Nello’s Receives Whole Foods Market Loan to Craft First Certified Biodynamic Tomato Sauce in the History of U.S. Agriculture

Raleigh, NC (May 28, 2015)

Nello’s—the producer of innovative, extraordinary tomato sauces—has been selected as a recipient of a Local Producer Loan (LPL) by Whole Foods Market. Nello’s is using the loan to craft the first ever U.S-grown, U.S.-made certified Biodynamic jarred tomato sauce on the market, created from heirloom tomatoes, basil, and garlic grown under contract by Whitted Bowers Farm, a North Carolina family-owned certified Organic and Biodynamic farm.

Nello’s Biodynamic tomato sauce will join a growing list of venerable organic food companies bringing Biodynamic products to Whole Foods Market store shelves, including Amy’s Kitchen, Lundberg Family Farms, Lakewood Organics, and The Republic of Tea.  But Nello’s will be the first company who is funding their line extension through the LPL program, further deepening Whole Foods Market’s investment in this great project that connects the retailer, the processor, and the farmer together in a unified effort to contribute to this emerging Biodynamic marketplace.

According to Demeter, the certifying agency for Biodynamic farms and processors, “Biodynamic agriculture views a farm as an agricultural ecosystem whose goal is to operate as a self-contained and integrated system in the most holistic sense. Biodynamic farm management requires close attention to the living (bio) and energetic (dynamic) interrelation of the constituent parts of the agricultural system.  This stands in stark contrast to a more reductionist view of conventional agriculture that focuses on individual parts (soil, animals, crops, even the farmer) in isolation from each other.”

Nello’s journey into the processing of a Biodynamic jarred tomato sauce is a historical moment in the history of U.S. agriculture and food production, bringing together the entire supply chain  in an effort to make available the most transparent and sustainable food system on the market. The whole story, from seed to shelf, will be documented in photos on the Nello’s website (starting with planting in early spring, harvest in July, and distribution in August) through which consumers will be able to see  the great care that has been invested in every aspect of the supply chain.

For further information or for interviews, please email Nello’s at info@nellositaly.com or phone at 919-428-4338.