's autistic approach to animal handling has even gotten attention in Hollywood.  An HBO special entitled "Temple Grandin" premiered earlier this year and is now up for 15 Emmy awards.  In an exclusive interview with farm director, Pam Jahnke, Dr. Grandin said she spend a half day with actress Claire Dane as she studied for the role.  Grandin said she was thrilled with the accuracy of the special - including her younger years and early research projects.  Grandin said she will be in attendance at the Emmy awards later this year in Hollywood!

You can listen to Pam's interview with Temple Grandin by clicking HERE.

George Siemon - CEO of Organic Valley Coop said the crowd was outstanding considering the wet weather that rolled through just prior to the event.  He estimated they'd have nearly 4,000 visitors to the fair through the weekend.

Siemon said that the Kickapoo Country Fair actually started as an event for the coop's buyers - but always attracted people from the community too.  Finally, he said, they just opted to open it up as an educational opportunity for anybody that wanted to attend!

Siemon also commented on the challenging financial year that all organic food production has faced.  Wet weather is very challenging to organic crop production - and the economy overall has sputtered in organic food sales.  "We went from having a 20 percent annual growth in sales to staying flat last year," Siemon told Pam Jahnke, "That's been quite challenging to manage a plateau after all those years of growth - but we're doing it."  One way that Organic Valley faced the downturn in organic food sales was by asking producers to curtail production.  "We have to do it one way or the other," Siemon's explained.  "Either we cut price - or cut production and keep prices stable.  Most of our dairy producers decided to cut production and stay in quota as opposed to increase production for a drastically lower price."  What about 2010?  Siemon's said they're noticing signs of some improvement. He says dairy production quotas will be lifted as of August 1st.

Listen to George Siemon's conversation with Pam Jahnke HERE. 

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