CCOF Foundation Champion and longtime organic farming advocate Earl Herrick and the team at Earl’s Organic Produce are quite accustomed to changing with the times. Having launched his business in San Francisco in 1988, Earl Herrick, along with the rest of the organic industry, has watched the pace at which organic has grown over the last 40-plus years. CCOF and Earl’s have grown side by side in many respects, supporting simultaneously the growth of organic supply chains and the integrity of organic farming practices as a core business principle.
In a December 2021 statement, the company announced the retirement of Robert Lichtenberg. Lichtenberg is the former director of purchasing for Earl’s whose nearly 50-year career has left the company in a successful position, poised to take on the next decade of business. While Lichtenberg will not be physically working with Earl’s team, there will be no shortage of his presence as the company continues forward. Read more about Lichtenberg’s legacy at the Organic Produce Network’s website.
In a recent interview with the Organic Produce Network, Earl’s Organic Produce director of sales and marketing Drew Knobel discussed what’s to come, not only in Lichtenberg’s absence but for the company as a whole. As Earl nears half a century of selling organic produce, and the company comes up on 35-plus years in existence, Knobel has announced that Earl’s recently acquired 30,000 square feet of additional space in their San Francisco office on The SF Market. Three new ripening rooms have been erected, and additionally, the team is building a grand-scale refrigeration unit. While the office space gets renovated, so too does the Earl’s Organic brand. For the first time in Earl’s Organic brand’s 34-year history, the company has officially announced a brand refresh rollout. Their trucks will be branded with a soon-to-be-revealed new logo and website (certainly no small undertaking, especially when coupled with a simultaneous in-house office expansion).
The CCOF Foundation thanks Earl’s Organic for its partnership and advocacy over the last several decades, and for its support of organic farmers, both through our 501(c)(3) charitable arm and by establishing a stable and lasting business that supports the economic prosperity of organic farmers and producers.