Nutrilite Farm,The Farm That Working In Partnership With Nature

Due to the scope of my work , I have been visiting many food manufacturing factories, and farms.
I have never seen such a great farming system. Nutrilite Farm---The real organic farm that  inspire me. While searching in the internet, there are too many information appears in front of me.

They implementing Good Agriculture Practice (GAP), which is already a very high standard program, especially in US.  Yet they set a requirement of all the farms supplying botanical materials adhere to the 
NUTRICERT farm certification program – ensuring that these farms adhere to Nutrilite's own organic farming philosophy, guided by sustainable, organic principles.

Crops used for Nutrilite supplements are grown using organic and sustainable farming methods. Instead of relying on harmful pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizes, they let nature do the work. 
The organic farming methods used to produce ingredients are more costly and more labour intensive than conventional commercial farming , but they offer enormous advantages. By focusing on long-term sustainability, instead of short term yields. They produce healthy crops without damaging the earth and the environment. They believe that best supplement begins with the best plant.

To implement a organic farm standard is not easy. To achieve this objective we need a very powerful support from the Top Management and also the workers. There are a lot of farm claiming themselves as organic farm, but when I went to visit them, there are still far behind from the standard. They 'look like' but they are NOT.

When study about the Nutrilite farming technique, I was soon be attracted by their philosophy and commitment to grow the best plant that led to development of one of the industry's most extensive organic farming operations. Here are some implementation that I am so impress！！^^

Integrated pest management(in chinese: 天敌法):-

Integrated pest management (IPM) is an integrated approach of crop management to solve ecological problems when applied in agriculture.

These methods are performed in three stages: prevention, observation, and intervention. It is an ecological approach with a main goal of significantly reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides while at the same time managing pest populations at an acceptable level.

The emphasis is on control, not eradication.Should a pest reach an unacceptable level, mechanical methods are the first options to consider. They include simple hand-picking, erecting insect barriers, using traps, vacuuming, and tillage to disrupt breeding.Using biological controls,promoting beneficial insects that eat target pests.They use ladybirds, green lacewing, spiders, predator birds like hawks, owls, bats  and so on.  

(you browse to this webpage www.nutrlite-farm.com to know more about the pest control in nutrilite farm. It is in Chinese and game approach ^^ )

Soil Management:-

It concerns all operations, practices and treatments used to protect soil and enhance its performance. a soil that functions effectively today and will continue to produce crops long into the future.

They implement crop rotation, nutrient-rich organic compost(derived from decomposed plant materials), soil microbes, "green manure" crops (i.e. clover and vetch are grown and ploughed back into the soil to increase nutrients and improve the soil structure) and earthworms(the key players in soil health, which they enrich the soil as they ingest, decompose and deposit casts continuously.)

No soil or environmental contamination, such as using genetically modified organisms. The idea is to protect the farms from potential sources of contamination from neighboring farms.

grazing livestock in between plantings will reduce weeds and enrich the soil with biological nutrients.

In-depth quality control standards, including proper documentation of farm inputs, traceability of crop sources, written plans to avoid contamination and control pests, and a quality assurance program for farm products sold.

What I admire the best is that we could actually  find a small ecosystem in this organic farm. You can see lake, trees, river, different species of plants and fauna, human, etc.

They built a healthy social environment around the farm, providing farm employees with the opportunity for personal development, including education and training. They build school, clinic, and other facilities in the community. They create harmony atmosphere in the community. The farmers are certified as the organic farmer.^^

My father's quest began in1915 in China. 

There he observed that people who lived in rural areas seemed 

to be healthier than people in the cities, 

and he soon made the connection between plant-based nutrition and improved health.

When my father returne to the United States in 1927, 

he set up makeshift multimineral products based on plant mterials.

In 1940s, my father leased a two-acre farm in the San Fernando Valley 

to grow alfalfa and other plant materials without using 

synthetic pesticides or herbicides. 

He called his natural methods "Nutrilite farming Practices" 

and we have used those methods ever since to ensure that 

we remain in control of the quality of our products

 ' from the seed to the finished supplement'.--Dr. Sam Rehnborg

(Note:-After reading a book named " The Nutrilite Story- past, present, future". 

I got to know that the knowledge of the Tradisional Chinese Medicine,TCM 
had been studied and introduced by Dr. Carl Rehnborg into the Nutrilite products. 
There were 'ying' and 'yang' and also the 'qi' concept. This is pretty surprise. 
He even read the book '神农本草经'.)

  

This is more than a Organic Farm！Awesome！This is the reason why I said I have never experience such a powerful organic system before. Yet this is only the 'seed'. They control over plant ingredients from the seed to finished supplement, 150 product and packaging patents and industry leadership in phytonutrient product formulation. 

In 2009, they celebrate their 75th anniversary.

Implementing a standard into a food factory or a farm is actually creating a ripple in the whole supply chain.
Food Factory/Farm --- Intermediate Suppliers --- Main Suppliers from local or oversea.  
By setting supplier requirements/ purchasing specifications,  the supplier will be forced to improve their system. More safe food will be produced.
However... unfortunately... most of them think that this is costly, impossible, wasting time, hard to manage, etc. So, what else you think is good ? When a problem come to you? or When somebody out there die because of you?


Reference:
http://globalnews.amway.com/index.php?s=2952&item=8044
www.nutrilite.com
The Nutrilite Story- past, present, future
www.globalhealthmgmt.com/Vitamins_Supplements.html   Kevin McNabb