What happened to Arrowhead Mills and Walnut Acres?
So many family owned organic farms and food producers are being bought out by major food corporations and often the result is not good for us as consumers! The story of the selling of Arrowhead Mills and Walnut Acres is a long post and one I’ve been working on and rewriting for quite a while, but I think the subject is worth discussing as the organic foods business evolves.
When Annie’s was bought by General Mills last year and more recently Hormel bought Applegate, I am reminded of what happened after similar sales of organic companies in the past. Sometimes the results are just disappointing, but sometimes they are tragic!
Two Buy-outs and the Two Different Results
Do you remember the real Walnut Acres before it was sold in 1999? Did you buy Arrowhead Mills grains and beans before they were bought by Hain? Both of these companies were pioneers in the organic food business and were bought out but with very different outcomes.
The saddest of the two stories is what happened to Walnut Acres, and I want to leave its history until last. First I’ll summarize what happened at Arrowhead Mills, the organic producer of some of the best quality grains, beans, and other products for many years, well before organic became mainstream.
The Arrowhead Mills Story
Back in the early 80’s when my children were small, in order to get the best quality food for my family, I joined multiple food co-ops, some organic, some not, since organic was not widely available then. One of those co-ops was for large buys of organic foods from Arrowhead Mills, which, at that time, required a 200 pound minimum order for delivery. Our co-op compiled orders from several families to make up the minimum. I bought pails of peanut butter, large bags of dried beans, seeds, and grains, storing the extras in a freezer. I was also a member of a cheese co-op and a vegetable and fruit co-op during this time, but that’s another story.
The Founding of Arrowhead Mills
Back to Arrowhead Mills . . . The company was founded in 1960 by Jesse Frank Ford, a Texas farmer and advocate for natural foods. His company was based in Hereford, Deaf Smith County, just west of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle. Here’s a little more information about Ford that will interest Texans–he was a graduate of Texas A&M where he was commander of the TAMU Corps of Cadets. Ford was interested in maintaining soil nutrition without pesticides and producing large-scale grinding of grains. He was also an active spokesman for the natural food industry and an activist for labor He was the author of three books, including The Deaf Smith Country Cookbook, which I bought (and still have) when I was in the co-op. [source] My copy looks pretty much just like this one.
Here’s another interesting fact about Frank Ford–according to the West Texas Historical Association, his salary was never “more than three times that of his lowest-paid employee.” [source] That seems remarkable today when the pay ratio for CEOs to workers ranges, depending on the source, from more than 200 times to over 500 times! [source] For the history of Arrowhead Mills according to Hain, read here.
Arrowhead Mills is Sold to Hain – Quality Changes
Ford sold Arrowhead Mills to the Hain Celestial Group in 1999. While the appearance of the products sold under the Arrowhead Mills brand looks about the same as before 1999, at least one of my former favorites is not made the same way at all. I have always preferred crunchy peanut butter to smooth, and Arrowhead Mills organic peanut butter used to be the best. Ideally crunchy peanut butter is made by not grinding the peanuts as long as the smooth so that there are pieces of peanut left in the mix. That is exactly how Arrowhead Mills used to make their crunchy version, but not any longer.
Today’s Arrowhead Mills peanut butter is apparently made just like all the other major brands. They all make a lot of smooth peanut butter and, when finished, they add some chopped peanuts into the batch that is to be labeled crunchy. Although I still prefer to have some peanut pieces in my peanut butter, I preferred the way that Arrowhead Mills used to make it. Grinding for a shorter time tasted much better and had a more satisfying mouth feel. If you use Arrowhead Mills products, you may know of other changes in their finished products.
Special Nutrition in Deaf Smith County Soil
While the quality of some Arrowhead Mills products is not as good as before Hain ownership, at least most of their products are still organic, and they still market many of the same types of foods, although now most come from areas other than the fertile soil of Deaf Smith County. People who lived in Deaf Smith County were known to have far less tooth decay than those who lived in other parts of the country. Activator X, identified by Dr. Weston A. Price, probably what we now as Vitamin K, was found to be highest in Deaf Smith County. [source] Read more about the soil quality in Deaf Smith County here here and here.
I will continue to buy Arrowhead Mills products because they do have a wide variety of organic foods that I can use; however, I still miss their delicious original peanut butter!
The Story of Walnut Acres
The story of the degradation of Walnut Acres is a much sadder one. If you see Walnut Acres labels on store shelves today, be assured that the label/name is ALL that is left of the original Walnut Acres. Although Walnut Acres products are organic, beyond the label, there is no similarity to the wonderful, nutritious Walnut Acres foods I remember. George DeVault summarizes the fate of Walnut Acres concisely in What Became of Walnut Acres, “Once a Mecca for the organic faithful, it existed in name only [after its sale in 2000].”
History of the Original Walnut Acres
Walnut Acres was founded in 1946 by Paul and Betty Keene in central Pennsylvania. Walnut Acres was an organic farm and mail order food company. They grew, cooked, and sold a wide variety of organic foods from seeds and grains to canned soups and meats, all organic and made with the best available ingredients. I subscribed to their catalog and ordered occasionally, although the shipping costs were high from Pennsylvania to Texas. Thirty years ago, when organic foods were not as widely available, Walnut Acres was sometimes the only available source. Everything I ordered was delicious and of excellent quality. For 50 years Walnut Acres was a leader in the organic food movement and was very successful. By 1994 it had sales close to $8 million. (source)
An interesting story illustrating the excellent quality of Walnut Acres food is related by George DeVault in What Became of Walnut Acres? Walnut Acres peanut butter was so good that it changed food standards for the whole country! [Another peanut butter story!]
Federal standards stipulated that blanched peanuts must be used to make peanut butter. The contrary Keenes used whole, unblanched peanuts, complete with the vitamin-rich red skin and the nutritious heart or germ of the peanut. Federal regulations allowed up to 15 percent of non-peanut products such as sugar and saturated fats in peanut butter. The Keenes used only their unblanched peanuts, no added fat and just a pinch of salt. The result was that, in the beginning, Walnut Acres had to label its peanut product “imitation peanut butter.” Why? Because it did not meet FDA’s minimum standards. Simply put, Walnut Acres’ peanut butter was too good. The Keenes urged their thousands of loyal customers throughout the country to bombard Washington with letters of protest. They did and, in time, FDA changed its regulations. The Keenes fought — and won — similar battles over organic beef and pastas made with whole wheat flour. [emphasis added] (source)
Walnut Acres grew, cooked, and sold many organic foods and pastured meats, including granolas, soups and canned vegetables, peanut butter, apple butter, as well as basic staples such as grains, nuts, and seeds. (source)
Walnut Acres Sold
When Paul Keene’s wife Betty died in 1987, it became apparent that she had been a mainstay in managing the farm. The Keene’s daughter and son-in-law took over day-to-day operations, but the Walnut Acres was not growing as fast as other organic companies. It seemed that new capital was needed to stay in business. In March 1999, David C. Cole, a former executive at America Online (AOL) and venture capitalist, who had become interested in organic foods, bought controlling interest and invested $4 million in Walnut Acres. Cole’s stated purpose was to increase its “online presence.” (source)
Although internet sales grew, the business as a whole did not prosper as hoped. In June 2000, a new CEO was announced and the farm and store location was declared too remote and the plant not modern enough to continue operations there. In August 2000, the farm and store were shut down and 100 employees were laid off. Everything was sold at auction and processing facilities were set up elsewhere. It was said that crops remaining in the fields were harvested, packaged and given to food shelter. And that was the end of the original Walnut Acres. (source)
Walnut Acres Today
Walnut Acres (name only) was reborn and announced in a press release January 2001. The current company website never mentions the founders, Paul and Betty Keene, although they do say “We’ve been producing delicious organic foods since 1946” and claim to be true to their beginnings. (source)
The exact details of what happened to Walnut Acres are not public, but the company probably did need some reorganization. Its methods and purpose may not have kept up with the growing demands of the organic foods industry. In any case, Walnut Acres today is NOT the original in any way. None of the current products are the same, only the name and the logo remain. In other words, only the surface is Walnut Acres, the content is not at all Walnut Acres. Maybe Walnut Acres couldn’t stay in business as they were. Maybe they could have been saved with a different management. We will never know! However, the original Walnut Acres produced superb, quality foods, and those who remember almost certainly miss them.
For the next chapter in Walnut Acres, Hain Celestial bought Acira, Inc., Walnut Acres parent company, in 2003. (source)
I for one have never and will never buy the products of the current Walnut Acres.
Sources
Arrowhead Mills, Wikipedia
What Became of Walnut Acres? by George DeVault
Disclosed: The Pay Gap Between CEOs and Employees, Bloomberg Business Week
Frank Ford (farmer), Wikipedia
Deaf Smith’s Secret: An Explanation of the Deaf Smith Country, by A. W. Erickson
Our History, ArrowheadMills.com
West Texas Historical Association, Wikipedia
The important vitamin K2: Dr Weston A. Price’s powerful dental caries healer “Activator X”, Healing Teeth Naturally
Minerals and trace elements: Vital tooth and body builders, Healing Teeth Naturally
Oh my GOD ,I’m so sad to read this ,i will no buy anymore arrowheads Mills products,i don’t believe in this changes neither,i found out late,but thanks so much for this investigation,maggie from ormond beach,fl
Six months after I graduated from Northwestern University. I came to New York City.
I grew up I. Montana with delicious. healthy food and cooking. I began to taste. explore, and purchase my way around NYCity. Natural Foods were being brought I to NYCity by the original Natural and Organic Foodstore. The Good Earth. I shopped there. and I was offered the job of Sales Manager. and after a while, as Manager.
The Townleys, who owned that store. gave me free rein and sent me everywhere
I never met Frank Ford of Arrowhead Mills, but I talked with him on the telephone.
I met the Keene’s at a weekend NOFA conference at the lakeside Mohonk Mountain House, near New Palz, New York, and returned to the city sitting on a wooden box in
a truck ( sans comfort and before seat belts) with a huge order, case after case of Walnut Acres quart jarred tomatoes (transcendent). I also loved their spiced apple butter (reputedly cooked over a wood fire. and stirred with a stick. as the Keene’s had done I. Their missionary days. before Pennsylvania and Walnut Acres. Walnut Acres had perfect mayonnaise, delicious soups, and pretty much anything else they offered.
At the same conference (it was organic foods heaven) I spent the evening hours learning product by product the depth of wonders of Shiloh Farms ( they are still there, still Shiloh owned. though both their Whole Wheat Pastry Flour and their
Cookies and fruit cake recipes are no longer in the line (but their seeds, dried beans
and dried fruits remain dependably sourced and available.
I was introduced to the Hain Brothers at an NNFA Convention in Portland Oregon (Hain by someone from Lehman Brothers, and Actor Eddie Albert who I knew because he (like many a health conscious film star), shopped at Good Earth when in New York). Good Earth was a Destination Organic Food Store in NYCity in the 1960’s and 1970’s, produce. meats, chicken, fish, baked goods, certified raw milk, vitamins and supplements. eggs from Pennsylvania farms (when I observed to Aurthur Nungesser, who brought us incredible eggs in all sizes from puller to small, large, extra large. and jumbo, that the large eggs (I bake; most baking recipes are standardized for large eggs). that his large eggs looked smaller than those my mother had baked with in Montana, he shook his head and said that the FDA had recently re standardized large eggs as a courtesy to the farm label, as most producers could no longer meet the old egg weight standards.
I agree with you totally about the Arrowhead Peanut Butter. It was also aflatoxin (fungus) free, perfectly roasted, and delicious.
We have also lost Heinz Grotzke (whom I also met at that NOFA Conference. Mr Grotzke owned and farmed Biodynamically his Farm, Meadowbrook Farms.
For twenty plus years I used his herbs herb blends and herbal teas. He tried to sell the business to someone “young enough to get down on their hands and knees to tend to the plants”. But he had no takers, and his knees. he said, could not handle that work anymore. Heinz Grotzke’s Meadowbrook Herbs were transcendently better than any since. I miss them bitterly. The original Mease, Pennsylvania bread makers, were there with their Sprouted Grains Breads — Wheat. Rye. And one other. But so one died, or they both retired. and Kaput No more.
I bought an amazing Montana Hard Wheat Bread Flour from the Ted Whitmer family in Montana. Someone died, no more, no more. Oh, and since you are in California, you will understand that I also mourn the demise of Rancher Wachtenspeil’s TimberCrest Farms perfect organic dried fruits , of all kinds. (That hid me hard. No one matches them….)
(Perhaps you know the answer to this question ?
What became of organic monnuka raisins? They has disappeared I. Natural food stores in New York City.
May you all there continue to thrive. I now work with private nutritional clients, and am writing the cookbooks that no one else can or will write.
Feel free to use my name. Sincerely. Lisa Cosman. NYCity
Thanks for your first hand experience with many early organic foods, farms, and businesses. I will be looking for more information about these as well. A Google search showed sources of organic monukka raisins. I hope you find what you are looking for.
I hope we can turn around the trend toward inferior quality food, but sometimes I am doubtful.
My understanding is that when WA was bought by Cole, it was found out to be a fraud, nothing was organic. Is that true or false?
During my research, I did not find anything that suggested there was any fraud at the original Walnut Acres. What is your source?
i was a fan of arrowhead mills brownie mix and hain decide to discontinue it for gluten free only which is not acceptable taste or texture. im certain they do it only for monetary reasons (im sure gluten free costs less to produce). the gluten free thing is a ridiculous hoax fad.
Is there any alternative to ordering organic food by mail? Some of us cannot get out and about or even have local access to organic food . I remember Walnut acres my mom had a shop and sold
their food. I noticed lots of food for sale on Etsy but I’ve been disappointed in the few times I’ve ordered. There’s lots of food you can make payments on QVC but it is not organic. No one to take w acres place? How sad a sign of the times, thank you. They even had canned organic hamburger, remember?
Yes, I remember Walnut Acres organic hamburger and much, much more. All were excellent quality. There are sources to help find local organic food and pastured meats. If you are in the Houston area, look at the Local Food & Milk page on the website of the Houston chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation. Some of the sources deliver to various areas around Houston. If you live somewhere else, hopefully you can find a chapter of the WAPF in your area. You can also look at Real Food Houston’s Resources list for online sources of nutritious food and other healthier products.
I think Walnut Acres was my first introduction to organic food. I was a mail order customer. Somehow a group of us who wanted to mail order from Walnut Acres were put in touch with each other. We ordered independently and had our orders shipped to a single drop-off address. I loved their food and have long missed it. So sad to learn what happened to them.
I used to order from them also. Their products were excellent quality.
Used to order from them, too, and looked forward to getting those shipments! I actually forgot about that small detail until I read this! Weren’t they based in PA? We were in Jersey. Definitely loved their products. I think I actually went to their storefront once…?
In my downsizing I found a note card from Walnut Acres hand signed by Bob and Runt Anderson from 1991. I was going to send the card to Walnut Acres for nostalgia sake. That year I was reading Mother Earth News regularly and very interested in organic food but none was available in my small town and I think Walnut Acres was the only catalog offering it.
I wrote Walnut Acres a note saying I only DREAMT of some day being able to afford their products and couldn’t wait because everything looked and sounded great. I thanked them for offering this good food to the public.
A week or two later, I received a big box from them filled with some organic products they offered in the catalog!!! All handwritten, it said SWEET DREAMS and Bon Appetite! Signed by Bob and Runt Anderson. There was also a side note that said Carrie was both of their grandmothers names and a special name in their families!
How cool was that?? I thought they were the owners in a small mom and pop organization, so not sure who the Anderson’s were, but I was so impressed with the whole organic grass roots movement.
I’m so sad to hear about the plight of Walnut Acres.
Thank you for sharing your story about Walnut Acres. Their generosity fits their reputation. Walnut Acres products were excellent.
Walnut Acres food was the best. I owned a small health food store back in 1972 and my goal was to sell only organic foods. There was a farmer who was definitely an organic farmer and sold his flours, grains etc locally. My customers thought his flour made the best bread ever. I ordered the Walnut Acres products. One of the favorites were their cereals, My family still talks about the Soy carob flour and what good pie crusts it made. Today, so many products disappoint me even when the are labeled “organic” Of course, if the consumer has never had the delicious products that remember they can’t compare the difference. I loved hearing from those who remember Walnut Acres and feel so lucky that I am old enough to have enjoyed really organic foods.
I agree. Everything I ordered from Walnut Acres was excellent quality and tasted good too. I often remember their foods and wish I could still order from them. I haven’t found any equivalent source of organic food, especially prepared foods, since Walnut Acres closed.
Too bad Bob’s Red Mill didn’t buy Walnut Acres. I think they might have been able to do it justice if they took it over.
Bob’s Red Mill quality reliability is questionable. Their old-fashioned organic oats were found to be very high in glyphosates. I recently spoke with them and asked for documentation that they are taking the term ‘organic’ seriously and being stringent with overseeing growing the grains and production. They said they were 3rd party lab tested but would not share the lab reports. They expect you to just believe them, without proof. We need to be a united voice to hold these companies accountable in providing safe food in these uncertain times.
We have a Resources list on Real Food Houston that lists some good sources for organic grains. I have put an asterisk in front of those I have ordered from. I usually use Jovial Einkorn flour. I also order many foods from Azure Standard. They sell organic flour and grains. For already made sourdough bread products, I recommend Organic Bread of Heaven. Our purchase is like a vote. If we buy quality food from reliable companies our vote is registered. I am a volunteer chapter leader (Houston) for the Weston A. Price Foundation. If you want to support quality food and the farmers and producers who supply it, I highly recommend that you become a member.
Thank you for this article. I used to buy their great products and wondered why Whole Foods and Fairway weren’t carrying them anymore. Very sad. I hope Kombucha makers fair better : )
Today is January 10th, 2022 I have a 1lb. bag of Arrowhead Mills”Organic Green Lentils” that’s dated: “Best by 17 Dec. 2016 A1 01:24 That was approximately 5 years and 1 month ago. I gave the bag a gentle squeeze and it appears to still be air tight. Do you think they can still be used ? I mean…they’re dry lentils what could go wrong with them over time ? I know that they probably wouldn’t put a best by date on them if there wasn’t a reason, BUT some companies put best by dates on things just to get you to by stuff over a period of time.
If the lentils were stored in a freezer or refrigerator, they probably still have some nutrition. There are conflicting reports about using very old dried legumes. Some say they would have very little nutrition left. While they are not unsafe, they might be harder to digest. You could try soaking and cooking slowly for a while.
Having been recently totally disgusted with King Arthur Flour for putting a lab-made fungal alpha-amylase additive into their organic AP and bread flours, I am searching for a replacement. Have known about Arrowhead Mills for decades but what is important is who they are now. They are now owned by Hometown Food Company and based on the other brands this company owns, I would not trust Arrowhead Mills for safe, high-quality organic flours or anything, for that matter.