Earthbound Farm’s growth exploded after Costco placed an order in 1993. “Costco wanted our prewashed spring mix, but they didn’t want organic,” Myra told me. “To them, organic sent the wrong message: high price and low quality.” At the time, organic was still recovering from the boom and bust following the Alar episode. But the Goodmans were committed to organic farming practices, so they decided to sell Costco their organically grown lettuce without calling it that.
