CHICAGO, Ill. – A staggering array of products was on display at last week’s All Things Organic conference.
Organic chocolates, infant bedding and body butters were a few of the items displayed among the more than 500 booths at the trade show portion of North America’s largest organic conference.
But perhaps the most unusual item was an organic ambassador.
Staffing booth No. 553 was Carol Braun, former U.S. senator and ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. After nearly 30 years in public service, Braun is becoming an entrepreneur.
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She launched her Ambassador Organics business at the conference in Chicago, where she was born and raised.
“This is my fourth career,” said the woman who has been a lawyer, state and federal politician and international diplomat.
Her company will distribute certified Biodynamic products, which are perishable and prepared food products produced from a type of organic farming she claimed is the gold standard in Europe and Asia.
“It’s organic-plus,” Braun said.
Founded on the science of life forces, Biodynamics places particular emphasis on practices such as manure composting, quartz-based soil preparations and an astronomical calendar to determine planting, cultivating and harvesting times.
“Some people have laughed at it for that reason but my great-grandmother planted based on where the moon was,” said the former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
It was on her great-grandmother’s pecan farm in Union Springs, Alabama, where Braun developed a life-long affinity for farming. She spent her spring, summer and winter breaks from school working there.
She credits her great-grandmother, who was also Union Springs’ midwife, for planting the seeds for what would later blossom into a love of organics.
“She was very much involved with natural healing, natural remedies and eating healthy food.”
Braun’s progression from high-profile city slicker into organic agriculture entrepreneur was aided by three decades in the political arena.
She became heavily involved in agricultural policy while representing the farming state of Illinois in the U.S. Senate. She sponsored a soybean loan rate bill, was dubbed “Ethanol Queen” by her state’s farmers for her work on renewable fuels, and made food safety, health and nutrition issues a priority.
Agricultural issues also comprised most of her job description as ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.
Due to her impressive resumé, Braun has been tapped as a spokesperson for organics and delivered a keynote speech at the Chicago conference, which was organized by the Organic Trade Association.
OTA executive director Caren Wilcox said the former ambassador generates press anytime she speaks.
“She has an automatic audience and that’s very important.”
However, the association doesn’t plan to further engage Braun in a public affairs role. Wilcox said Braun is too busy building her fledgling organic company and continuing with her business law practice.
She didn’t rule out the possibility of occasionally enlisting her services to bend a few ears in Washington.
“There are times when it can be very helpful that somebody who understands our issues intimately can make maybe one call,” said Wilcox.
Braun said it would be a side benefit if her Ambassador Organics business raises the profile of the organic sector.
“If that happens, that’s wonderful, but that’s not my intent. My intent is to get the highest quality, best products I can out into the market.”
