Award Honorees

Passionately committed to the organic industry, Terry and LaRhea Pepper farm Pepper Farms in Texas, which has been certified organic since 1991 and which in May 1997 became the 500th member of OTA. The Peppers are founding members of the Texas Organic Cotton Marketing Cooperative (TOCMC), a cooperative of approximately 30 family farmers in the High Plains of West Texas. Cited as "tireless and resourceful beyond belief," LaRhea also founded Organic Essentials, to add value to farm products, and Cotton Plus, to make TOCMC fiber available in fabrics that can be purchased in small quantities. She also wrote a proposal and received a $450,000 USDA grant to fund the Organic Cotton Consumer Outreach Project.