The food and agriculture industries are major contributors to today’s social and environmental crises.

Companies across all industries are being forced to rethink the way they do business, and food and agriculture are no exception. Businesses big and small want to do better and become more resilient, but how? In this episode, we take you on a journey through a few existing and emerging alternative business models that companies and farmers are exploring today that decentralize power, distribute value more equitably across all stakeholders, and aim to have a better impact on our planet. 

This week we explore:

• Different ways of doing business, including cooperatives, B Corps, perpetual purpose trusts, stewardship ownership, DAOs, NFTs, and open source 
• How these models may work better than the norm for the people working within
• Why a better deal for food and agriculture employees can benefit all of us
• Barriers to entry to these models and how to break them down
• The potential failings of emerging business models and the risk of building the wrong thing with good intentions
• The challenge of applying models that have been successful on a small scale, to large food corporations
• How Western business tactics have impacted emerging market farming communities
• Business model inspiration from emerging markets
• How sharing knowledge publicly can remove friction for small businesses
• The appetite to fund these kinds of businesses

Our guests include: Katherine Miller, author and founder of Table 81, formerly of the James Beard Foundation; author and regenerative business pioneer Carol Sanford; farmer and activist Jon Jandai; Adrian Rodrigues, co-founder and managing director at Provenance Capital group and formerly of Patagonia; Snaxshot founder Andrea Hernandez; and Nigel Teh, founder of Next Billion Burgers.

*Giveaway Details*

We’ve teamed up with our partners at New Hope Network to offer ALL of our listeners an exclusive 25% off discount for an Expo West 2023 badge and ONE lucky listener will have the opportunity to win a free booth at Expo West 2024 ($8k value).

To enter, do the following by February 17th:

• Head to New Food Order’s show page on Apple Podcasts
• Make sure you are subscribed
• Leave us a review - good or bad - but hopefully good! Scroll to the bottom of the page to do so.
• Screenshot the review and email it to Meg at [email protected] - if you’re interested in the 25% discount to this year’s Expo, please call it out in the email.  
• Lastly, head to newfoodorder.org - select newsletter - and register to receive our newsletters. In addition to New Food Order content, AgFunder and Food+Tech Connect publish the leading newsletters for the food and agtech community.
• Those who follow New Hope Network, Food + Tech Connect and AgFunder on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn will receive double entry.

Show Notes:

Zebras Unite Co-op: https://zebrasunite.coop/

Democracy at Work Institute: https://institute.coop/

ZingTrain: https://www.zingtrain.com/

Purpose (steward ownership & perpetual purpose trusts): https://purpose-economy.org/en/

Billionaire No More: Patagonia Founder Gives Away the Company: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html

What Co-ops and DAOs Can Learn From Each Other: https://www.fwb.help/editorial/what-co-ops-and-daos-can-learn-from-each-other

Flyfish Club: https://www.flyfishclub.com/

FriesDAO: https://fries.fund/

Subscribe to our newsletters that track all of the business, tech, and investment trends in food: https://tinyurl.com/nfonewsletters

Follow us on Instagram: @newfoodorderpod

Follow us on Linkedin: @agfunder & @foodtechconnect

This series is sponsored by Foodshot Global & New Hope Network

And a huge thank you to everyone who helped us bring this podcast to life: 

Production: Cam Gray, Cofruition, Anna de Wolff Evans

Audio Editing: Tevin Sudi

Original Music: Rodrigo Barbera