Natural Food Retailers Association

by Alice Shindelar, Executive Administrator

INFRA was rewarded with recognition and interest at expo west by current members, retailers, vendors, and the industry.

The association was able to have a bigger impact this year with all INFRA staff attending the Expo West. The impact of increased INFRA staffing from a single employee at the beginning of 2008 to the current 3.5 FTE was evident in the amount of activities the association was able to accomplish prior to, and at, Expo West.

On Thursday, March 5th INFRA held the annual membership meeting. A record number of members and staff were in attendance. At the meeting Corinne spoke on the state of natural products in the current economy. Alex Beamer, president of the board of directors, spoke on the position of the association. Members elected

Shirley Ayers, Terry Brett, Zedrick Clark, Scott Roseman, and Laughing Water to the INFRA Board. Thank you for serving and congratulations to these members.

Friday March 6th was a busy day at Expo for INFRA. Lyndsay Griffith held a buyers meeting in the afternoon at which David Butterfield, an employee of Organic Valley, discussed his experience with the CAP program as well vendor interests and expectations of INFRA’s SPC program. Additionally, INFRA and the Non-GMO project joined together to host an informational reception for independent retailers. Over 35 retailers showed up for the reception and enjoyed presentations on the benefits of INFRA membership and the importance of the Non-GMO project. 2009 already shows a significant spike in membership enrollment and the positive interest displayed by retailers at Expo West indicates continued growth in membership throughout the year.