Publisher Platform: We have lost another food safety hero

I was at the IAFP this week and heard of the tragic death of someone I called a friend. I first met Will on the other side of a terrible E. coli outbreak and tragedy. I came to respect his kindness, humanity and integrity. Thanks to CCOF for posting this.

The CCOF community is saddened by the news of the passing of Will Daniels, a champion of the organic movement whose passion, vision and leadership inspired many in the field of organic farming. Will served on the CCOF board for thirteen years from 2001 to 2014, including the role of board chair.

John Foster, former director of supply chain strategy at Earthbound Farm (a position Will recruited John for), remembers his time with Will. “Will was one of the key people who guided the survival and revival of Earthbound Farm after the disaster E.coli outbreak in 2006. Without that team, including Will, Earthbound Farm would not have been reborn. Most companies with a food safety problem of such national prominence would not survive. Will was one of the reasons for that.”

Will was instrumental in developing the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA), which emerged as the current standard for leafy greens food safety following the spinach outbreak. Will’s involvement with the LGMA took food safety for the fresh-cut produce industry to a new level.

“Will took a scientific but humane approach to problems,” John recalls. “He was determined to use testing not only to prove safety, but also to verify the process. He codified programs that produced data-driven results. He provided a programmatic approach to food safety on leafy vegetables. Now, almost twenty years later, it is just part of the fabric of the industry, and no one can imagine that it has not always existed.”

John says: “Will is a wonderful model for me in terms of raw leadership ability. I don’t think he gets enough credit for that because he was so well regarded in more technical areas. He launched and nurtured the careers of hundreds of people in the organic farming and food safety industries. He judged people fairly and spoke to them respectfully. He embodied the best leadership qualities: doing the right thing for the right reasons. The time I had the opportunity to work with him was a gift. He was very humble, which made him all the better as a leader. So many people who worked with Will are simply devastated by this loss.

In one example that John recalls, Earthbound Farm conducted a large-scale, meticulously detailed exercise to test response systems in the event that a recall occurred and the CEO was unavailable for guidance. “There were more than a dozen of us in the conference room when the [randomly timed mock emergency] A phone call came. Will became the leader of that room in no time, without discussion or argument. He didn’t demand it. Everyone just knew. We spent the next few hours and days with everyone playing their part well, but with Will at the helm. At that moment I thought, ‘That’s leadership.’ Will’s passing is a tremendous loss, but there is some comfort in knowing that he left behind a well-entrenched legacy and a long list of us whom he helped inspire to be agents of positive change in produce, food safety, organics and much more.”

Cathy Calfo, former CEO of CCOF, remembers her time with Will. “When I joined CCOF in 2011, Will had already been a member of the board and chairman for more than ten years. He helped us through the difficult implementation of the National Organic Program rule. But more importantly, under Will’s leadership, CCOF has achieved this moment by becoming the largest organic certifier in the United States while maintaining strong ties to the farmer membership.”

“Will believed, like all of us, that organic is the answer to building a better planet. By sharing his deep knowledge of organic processes and injecting patience, kindness and vision along the way, Will was the leader CCOF needed at a critical time. Without him we would not be who we are today, and as an organic community we will miss him.”

John McKeon, director of organic integrity and compliance at Taylor Farms, remembers the first time he met Will, during one of John’s first PrimusGFS inspections as an organic inspector. “For me, as a student inspector at the time, it was a big deal to see one of the big boys in organic farming; Earthbound Farm was already quite a business back then, around 2001. Little did I know, I was working for him seven years later. I was especially intrigued because as we drove through the complex, Will pulled up in his red Subaru with his Grateful Dead sticker on it. I thought: this fits in with a biological inspection.”

“Will was just so present. He was very logical and very transparent in all his activities. When the spinach outbreak occurred, Will stepped into the larger industry as the responsible entity for food safety. I witnessed his pragmatic, scientific approach to problem solving. It was really something to be able to work under Will. There I learned how to balance food safety and organic, regenerative, sustainable practices, working on using our production methods of the planet instead of taking a dominant position over it.”

“Plus, he was a guy you could see in his office, or meet in a restaurant, and have a conversation with or just make fun of. He was human. That’s what made our Earthbound Farm chapter grow around him. His “we’re all in this together” mentality moved many people forward. He was the foundation for so many people who now promote quality, food safety and biological integrity; he made them come forward.”

“It was a real pleasure dealing with him. I really miss him.”

If you would like to support Will’s family, please visit them GoFundMe.