International Agricultural Officials Visit Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs

Online, September 10, 2009 (Newswire.com) - September 2, 2009 -- Agricultural officials from 23 countries around the world visited Pete and Gerry's Organic Egg farm in Monroe, New Hampshire on a tour of New England food and agricultural businesses sponsored by the USDA.

The officials visited businesses in New Hampshire and Vermont from as part of an annual USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) tour. In addition to visiting Pete and Gerry's, the group visited an organic bakery, an organic dairy farm, a student-operated dairy, an organic food co-op, a maple syrup operation, a winery, an apple cider mill, an organic seed business, an organic vegetable farm, a cheese production plant, the University of New Hampshire and Stonyfield Farm Organic Yogurt.

The delegation included senior trade and agricultural officials from Mexico, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia and Japan. Trade and agriculture officials from both Vermont and New Hampshire will accompany them. Hosted by the USDA, the tour was lead by USDA Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Kathleen Merrigan.

Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs is a real, fourth-generation family farm. Located in New Hampshire's White Mountains, the farm is committed to producing organic, cage-free eggs and being Certified Humane. The hens are kept in spacious barns where they can roam, scratch, perch and nest as they please. They're fed only all-organic grain with no hormones or antibiotics.

Jesse Laflamme, owner and manager of Pete and Gerry's was pleased to have the visitors. "We're committed to conservation, organic foods, humane treatment and small-scale farming. We're happy to share our experience and methods with other farmers. We all share a shrinking planet."