New Seasons Market and the Tillamook
County Creamery Association are expanding
their collaborative efforts.
The two are working together on a long-
term manure management program with
TCCA's local dairy farms, with the help of a
$4 million federal grant that TCCA secured.
As part of the partnership, TCCA will
provide verified methane emission reductions
for its products that are offered at New
Seasons Market locations, likely beginning in
2026, Jocelyn Bridson, director, environment
and community impact, TCCA, told Specialty
Food. She said the products would probably
not have on-package claims but could have
supporting information online and in stores.
The five-year USDA
Regional Conservation
Partnership Program grant
will help TCCA's dairy farmers
reduce their methane emissions
through such practices as using manure
tank covers with flare off systems, manure
separators, and composting. These systems
work to reduce anaerobic decomposition of
manure, which leads to methane emissions,
Bridson explains.
New Seasons Market will contribute some
funding for emission-reduction activities
related to manure management, likely
starting in 2026 once projects are underway,
she says.—Mark Hamstra
New Seasons Market, Tillamook
Partner on Sustainability Projects
PHOTO: LIT TLE SESAME
PHOTO: NEW SEASONS MARKET
Little Sesame Benefits
From USDA Grant
The USDA is giving small businesses a boost.
The goal is to help them grow and
prosper, and to invest in American farmland,
promoting crops like chickpeas, lentils,
and millet to help with climate change and
promote a move to more organic crops.
In March, Little Sesame learned that
USDA was awarding it $2.2 million, which
was big news for a small, three-year-old
company. The funds are part of the $75
million Organic Market Development Grant
program.
The hummus maker sources chickpeas
from Casey Bailey, an organic regenerative
farmer in Montana, and now buys from
several additional farmers in the state.
Little Sesame's owners, Nick Wiseman
and Ronen Tenne, plan to quadruple the
company's volume over the next three years;
expand production capacity; and boost
sales and marketing. At the same time, says
Wiseman, this will help them work with 10
more farmers.
"The challenge is farming this way
[regeneratively] can be expensive and
because of the lack of subsidies it can be
hard to compete," says Wiseman. "But
there's no middleman so you start seeing
efficiencies and can scale this into a
meaningful business."
Growing wheat without rotation is
bad for the soil and the environment, says
Wiseman. But planting chickpeas in rotation
fixes the balance of nitrogen in the soil.
"The motivation to grow is more and
more acres under regenerative management,"
Wiseman says. He's hoping to reach 10,000
acres with the farmers the company works
with by 2027.—Amanda Baltazar
12 SPECIALTY FOOD SPECIALTYFOOD.COM
TRENDS & HAPPENINGS
