Let’s rewrite the next chapter of food together—-and make healthy options available to all
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The Healthy Living Tipping Point............................ 3
What is “Tipping Point”?................................................ 4 The Shifting World of Retail........................................... 5 Future of Retail............................................................... 6 A Hunger for Novelty...................................................... 7 Big Shifts for Big CPGs................................................... 8 4 Ways Millennials Matter............................................. 9
Beyond the Label: Values Driven Shopping.....10
Why We Buy What We Buy..........................................11 About Our Partner: Bellucci.........................................12
Growing the Movement.............................................13
Seeds of Change..........................................................14 Farming the Future......................................................15 Making Healthy Food Convenient & Affordable..........16 Trend: Fast Casual Fare in a Jar....................................16 The (Expiration) Dating Game......................................17
Understanding “Sustainability”.................................18
The Rise of Climate-Friendly Farming..........................19 Regenerative Agriculture Can Save Our Planet...........19 Saving Our Seas...........................................................20 Growth of Plant-Based Foods.......................................21 Buying Into the Plant-Based Movement......................21 About Our Partner: Good Catch...................................22
Feeding the Good Food Future.............................23
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About Esca Bona’s Feeding the Good Food Future We believe that the future of our food system is in our hands —and that tomorrow really can be healthier than today if we join forces. But it doesn’t come easy. We have a lot of work to do, work that requires us to roll up our sleeves and get
our hands dirty. This year, we’ve once again partnered with
impassioned food suppliers and brands to spread the word about transparent and sustainable ingredient sourcing,
healthy innovations and, most importantly, what’s needed in order to get healthier products into the hands of all people.
Meet our partners in leading the good food movement:
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The good food movement is about more than food. Yes, it includes delicious, ethically sourced ingredients; organically harvested produce; and sustainably grown, fresh-from-the-farm flavors. But put down your fork and take a step back from the
table, and you’ll see a set of ideals that transcends our plates and our palates. At its core, the good food movement is about community; about the power of education, trust and transparency; about nourishing both our bodies and our planet. What started decades ago as a fringe movement is now a way of life that is reshaping not only how we eat but also how we think about and interact with each other, our communities and, ultimately, our planet. Turns out, what’s good and most healthful for us is also what’s good and most healthful for Mother Earth. It’s a notion rife with growth and possibility. This talk of expansion and opportunity begs the question: Has the natural and organic products industry—and the values propelling it forward—reached a cultural tipping point?
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Has the natural and organic products industry—and the values propelling it forward—reached a cultural tipping point?
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The shifting world of retail Consider the ever-evolving retail space. Conventional groceries have expanded their natural sections, making special diet and preservativefree items a cinch to find. This mainstream adoption helps to ensure all people have
access to healthy foods. A New Hope market analysis found that conventional stores sell a whopping 44 percent of all natural products, compared to 39 percent sold in natural products stores. And then there’s the recent, game-changing news that Amazon purchased Whole Foods for a massive $13.7 billion—a deal that experts predict will have widespread, longlasting implications for the entire industry. The acquisition, said Ryan Caldbeck, founder of the CircleUp investment platform, “puts pressure on the rest of the industry to think about their strategic positioning in a truly omni-channel world.” It’s a radical shift in a world where the lines between offline and online are already blurring—and this blurring could be a boon to consumers. “It’s a landmark moment in the evolution of how society will eventually access its food,” said Mike Lee, founder and CEO at Studio Industries, a food-oriented design firm. In the midst of this ever-evolving landscape, there is good news for natural retailers: With the natural industry’s maturity appears to have come some stability for independents; those who have weathered the past few years have learned how to not only survive but thrive in an era of increased competition, shifting consumer demands and hunger for community in the wake of a divisive election. Just four percent of natural product stores closed in 2016, down from six percent in 2015, according to Natural Foods Merchandiser’s latest Natural Retailer Market Overview Survey. Sixty-nine percent of natural products stores surveyed reported a sales increase and 72 percent noted that they did not have a competitor open in their neighborhood last year. And with the boundaries crumbling between large corporate grocers and supernatural chains, independents now have a great opportunity to show off what makes them distinct. Those who remain authentic and passionate about serving their unique communities will do well. We can’t forget the slow rise of online grocery sales, which is influencing the brickand-mortar landscape (and will likely accelerate with the new Amazon Whole Foods empire). A 2016 survey by Morgan Stanley Research found that from 2015 to 2016, online grocery sales increased eight percent for fresh food and 16 percent for packaged food. For conventional and natural retailers, this means that the greatest opportunities lie in fresh, convenience items. “Consumers pay increasingly higher price premiums for the convenience of having to do less,” analyst Camilla Stice said in a 2016 Lux Research report on new food business models. As we move toward a new food world order, convenience, it seems, will reign king.
With the boundaries crumbling between large corporate grocers and supernatural chains, independents now have a great opportunity to show off what makes them distinct.
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Photo courtesty of Fresh Thyme Farmers Market.
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A hunger for novelty Motivators for this cultural tipping point around the food world include growing social and environmental influencers, a drive toward a plant-based
diet, an increasing awareness of common dietary allergies and a craft food movement fed by ancient innovation (wait, my grandfather’s sauerkraut recipe might be the next “new” thing?!). Among the biggest drivers, though, is an evolving palate. Food, it turns out, can be healthy and taste great. From innovative products and superior taste to energy-enhancing benefits, natural and organic foods are offering a broad appeal to consumers. No longer is this category just about trying to escape guilt or fear. Unique, exciting and consciously sourced offerings are what today’s shoppers want. Now more than ever, food brands are pushing our palates forward with new products, flavors and delivery formats. Organic, vegan cheddar chickpea puffs? Coconut-flavored kefir? A quinoa kale salad in a mason jar? Vegan seafood that could fool even the most refined palate? Yes, yes, yes … and yes! This yearning for “new” spills over into the kitchen. We’ve pushed past the days of traditional, one-size-fits-all American fare. Instead, we’re borrowing inspiration and flavors from different cultures, updating old favorites with new ingredients and experimenting with unique cooking methods and modes of preparation. Acosta’s 2017 annual “The Why? Behind the Buy™“ report reveals that today’s shoppers revel in the creative challenge of cooking. Therein lie the next great opportunities—for new brands, new products and new ways of approaching, and interacting with, food.
60 percent of U.S. shoppers enjoy preparing new dishes, 54 percent report frequently checking out new items in the grocery store and 52 percent often try new flavors and products.
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Big shifts for Big CPGs While the natural foods industry has taken off, what’s been happening with Big CPGs? On the whole, its numbers
have fallen flat—or worse. The industry lost $19.1 million in revenue between 2009 and 2014, the same time period during which the natural foods industry grew by $12.6 billion. A perfect storm of fear, profit motivation and even a genuine desire to make “better for us” and “better for the planet” products has driven Big CPGs to now engage with the market in new ways. Enough disruption exists in the conventional CPG industry that even the largest players have gotten serious about reformulating their heritage brands to meet changing consumer needs. Case in point: Campbell’s. The company became the first of major CPGs to voluntarily label all of its products, nationwide, for the presence of GMO ingredients. Even more impressive was the timing of this move. Campbell’s, unlike most of its CPG peers, announced its voluntary GMO labeling initiative well in advance of the rollout of Vermont’s GMO labeling law, demonstrating its understanding of shifting consumer concerns and demands.
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Another big way that Big CPGs have pursued innovation: mergers and acquisitions. Recent news in this department includes crunchy bootstrapper Justin’s joining Hormel Foods. The acquirers are getting acquired, too, with natural-grown big boys Boulder Brands and White Wave Foods being heartily consumed by mass companies Pinnacle Foods and Danone, respectively. But no longer are these deals seen as the acquisition of a brand, product portfolio and customer base. Rather, it is understood that these acquisitions need to be supported by corporate. More and more, innovative natural brands are acquired for a broader set of assets, including their company cultures and unique expertise in marketing to more progressive consumer values. For the consumer, this means that the quality, integrity and ethos of the brands you know—and love—won’t necessarily change if they’re gobbled up by one of the big guys. In fact, the opposite is becoming more likely. This balance of power is reflected in the comments that have followed recent acquisitions. After Hormel announced that it was purchasing Justin’s, Justin’s founder Justin Gold made his intentions
clear: “We aren’t selling out,” he said in a video statement. “Hormel is buying in.” Taylor Collins, co-founder of EPIC Provisions, made a similar statement after General Mills announced it was buying his company. “Ultimately, we are trying to change General Mills from within,” Collins told New Hope Network. “They are not going to be changing what we are doing—it’s the opposite. It’s us who will inspire them.” Despite this progress, much more change is needed to ensure the future success of Big CPG in the evolving landscape. Authenticity and empathy will be necessary to regain the trust of consumers. This leaves some important questions that most CPGs will have to answer in order to survive: What are your beliefs? Your intentions? How well does your leadership understand changing consumer values? For many CPGs, the answers remain unclear, and they do not have the social equity to reinvent themselves to resonate with changing consumer wants and values. Genuine effort and a willingness to present authenticity and vulnerability to the world will be needed from all functions and levels of leadership to truly evolve the Big CPG business and its image.
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94 percent of consumers expect companies to be open and honest about what’s in their products.
Consumers who perceive a brand as irresponsible or ruthlessly focused on profit are unlikely to trust that brand. Just look at Chipotle, the burrito chain that built its customer base on the promise of “food with
integrity.” That aura evaporated in October 2015 when a customer fell ill with an E. coli infection, the first of 60 similarly stricken customers in 14 states. The effect was devastating: Chipotle’s net income dropped 44 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015. By July 2016, its stock price was half what it had been nine months before. A study in June by Label Insight found that 94 percent of consumers expect companies to be open and honest about what’s in their products. With consumers increasingly considering transparency alongside price in their purchasing decisions, transparency is no longer an optional add-on. It can’t be a window dressing either. It must command a full view. According to an April 2016 survey by the American Food Information Council Foundation, more than half of U.S. consumers look at the ingredient list on foods before they purchase—and many look for what’s not in the product as much as what’s in it. Saturated fats, high-fructose corn syrup, added sugars and sodium are classic villains.
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The new frontier is in “purpose marketing,” where every step in the manufacturing and every link in the supply chain is designed around a greater benefit.
With lawsuits driving “natural” off the label, companies unable to meet USDA organic standards must find other ways to differentiate their products for the label readers. “Clean label” remains an industry term, while “simple” has emerged as shorthand for “healthy.” At the same time, vegetarian brands are finding traction outside the vegetarian and vegan demographic with the descriptor “plant-based.” Yet more and more, building a trustworthy brand image goes beyond these labels and certifications. The new frontier is in “purpose marketing,” where every step in the manufacturing and every link in the supply chain is designed around a greater benefit. Various brands are striving to make traceability a reality by literally allowing consumers to see the exact location where an ingredient was harvested, or even meet the person who grew or
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caught it. Other companies are building out entire responsible supply chains and becoming fully vertically integrated; and not only do they support a high-quality product, but also the farmers and producers behind it. This purpose orientation creates change in the world and benefits the people who grow, gather or manufacture the ingredients, while also lessening the impact on the planet or even providing actual environmental restoration. Consumers calculate trust based on intention, but that vision must go far deeper than the marketing, into the organizational structure and corporate culture. And it has to be open, easily accessible and verifiable. The brands and companies that embrace this level of purpose and transparency will be the ones that survive—and thrive.
ABOUT OUR PARTNER
HOW BELLUCCI OLIVE OIL IS FEEDING THE GOOD FOOD FUTURE Bellucci 100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil is majority owned by a cooperative of growers that was founded in the 1950s in rural Italy. Our mission is to preserve the heritage of 100% fresh Italian extra virgin olive oil through small-scale, artisanal production on family farms. With thousands of members, we are a source of momentum and strength for our community and the environment. In 2006, we formed Certified Origins as a company to meet the challenges faced by small producers within the industry at large. Motivated by our commitment to authenticity and the livelihood of our members, the protocols we developed to ensure EVOO integrity were unprecedented. We saw technology as an essential tool in sustaining our traditional practices.
Trust through traceability In 2013, against the backdrop of widespread fraud in the olive oil industry, we launched the Bellucci brand, dedicated to ensuring the authenticity, quality and freshness of its products. The award-winning Bellucci Traceability App extends our innovative traceability system into the hands of consumers, empowering them to track the contents of any bottle to the region and mill of origin in Italy. This traceability method has received ISO 22005 certification by Bureau Veritas. We develop advanced traceability systems and engage social media to illuminate the path from tree to table. The social, cultural, economic and environmental circumstances enter into clear sight as people access meaningful information about their food. Everyone has new opportunities for greater understanding and for valuing how each of us lives and eats. Learn more about Bellucci: belluccipremium.com @BellucciPremium @BellucciPremium
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There’s no way around it: Food access—especially healthy food access—is a complex issue. To think that
good-for-you products will soon be as affordable as mass-produced, chemical-laden crap is to ignore the important nuances of production, conscious business, fair trade, meaningful partnerships, sustainability, certifications, education and more that make natural products so beneficial to our health and our environment. These things don’t come at a cheap price—nor should they. Yet grassroots innovations are happening across the country to bring these products and ideas to more people than ever before. These models we’re talking about start small and can happen in every neighborhood, in every town—little and big— across this country. Their central driving forces: community, collaboration and connectedness. You see, these models aren’t about preaching; they’re about doing. They aren’t about changing first; they’re about understanding before acting. Most important, they’re not siloed operations but rather community-driven efforts. Ultimately, what each of these models proves is that the future of good food access is about both thinking outside of the box and about understanding the needs within your community to deliver something healthy and meaningful. When faced with the million (okay, billion) dollar question—is it possible to create a nation where ALL people really do have access to healthy, affordable options? — Innovators leading the charge scream a resounding “yes.” But it comes as no surprise that the solution to a problem as complex as food access, is well, complex. It will take the work of businesses, retailers, farmers, lawmakers and particularly astute nonprofits to fix. And the success of it is dependent on this truth: Building community around healthy products will bring more education and access to people everywhere, because food, in its essence, is about community. It’s one of the oldest—and most potent—forces that drives us together. In turn, community is the secret sauce that we’ll need to save good food. Let’s dig in...
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Seeds of change Consider the fact that one in eight Americans struggles with hunger—the same number that live in poverty—and you’ll realize that food access is strongly tied to income.
And while efforts to make good food more affordable are certainly a step in the right direction, the long-term solution must include another, arguably more powerful force: education. “Access is only half the battle,” said Nabors of Mustard Seed Market. “Education is the other part of the equation.” Mustard Seed’s newest location, opened two years ago in Akron, Ohio’s Highland Square neighborhood, brought a grocery store to a community that had been without one for ten years. The new store not only absolves the neighborhood of being a food desert, but it also serves as an educational tool for introducing people to the benefits of natural foods. That’s because the store contains a full-service, fast-casual restaurant that Nabors said helps “demystify” natural and organic food. People may see a box of quinoa in the store and feel intimidated,” explained Nabors. “They don’t know how to pronounce it, never mind cook it. But if they first try it already prepared and alongside familiar foods—like cooked veggies and roasted chicken—they’ll be more likely to try it again, and maybe even try making it themselves.” He calls this the “foot-in-the-door” effect. “You don’t go backwards,” he said of the introduction to natural and organic foods. “Once you start the conversion, there’s often a cumulative effect.” For Nabors, it’s also about busting the stereotype that good, healthy food equals dollar signs. Through Mustard Seed Market, he’s
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partnered with Let’s Grow Akron, a local nonprofit that creates and Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s to reclaim their soon-to-go bad supports community food gardens in underserved areas. Together, produce and products. It places a strong focus on nutrition—35 percent the organizations provide free cooking classes at farmers markets in of its donated food is fresh fruit and vegetables—and it strives to serve low-income neighborhoods. The classes focus on providing healthy high-quality, healthy food—not just empty calories. In fact, 72 percent of solutions for whatever budget level people may be at, including those the food Metro Caring provides is fresh. on food stamps. “We teach people how to create nutritionally balanced This spotlight on nutrition also includes educating recipients on meals that are less than the cost of a McDonald’s meal,” said Nabors. the importance of healthy eating and how to achieve a balanced diet. And the key ingredient of the program’s success? Trust. It’s about Alongside the gratis groceries, Metro Caring offers a robust nutrition getting to know local community leaders and hearing about their issues education program that includes weekly cooking classes in English, and concerns before implementing any programming, said Nabors, monthly cooking classes in Spanish, a kid-friendly cooking class and which is why Mustard Seed relies on Let’s Grow Akron to foster and grow diabetes prevention and self-management programming. community relations. But Metro Caring is about “There’s definitely a much more than food—the tribal barrier that a lot organization strives to of top-down efforts understand and remedy why fail at because they don’t people need their services in overcome that,” he said. the first place. To shop at the —Abraham Nabors, Mustard Seed Market Another organization devoted to spreading good food grocery store, each recipient through access, education and heaps of trust is Metro Caring, is required to meet with a a Colorado-based nonprofit that takes a holistic, community-oriented volunteer caseworker so Metro Caring can offer auxiliary services such as approach to addressing both the short-term urgency of feeding financial guidance, job training or assistance with housing, education or those who are hungry and solving the complicated issue of poverty health care. To date, the services are more than reaping their rewards— in the Denver area. In 2016, the organization fed more than 50,000 dozens of individuals have already received job training through Metro individuals through more than 2 million pounds of rescued and Caring’s “Seeds for Success” program and 82 percent of graduates now redistributed food. The majority of food provided through Metro Caring have jobs, earning well above Colorado’s minimum wage. Talk about is donated, and the organization works with retail food partners such as feeding the good food future—and also just the good future.
“Access is only half the battle—education is the other part of the equation.”
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Farming the future One key to securing access to healthy food is having enough farmers to grow it—and on that front, there may be challenges ahead. According to the USDA, the average age of farmers in the U.S. has
consistently grown for the past 30 years, reaching 58.3 in 2012. And only 6 percent of farmers are younger than 35. Farmshare Austin, a nonprofit in central Texas, is working to change that. Its mission is threefold: Engage and educate young people in food production, increase food access in the local community and preserve vital organic farmland. Their centerpiece, an immersive program called Farmer Starter, provides hands-on and classroom training on Farmshare Austin’s organic and sustainable growing methods, as well as business and financial skills. The model emphasizes the need for collaboration to improve food access, which is epitomized through the organization’s involvement with Fresh for Less, a city-sponsored initiative that brings together local nonprofits to increase accessibility. Through Fresh for Less, Farmshare Austin launched a fleet of mobile food markets in food insecure neighborhoods across the county. The once-a-week pop-up stands provide convenient, reduced price produce and shelf-stable items to low-income residents. Between January and June 2017, the initiative hosted 107 markets that served 1,787 customers, including many who utilize SNAP benefits (formerly known as food stamps). Andrea Able, Farmshare Austin’s Executive Director, said the success of the mobile markets is largely instead of the deep relationships forged in the various neighborhoods that are served. Farmshare Austin places a strong emphasis on building—and maintaining— trust between its farmers and the local food recipients. “The biggest way to leverage the power of community is to listen,” said Able. “Food is a deeply personal topic for people and we try to honor that as best we can through our work.”
Making healthy food convenient and affordable For Thrive Market, community is paramount. “We consider ourselves a 21st century food collaborative,” said Thrive’s McElwee, the company’s vice president of purchasing and merchandising. “Our social mission is democratizing access to healthy food.” Thrive Market is selective in the items it carries—“we’re not going to be an Amazon or a Walmart by offering 100,000 products,” said McElwee—and does not sell any GMO products, instead focusing on organic, ethically sourced goods that cover more than 70 environmental/social values and specialty diets, including gluten-free, vegan, paleo, low-FODMAP, paraben-free, turtle and dolphin safe and woman-owned business, among many others. Because Thrive Market leverages the power of direct buying, members receive wholesale prices, which translates to savings of 25 percent to 50 percent, making its natural and organic goods less expensive than its conventional counterparts. And then there’s Thrive Gives, the company’s philanthropic arm, which ensures that every $60 annual membership purchased in turn provides a free membership to a low-income family, teacher, veteran or student. All 800,000+ members—including 500,000 paying members and 300,000 Thrive Gives members—receive their orders in postconsumer recycled packaging. “We consciously baked in changes to our supply chain to increase our sustainability,” said McElwee. Convenient, affordable, healthful, sustainable? Check, check, check—and check.
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Another important factor in spreading the good food movement: convenience. Today’s eaters want healthy, affordable and sustainable food—and they want it fast. But forget Styrofoam and paper cartons. A small but growing number of fast-casual restaurants are popping up with an entire menu served out of reusable screw-top jars. The concept is one example of a model that can deliver fast, healthy and good-tasting food to the masses and appeal to today’s consumers on a variety of levels: they’re sustainable, portable, healthy and delicious. Oh, and they also just look cool. Here are three companies pioneering the trend. Ancolie, a 10-seat coffee shop and café in NYC that debuted in November 2016, offers a full menu of salads, soups, desserts and bowl dishes served in glass jars, which show off the layering of ingredients. The signature Ancolie Jar, for example, has lentils, carrots, shallots, goat cheese, lettuce and walnuts or chicken. Owner Chloe Vichot uses ingredients that are clean and made in house. “There’s no sugar or honey in the dressing, no genetically modified ingredients. We source from local markets to make sure it’s really fresh and in season,” she said. Guests are invited to bring back their glass jars for a $1 discount, and about 25 percent of them do, Vichot said. Tyme Fast Food, also in NYC, launched in July 2017 with a kiosk of sorts—the company calls them “Tyme capsules”—near Times Square. The prefabricated Tyme capsules are 8x10square feet and on wheels, so they can be moved easily. The $10 jarred, healthful meals (think: brown-rice-lentil pilaf, coconut-cumin beets, turmeric-roasted cauliflower and kachumber salad) are made nightly in a catering kitchen and delivered in the morning to sites like Equinox fitness centers and WeWork coworking sites. Tyme’s goal: Bridge the gap between the rapidly increasing pace of life and consumers who are looking to eat better, said co-founder Phil Winser. The jars are plastic, with screw tops, but reusable. Guests who return jars get a $1 discount off their next order. Jar Bar, an outpost in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook, opened in May 2017 with the goal of offering meal portability to the concept’s target audience: busy once-urban families that moved to the suburbs and are looking for more healthful and delicious options beyond the traditional pizza, sandwiches and burgers of the fast-casual world, said co-founder Karen Firsel. At breakfast, for example, a $6 Egg Bar jar might include a poached egg, sundried tomato pesto, avocado, garlic spinach and potato mash. Jar Bar’s jars are plastic, though BPA-free and recyclable. Firsel said the restaurant does not take back used jars but instead encourages guests to hand-wash and reuse the jars at home. But the concept, which was built to be scaled, is “about much more than the jar,” said Firsel.
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Consumers overall, mostly millennials and Gen X, are willing to spend more to support brands that conduct business in an environmentally responsible manner.
We can’t talk about the good food movement without discussing its impact on and potential for bettering our Earth. You see, it’s not just about nourishing ourselves and our
communities; it’s about creating a brighter, cleaner, healthier future for every single person on this planet— and the planet itself. Building a food system that’s good for you, for land and for sea is the goal of “sustainability,” despite its fuzzy definition. Good food renegades are having real impact on health and the environment by changing the food system at every stage of the supply chain and lending more credibility to the term “sustainability.” It’s something that the conscious consumer is taking seriously, too. According to a New Hope Network survey, more than 64 percent of millennials stated that concerns about the planet impact what they buy. And consumers overall, mostly millennials and Gen X, are willing to spend more to support brands that conduct business in an environmentally responsible manner. Here’s a look at where we’re at, where we’re headed and what has yet to be accomplished as we pave a path forward to a more sustainable future.
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The rise of climate-friendly farming More than 30 percent of all greenhouse emissions arise from land use. Globally, we have 3.5 billion acres of farmland and 8.2 billion acres of pastureland or rangeland. Organic carbon soil is a reservoir for essential plant nutrients—every pound of carbon in the soil gets converted to 3.67 pounds of CO2 through repeated soil tilling. If all farmland were converted to a regenerative model, it could sequester up to 40 percent of annual CO2 emissions. If all pastureland were managed in a regenerative manner, another 71 percent of CO2 emissions could be sequestered, leading to negative emissions.
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As a planet, we’ve made great strides in understanding—and legitimizing—global climate change. But the role of food and agriculture in global climate
change is just beginning to become part of the conversation. After energy, agriculture is the second largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. And now, those emissions are beginning to damage food production itself. “Our changing climate is already making it more difficult to produce food,” Barack Obama said at the 2017 Seeds & Chips conference, an annual gathering in Milan of policy makers, investors and technology entrepreneurs focused on innovations to improve the food chain. “We’ve already seen shrinking yields and rising food prices.” Obama’s words, perhaps revelatory to the masses, are truths that those in regenerative agriculture have known for several years. Here’s what else they’ve known: Reaching zero emissions is a fine, lofty goal, but it’s already too late for that alone to cool our warming world. The only way to do that now, according to experts in regenerative agriculture and research from the Rodale Institute and others, is to draw carbon out of the atmosphere and put it back where it belongs: in healthy organic soils. In fact, after conducting more than 30 years of ongoing field research, the Rodale Institute said that regenerative, organic farming practices and improved forestry, pasture and land management can potentially transform agriculture from one of today’s primary sources of global warming and carbon pollution into a massive carbon sink powerful enough to sequester 100 percent—yes, 100 percent!—of the world’s current annual CO2 emissions. “When it comes to climate change, the regenerative aspects of organic farming become much bigger,” said Lara Dickinson, a founder of the Climate Collaborative, a coalition of natural products companies taking action against climate change and a New Hope Network partner. “It’s not just about human health—it’s about planet health.”
Climate Collaborative launched in March 2017 and to date, 90 companies—from big, legacy players like White Wave Foods, Organic Valley and Annie’s to newer, up-and-comers like Dang Foods and 18 Rabbits—have joined the coalition, which involves making a series of pledges to take meaningful steps toward tackling the issue of climate change, including implementing regenerative agriculture practices. Hopefully, these commitments will generate a snowball effect. “Having bigger food companies embrace regenerative agriculture will probably influence Big Ag to embrace it as well,” said Dickinson. And what will be the key to convincing consumers to embrace the regenerative agriculture movement? The same formula that worked with organic, said Dickinson. “Drawing links with science that healthy soil is yielding healthier, better product—that is when consumers will get on board,” she said. “That trumps certifications and processes.” Speaking of certifications and processes, there is much work to be done on that front, said Dickinson. Because the movement is still in its infancy, there isn’t a strong consensus among advocates on how to bring it mainstream. Some want certification at the highest standards, while others just want the practices of regenerative agriculture adopted by the masses. “The main goal—address and mitigate climate change—is the same, but we still haven’t agreed on the road map,” explained Dickinson. That brings up the issue of scalability. “Is this scalable? Can we feed 9 billion people?” asked Dickinson. “The short answer is yes, but I’m not sure the general public and Big Ag agrees. We need to prove that it is scalable before the general public can embrace it.” While the kinks in the roadmap are worked out, one thing is clear. It’s a truth inscribed on Climate Collaborative’s website: “Climate change is both the greatest threat our planet has ever faced and also the greatest opportunity we’ve ever had to make positive change through innovation and leadership.”
Saving our seas Salmon? Whitefish? Arctic char? Wading through responsible seafood choices is often convoluted. Seafood has long been a
contentious issue with environmentalist groups, who argue that some stocks are irresponsibly managed and overfished, upsetting fragile ecosystems. Consulting guides such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch can be helpful. To create them, researchers meticulously assess the latest seafood standards based on information from fisheries and aquaculture specialists—it’s an involved process to decide, for example, that albacore tuna is a “Best Choice,” but yellowfin tuna is in the “Avoid” category. But there are issues with seafood guides: They must frequently be updated, and they vary by season and your location in the United States. And though not all farmed seafood is bad seafood, if not correctly managed, some methods of aquaculture pollute local waterways by discharging fish waste.
Seaweed—yes, seaweed—may be the answer to mitigating climate change.
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Embracing seaweed
So is there an easy way to eat from the sea without contributing to excess carbon emissions? Yes! Seaweed—yes, seaweed—may be the answer to mitigating climate change, and a growing number of natural products brands are innovating to make this healthful ingredient more sustainable and accessible. When understanding climate change, researchers often refer to what are called “carbon sinks”—areas on the planet that have capacity to absorb carbon from the atmosphere and store it in plants, the soil and the ocean. The ocean already sequesters an enormous amount of carbon—about 25 percent of the carbon dioxide people have put into the atmosphere has been diffused in the ocean—mostly in deep-water areas.
But there is a huge disadvantage to ocean carbon sequestration: acidification. When the ocean absorbs carbon, chemical reactions lower the pH of the water. Since the Industrial Revolution, the pH of surface ocean waters has fallen by 0.1 pH units, a whopping 30 percent increase in acidity, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This has drastic biological impacts on mollusks, coral, oysters, clams and sea urchins— animals that billions of people around the world rely on for food.
Storing carbon from the ocean
Carbon in the air? Not great. Carbon in the ocean? Not much better. But carbon in plants? That’s where seaweed can come in. “Studies of late show that marine plants and aquatic systems are much more a part of the carbon sink picture than we thought,” said Davida Mitchell, general manager of Blue Evolution foods, a vertically integrated food company that grows and distributes seaweed-containing products. Although there is much research still to be done, a pioneering study published in the journal Ecology suggests that seaweed can capture and store carbon from the ocean. But remember: Like conventional versus organic agriculture on land, not all seaweed farmers are alike. Even though seaweed doesn’t require fertilizers or pesticides to grow (just sunlight and water!), some farmers may overcrowd waterways, taxing the ocean and increasing disease potential. Similar to landbased food production, seaweed, too, is best cultivated with biodiversity and respect for the farm in mind—in this case, the ocean rather than the soil.
ESCA BONA’S FEEDING THE GOOD FOOD FUTURE
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For both climate and ocean: The rise of plant-based foods Drawdown, a new book edited by the green entrepreneur Paul Hawken, analyzes 100 potential solutions for climate change. Ranked at number four on the list? Plant-based
diets. Food production worldwide—and the production of meat in particular—generates around the same amount of greenhouse gases as power plants. That means eating less meat can drastically reduce emissions. That’s especially good news for the plant-based foods industry, which has already grown from a ragtag group of brands serving a niche customer base to a powerful mainstream market force. Even better? There are still many exciting and rewarding opportunities for growth. Just in the last decade alone, plant-based dairy has risen from a rounding error to nearly 10 percent of the industry. This is simply unprecedented and industry players should take note, said Chris Kerr of
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ESCA BONA’S FEEDING THE GOOD FOOD FUTURE
New Crop Capital, which invests in plant-based foods. “At the moment, all ships are rising in the plant-based food sector,” said Kerr. Although big and unexpected players are getting involved—including Tyson Foods, which owns a 5 percent stake in plant-based protein startup and also recently launched a $150 million venture capital fund to help startups that develop meat substitutes—the success of this industry is in the hands of consumers. “As the quality and quantity of plant-based meat and dairy products improve, consumer demand will only grow,” said Kerr. With an influx of new customers and new investments from major industry players, eco-friendly plant-based products can scale to out-compete their animal-based counterparts, creating a more sustainable, healthy and humane food system in the process. And today, there are amazing-tasting plant-based options for just about anything your heart desires, from dairy to seafood.
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HOW GOOD CATCH IS FEEDING THE GOOD FOOD FUTURE Innovation is helping to create sea change in the “seafood” biz.
Innovation is helping to create sea change in the “seafood” biz. Just ask Feeding the Good Food partner, Good Catch. At Good Catch, we are culinary rebels with a cause: protecting sea life and our oceans’ natural resources. Our master chefs pour their talents into crafting plant-based recipes that provide the taste experience of fine seafood and are made only with nutrient-rich, sustainable ingredients, including a five-bean blend that is packed with plant-based protein. We strive to empower people who don’t eat seafood—whether for sustainability, health or ethical reasons—to enjoy amazing options, sans sacrifice. We believe that all food, and seafood specifically, should be smart, clean and delicious. Innovation has allowed us to achieve what was once thought to be impossible and prove that good food has no boundaries. Fish from the wild and aquaculture contribute nearly 40 percent of global animal-based proteins and are the primary source of animal-based protein for more than a billion people. Yet 57 percent of wild marine fish stocks are exploited to their full potential and another 30 percent are overexploited. These numbers are not likely to decline in the future, barring improvements. This is why Good Catch exists. To reduce the impact of over fishing on sea life and to provide consumers with a great tasting, healthy and sustainable alternative to traditional seafood. Learn more about Good Catch: goodcatchfoods.com @goodcatchfoods @goodcatchfoods
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ESCA BONA’S FEEDING THE GOOD FOOD FUTURE
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The movement to build a healthier, more sustainable and accessible food system that supports us and our planet is, in all ways, a community effort. Increasing access to good food requires careful collaboration and deep listening between retailers and their customers; cleaning up supply chains necessitates cohesion and transparency between brands and their manufacturers; and spreading the practice of regenerative agriculture depends on the ability of food companies, big and small, to forge meaningful partnerships that will push us all toward a cleaner, brighter, better looking–and better tasting—future. It’s a collective journey that will ignite and inspire us to make more thoughtful, impactful choices; it’s a group endeavor that will revolutionize— wholeheartedly—our minds, our stomachs, our Earth. Now let’s get to it!
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