Stonyfield Farm

Stonyfield Farm, Inc.

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Dairy
Founded	1983(1983)
Founder	Samuel Kaymen, Louise Kaymen
Headquarters	Londonderry, New Hampshire,United States
Products	Yogurt,frozen yogurt,milk,cream,smoothies
Parent	Lactalis(2017–pres.) Danone(2001–17)
Website	www.stonyfield

Stonyfield Farm,also simply calledStonyfield,is anorganicyogurtmaker and dairy company located inLondonderry, New Hampshire,United States. Stonyfield Farm was founded by Samuel Kaymen in 1983, ona 19th-century farmsteadinWilton, New Hampshire,as an organic farming school. The company makes the second leading brand of organic yogurt in North America, with 13.3% of the market.

The company is owned by the largest dairy company in the world, the French groupLactalis.

History

Stonyfield Farm

In 2001,Groupe Danone,a French food product company whose brands includeEvianbottled water and Danone/Dannon yogurt, purchased an initial 40% of Stonyfield shares. This was followed with additional purchases such that Group Danone owned the entire company by 2014.

Gary Hirshbergis chairman and former president and CEO of Stonyfield Farm. Through its Profits for the Planet program, Stonyfield gives 10% of profits to environmental causes. Its milk comes from New England andMidwestdairy farmers through theCROPP(Organic Valley) cooperative.

In 2003, Stonyfield Farm acquiredBrown Cow.

In 2006, Stonyfield entered the French market with its Les 2 Vaches (The Two Cows) brand. It also expanded toCanada,with yogurt produced in Quebec.In June 2007, Stonyfield Farm launched its first brand in the UK, Stony, Yogurt on a Mission, though the line has since been discontinued. An organic yogurt brand named Glenisk, however, was successfully launched in Ireland.

On March 31, 2017,Groupe Danoneannounced its intention to sell the Stonyfield subsidiary to avoid antitrust claims and to clear the way for the acquisition of more significant U.S. organic food producerWhiteWave Foods.In July 2017 it was announced that Danone had agreed to sell Stonyfield toLactalisfor $875 million. The sale was completed and Stonyfield is now entirely owned by a second French dairy giant.

Legal Issues

Emails leaked by WikiLeaks revealed that Stonyfield chairman Gary Hirshberg lobbiedJohn Podesta,the chairman ofHillary Clinton's presidential campaign, to have Hillary Clinton deliver a strong message in support of mandatory labeling ofgenetically modified food.As part of the communication, Hirshberg noted that he raised $400,000 for the Clinton campaign.

In response to pressure from regulators to decrease the amount ofadded sugarin its products, Stonyfield Farm announced a plan to reduce added sugars by 25% in its yogurt line in 2017.

In January 2018, Stonyfield launched an anti-GMO campaign featuring children reading scripted messages of questionable validity. In response to criticism of this ad on their Facebook page, Stonyfield deleted comments, blocked responders, and labeled critics as "trolls" who had violated the company's terms of use.

External links

• Media related toStonyfield Farmat Wikimedia Commons
• Official website