Organic Valley, the nation's oldest organic farmer-owned cooperative, and National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA), a business services cooperative serving 120 consumer-owned food co-ops nationwide, today announced they are joining forces to improve school lunch.

The two pioneers in cooperative thinking will launch a national promotion this fall to support the National Farm to School Network, a nonprofit connecting schools and local farms to serve healthy meals in school cafeterias, improve student nutrition, provide agriculture, health and nutrition education opportunities, and support local and regional farmers.

The national promotion, which takes place September 1 through September 30, will trigger a $1 donation to the National Farm to School Network with every purchase of any Organic Valley cheese, a drawing at http://ov.coop/farmtoschool to win Organic Valley dairy products for the schools of five winners' choices, and a Facebook giveaway at http://www.facebook.com/OrganicValley to win five $200 gift cards at NCGA member coop stores across the country.

"Today more than ever, our children need better school lunches," said Anupama Joshi, Director of the National Farm to School Network. "We believe the most nutritious and delicious food comes straight from local and regional farmers. We appreciate the cooperative thinking of two leaders, Organic Valley and NCGA, in supporting our mission."

Organic Valley: Independent and Farmer-Owned
Organic Valley is America’s largest cooperative of organic farmers and one of the nation’s leading organic brands. Organized in 1988, it represents 1,636 farmers in 34 states and three Canadian provinces, and achieved $619 million in 2010 sales. Focused on its founding mission of saving family farms through organic farming, Organic Valley produces a variety of organic foods, including organic milk, soy, cheese, butter, spreads, creams, eggs, produce and juice, which are sold in supermarkets, natural foods stores and food cooperatives nationwide. For further information, visit www.organicvalley.coop.

About National Cooperative Grocers Association
National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA), founded in 1999, is a business services cooperative for retail food co-ops located throughout the United States. NCGA helps unify food co-ops in order to optimize operational and marketing resources, strengthen purchasing power, and ultimately offer more value to natural food co-op owners and shoppers everywhere. Our 120 members and associate co-ops operate over 150 storefronts in 33 states with combined annual sales over $1.3 billion. NCGA is a winner of the dotCoop Global Awards for Cooperative Excellence in recognition of the application of cooperative values and principles to drive cooperative and business success. For a map of NCGA member and associate co-ops, visit www.ncga.coop. To learn more about co-ops, visit www.strongertogether.coop or www.go.coop.

About The National Farm to School Network (NFSN)
The NFSN sprouted from the desire to support community-based food systems, strengthen family farms and improve student health by reducing childhood obesity. The NFSN is a collaborative led by the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI), Occidental College, and the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC), with support from eight Regional Lead Agencies (RLA) spread all over the country. The NFSN coordinates, promotes and expands Farm to School at the state, regional and national levels by focusing efforts on the priority areas of: information development and dissemination, media and marketing, networking, training and technical assistance, policy advocacy, research, and evaluation. For more information, go to http://www.farmtoschool.org/.

Organic Valley

Organic Valley

Organic Valley: Independent and Farmer-Owned

Organic Valley is America’s largest cooperative of organic farmers and one of the nation’s leading organic brands. Organized in 1988, it represents 1,766 farmers in 35 states and three Canadian provinces, and achieved $715 million in 2011 sales. Focused on its founding mission of saving family farms through organic farming, Organic Valley produces a variety of organic foods, including organic milk, soy, cheese, butter, spreads, creams, eggs, produce and juice, which are sold in supermarkets, natural foods stores and food cooperatives nationwide. With its regional model, milk is produced, bottled and distributed right in the region where it is farmed to ensure fewer miles from farm to table and to support our local economies. The same farmers who produce for Organic Valley also produce a full range of delicious organic meat under the Organic Prairie label. For further information, call 1-888-444-MILK or visit www.organicvalley.coop, www.organicprairie.coop and the cooperative's farmer website, www.farmers.coop. Organic Valley is also on Twitter @Organic_Valley and Facebook www.facebook.com/OrganicValley.

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