When forty years ago Joseph
Wilhelm and his former wife Jennifer Vermeulen started to mix muesli in their
bathtub to bring healthy food products to the German market, they hardly could
have imagined becoming one of the key producers and distributors of
organic food in the world. It was 1972 when RAPUNZEL, named after
a 19th century fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, was born.
A „hippie“ dream of living the organic life soon turned into a
small specialty store.
Photo: Items from Rapunzel's first
store now adorn the museum next to the production plant
Photo: Rapunzel's bus
From a vision to produce organically
cultivated muesli, nutty spreads, bread, fruit and vegetable,
RAPUNZEL grew into a company with 300 full-time employees operating from a
small German town Legau (Bavaria). Today, RAPUNZEL markets some 12,000
tons of organic food across the world presented in more than 450 certified
products.
Yet the organic pioneer has not
stopped there. Joseph Wilhelm is an untiring fair trade promoter and
an active supporter of organic agriculture beyond Germany and Europe. In
cooperation with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture (IFOAM),
he has been cherrishing the effort of other pro-Earth and socially
conscious activists with One World Award (OWA), which recognizes outstanding
engagement and achievements in environment protection and fair livelihoods. Six finalists were awarded during this year's gala celebration with
800 German and international guests that are themselves engaged in
sustainability, environmental protection or organic farming.
Happy birthday RAPUNZEL and congratulations to the winners!
Photo: Hana with Maike Wilhelm (as Rapunzel) and the former Alfalfa's CEO Mark Retzloff enjoying Rapunzel's festival
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