When I came across Roger’s Organic Sugar on the London Drugs shelves, I was intrigued. The package states, ‘Certified Organic, Product of Brazil’, but I wanted to know more. Where exactly does it come from? Who is behind it?
So I did what I always recommend GreenDeal shoppers do; turned to the manufacturer’s website and used the contact page to ask some questions. (The speed and detail of the replies says a lot about the company’s sustainability dedication)
The Rogers/Lantic Quality Assurance department got back to me right away to let me know the sugar comes from a Balbo Plantation in Sao Francisco, Brazil. They also linked to a great LA Times article about Agricultural Director Leontino Balbo’s transition to organic cultivation.
The Balbo Group is no small family farm – almost half of all organic sugar consumed in the United States comes from their Sao Francisco mill – but they have made a significant commitment to sustainable agriculture.
Balbo turned the farm organic in 1995, abandoning the pesticides, chemical fertilizers that had served the family’s bottom line for years. Waste from ethanol distillation is turned into a potent fertilizer. Pests are controlled in natural ways. Beneficial critters, such as earthworms, are protected by tilling and harvesting without compacting the soil. Sao Francisco has even returned some acreage to woodland.
It’s amazing what a few clicks can teach you about what you eat.
So if you like your sweetener with a greener flavour, pick up some Roger’s Organic sugar.
It tastes like the real Green Deal to me.
