My, how the time flies.

This month marks the first anniversary of Wild Oats’ launch into the American marketplace with a mission to make healthy organic food more affordable and accessible.

Events over the past 12 months underscore why it’s so important that more families have access to organic food. The recent announcements by several large food companies and restaurant chains that they will be phasing out chicken raised with antibiotics follows a growing mountain of evidence that antibiotic use in agriculture is contributing to the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria.

In December, the United Nations declared 2015 the International Year of Soils, a move designed to draw worldwide attention to the fragile state of the earth’s thin layer that provides life for all of us.

And, last month, the World Health Organization declared glyphosate–the common element in the most prevalent weed killer in agriculture–to be a probable carcinogen.

The common element in all of these issues is food: How it’s raised, processed and sold. A typical shopper doesn’t have the time today to do the extensive research regarding which foods are healthiest, along with which are produced in harmony with nature.

Farmers markets have exploded across the country as one outlet to provide people with access to that healthy food. But even shoppers at farmers markets still purchase most of their groceries in a traditional brick and mortar store. And, the USDA organic seal of the food in those stores is a quick, simple way to know that the food was produced without antibiotics, synthetic pesticides, and with a strong respect for nature.

Unfortunately, until last April, most of that organic food was beyond the financial reach of a typical family.

Wild Oats began a revolution last April to change that. Wild Oats recognized that growing organic food involves additional costs and complexity. But the high cost of organic food has largely been the result of inefficient and expensive transportation, manufacturing and distribution expenses. The focus has been to make those segments of the organic pipeline as efficient as possible so that consumers—and organic farmers—can jointly benefit.

One year later, the battle is far from won, but thousands more families across America are now able to enjoy wholesome organic food.