If you’ve ever browsed through an Azure catalog or been to an Azure drop site, you’re probably familiar with the Azure Farm label. What started years ago with soft white wheat and rye, grown on the Stelzer family farm, soon grew to hundreds of products processed at the Azure Mill but sourced from other suppliers.
You might have baked with Azure Farm flour, Azure Farm soup mix, Azure Farm spices, many varieties of grain and hundreds of other products under the Azure Farm brand.
“The Azure Farm brand has been a popular choice for more than 25 years,” David Stelzer said. “In fact, the demand for these products has surpassed our farm’s capacity. So over the years, we had to start sourcing some of the products from our trusted friends and neighbors.”
As the product line grew, customers wanted an easier way to distinguish between which products were actually grown on the Azure Farm and which ones were sourced elsewhere.
“We had a few people who thought we were trying to trick them with the Azure Farm label,” David Stelzer said. “But that certainly was never the intent. We just kept growing and adding.”
As the variety of Azure Farm products grew, the need for a new brand name became quite apparent. So in 2001, Stelzer and his team introduced the Azure Husbandry brand to identify those items that are grown or raised on the Stelzer’s organic family farm. Whether it’s rhubarb, carrots and beets, heirloom wheat, orchard produce, free-range beef, or pasture-raised chicken, Azure Husbandry products are 100% Certified Organic and grown using sustainable farming practices.
“The Azure Husbandry brand reflects my family’s farming style,” Stelzer said. “It reflects the organic lifestyle that we chose back in the 1970s. But I’m realistic. I realize that not everyone can be all organic all the time, so Azure needs to offer healthy options across the whole spectrum. Just because a product is Certified Organic doesn’t mean it’s a perfect fit for everyone.”
For 14 years Azure operated with both the Azure Husbandry brand and the Azure Farm brand. With the growth in customer demand, hundreds of other products have since been added that are both non-GMO and Certified Organic and are listed under the new Azure Market brand. In order to better identify quality bulk products that are not grown on the Azure Farm, the company is now transitioning its Azure Farm branded products to the Azure Market brand.
High Quality Bulk Foods from Azure Market
Stelzer believes that the change from Azure Farm to Azure Market will do much more than just eliminate confusion. The goal, he said, is to provide the very best value in both organic and natural foods from around the world sourced from trusted farmers and suppliers.
“Providing healthy food from healthy soil has always been one of the leading core values at Azure, but we also want to keep it affordable,” Stelzer said.
“Our goal is to upgrade the quality and reduce the price on many of our core items that Azure has been carrying for years, while adding new items that customers are requesting.”
“We’re extremely selective about the products we source for the Azure Market brand. Some are organic and some are not. However, everything is non-GMO, and we don’t allow refined sugar, enriched flour, artificial additives or preservatives in anything we sell. Also, you’ll find that many Azure Market products that are not Certified Organic are actually mostly organic. They might contain one ingredient — honey for instance — that’s not certified.”
The distinction between organic and non-organic is very clear on the new Azure Market labels. Azure Market Organics have a brown label, with the green Azure Organic symbol and an “Organic” designation in the product name.
“We want to make the choice very clear,” Stelzer said. “It’s our hope that more and more customers will choose organic, but even if they don’t, they’re still getting healthy, clean, non-GMO products with Azure Market.”
To see a complete listing of all Azure Market products, just type “Azure Market” into the search bar at the top right on Azure’s newly updated website or hover over "Shop Azure" and click on "Brands." You’ll also notice a new feature on the website that allows you to easily compare the price, ounce-for-ounce, with any other brand.
“Azure Market really is a value brand,” Stelzer said. “We don’t spend money on expensive packaging or advertising, so it gives people a healthy option at a price they can afford.”