ReGen Brands Podcast

AC chats with Sean Smith @ Third Street

Third Street is supporting regenerative agriculture by partnering with regenerative brands in their creative efforts like branding, marketing, advertising, and much more.

In this episode, we learn about why Third Street refers to itself as an “attention agency,” how they have partnered with various CPGs, their epic rebrand for SunFed Ranch, and we explore tons of marketing and branding opportunities for regen brands at large.

Episode Highlights:

🥳 Introducing our FIRST-EVER Sponsor: Third Street

🤩 What is an “Attention Agency”

🤝 Why all business is not B2C or B2B but P2P

🤔 Marketing Challenges 4 Regen Brands

😍 Third Street’s work rebranding Sunfed Ranch

🔥 Tapping into the “essence” of a brand

🎯 The “Ascend” process & “Brand Wheel”

💫 Marketing to Gen Z vs Millenials

😎 Why people want to be enlightened not educated

⚡ How collective action will scale regenerative brands

Links:

Third Street

Grocery Shopii

SunFed Ranch

SunFed Ranch Rebrand

Simplicity Juice

Help A Reporter

Marketing 2 Gen Z

On this episode, we have Emily Griffith who is the Founder & CEO @ Lil Bucks

Lil Bucks is supporting regenerative agriculture with its various organic and regenerative organic sprouted buckwheat products.

In this episode, we learn about Emily’s international inspiration to bring a thriving buckwheat market to the US and Emily takes us behind the scenes on her 5-year journey of growing the business through a pandemic, trade wars, regular wars, and massive global supply chain headwinds.

Episode Highlights:

🦘 The international inspiration for Lil Bucks

😎 Nutritional and agronomic benefits of buckwheat

😂 Calling farmers at home to buy buckwheat

🤯 Countless reasons to build a domestic market for buckwheat

🏄 Being inspired by “Let My People Go Surfing”

💥 Creating a product line that works for the mass market

😍 Committing to regenerative, US-grown buckwheat

🚜 Working with A-Frame Farm & Mad Ag

🏅 The value of Regenerative Organic Certified®

💰 Unique financing needs when contracting regen supply

Links:

Lil Bucks

Lil Bucks Sustainability

Let My People Go Surfing

A-Frame Farm

A-Frame Farm Video

Mad Agriculture

Mad Lands

Mad Markets

Mad Capital

Mad Revolution

Regenerative Organic Certified

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Kyle and AC chat with Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin @ Tree-Range Farms

Tree-Range Farms is supporting regenerative agriculture with its regenerative, tree-range chicken that is raised in a "jungle-like" habitat that honors the true nature of chickens.

In this episode, we learn about the ecosystem of entities that is powering this regenerative poultry system, we get a behind-the-scenes look at the unique agronomy and production practices being used, and we hear from Regi on the importance of having a consumer-facing brand.

Episode Highlights:

🤝 The many entities creating a regenerative poultry ecosystem

😡 Processing challenges for small farmers

💭 Regi’s learnings from the theories of nation building

🤯 How cheap chicken is extractive

😧 The pitfalls of designing from a homocentric perspective

🏆 Tree-Range’s scalable and flexible production system

🦖 Why chickens are actually just little dinosaurs

💥 The importance of building a consumer-facing brand

🤩 A vision for 20 enterprise sectors in one ecosystem

🔥 The importance of affinity groups and collective action

Links:

Tree-Range Farms

Regenerative Agriculture Alliance

Regenerative Poultry Systems

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Kyle and AC chat with Hoda Mohajerani @ Chakra Chai

Chakra Chai is supporting regenerative agriculture with its alchemical truffles and superfood elixirs that activate and nourish the 7 chakras of the body with formulas rooted in ayurvedic medicine. 

In this episode, we learn about the consciousness behind Chakra Chai’s products, Hoda’s spiritual and personal journey that led to the creation of the company, and how we need to dig deeper into “regenerative” and think about fundamentally shifting from existing, extractive systems.

Episode Highlights:

✨ What is Chakra Chai and the chakras of the body?

😯 Kyle and AC’s experience using the products

🎯 How to choose your Chakra Chai

🖤 Arta: the inspiration behind Chakra Chai

🏔️ Commercializing a CPG based on consciousness

💥 Why we have to fund emerging regen brands

👎 The pitfalls in “proof of concept”

🌟 The imperative to move from extraction to regeneration

🙏 Modeling support systems from indigenous wisdom

❤️ Why we need to move from the head to the heart

Links:

Chakra Chai

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Kyle and AC chat with Stephen Smith @ Onda

Onda is supporting regenerative agriculture with its regenerative, whole-plant, and full-spectrum hemp products that include oils, tinctures, capsules, and topicals.

In this episode, we learn about Stephen’s wild journey in regenerative agriculture that led to the creation of Onda, we get educated on the major differences between the vast majority of hemp cultivation and Onda’s regenerative model, and we talk about key drivers and tools for shifting our world to a regenerative paradigm long-term.

Episode Highlights:

😍 AC’s obsession with Onda Body Balm

🧑‍🌾 Stephen’s learning journey on many regenerative farms

💭 The vision that spurred Onda’s origin

💘 Stephen’s long-time love affair with hemp

🤯 Onda’s regen production and artisanal infusion processing

🚫 Why we shouldn’t grow hemp indoors

🌟 The work of the Nutrient Density Alliance

💫 Letting go and transforming through adversity

🔥 Stephen’s experience in the reNourish Studio

💥 The power of the conscious consumer

Links:

Onda

Biodynamic Farming

Casad Family Farms

Cate Havstad-Casad

Sun + Earth Certified

Nutrient Density Alliance

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (Book)

reNourish Studio

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Kyle and AC chat with Juan Guzman at Artisan Tropic

Artisan Tropic is supporting regenerative agriculture with its chip products made from plantain and cassava.

In this episode, we learn about the family origins of Artisan Tropic, the design and implementation process behind their regenerative transition, their plans for the future, and Juan’s thoughts on scaling regenerative agriculture.

Episode Highlights:

😷 The autoimmune diagnosis that sparked the brand

💯 Being 100% family-owned and operated

⚽ Juan working on the brand while playing pro soccer

🎨 Designing their regenerative transition with Terra Genesis

🌴 Using their own farm to pilot regen for other suppliers

🏅 The regen practices in their plantain and cassava systems

🤯 Doubling cassava yields with regen

♻️ Commercializing the entire agroforestry rotation

🔥 Juan’s experience in the reNourish Studio

💫 Increasing consciousness through food to “scale” regen

Links:

Artisan Tropic

Terra Genesis

reNourish Studio

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AC chats with Paul Lightfoot at Patagonia Provisions

Patagonia Provisions is the food arm of Patagonia where they are building regenerative supply chains and products with the goal of “saving our home planet”

In this episode, we learn about the origins of Provisions and their plans for the next evolution of the business. Plus, we talk to Paul about Provisions’ role as a supply chain architect to help scale regeneratively produced products to commercial success.

Episode Highlights:

🌏 Their mission to save our home planet through food

🎯 Their new product development rubric

💡 Paul’s background at BrightFarms and what led him to regen

🗣️ Storytelling as the key to marketing regen brands to consumers

✅ The importance of the Regenerative Organic Certification

🍺 Their new regional beer partnerships and products

🚧 Leveraging existing infrastructure versus rebuilding from scratch

🔭 Provisions’ future of “product families” and category expansion

⚔️ Designing products to beat our “food enemies”

🤝 Using off-take agreements to make regen more financeable

Links:

Patagonia Provisions

Patagonia

BrightFarms

Regenerative Organic Certified

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AC and Kyle chat with Robby Sansom of Force of Nature

Force of Nature is supporting regenerative agriculture through its line of regeneratively focused meats that nourish our bodies, our soil, and our future.

In this episode, we learn about Force of Nature’s origin story, how vastly different their products are from mainstream meat, and how they’re sparking a regenerative revolution through transparency and storytelling.

Episode Highlights:

🎯 Their vision to make regenerative meat accessible at scale

⭐ Growing EPIC and selling it to General Mills

🤠 How General Mills doubled down on regenerative

🤯 The major problems with our current agricultural system

😯 Comparing their supply chains to mainstream meat

🔍 Ecosystem outcomes they track in their supply chain

😡 How consumers have been lied to about food

🥩 The challenges and opportunities of “branding” meat

💪 How consumers can force incumbents to change

🔥 Why regenerative is a necessity and not a choice

Links:

Force of Nature

Savory Institute

Land to Market

White Oak Pastures LCA

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AC and Kyle chat with Francisco Pergola of Cheddies

Cheddies is supporting regenerative agriculture with its cheese crackers made with regenerative cheddar cheese

In this episode, we learn about Cheddie’s origin story, why they decided to start sourcing regenerative cheese, and their big plans for the future.

Episode Highlights:

🤒 Why Cheddies started by selling to hospitals and health clinics

🙈 How they snuck into HEB to pitch a buyer

😂 The coincidental demo that landed them Hy-Vee

💯 How and why they transitioned to regen cheese

⏰ Why the need to “age” cheese complicates their supply chain

🤝 How they sold Alexandre on selling dairy to Cheddies

🚨 The best ways to market regenerative CPG

🏆 The Cheez-It versus Cheddies challenge

✈️ Eating Cheddies on an American Airlines flight

⚡ Partnering with Redbud Brands

Links:

Cheddies

Alexandre Family Farm

Dr. Stephen van Vilet

Beef Nutrient Density Study

Redbud Brands

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AC and Kyle chat with Abianne Falla of Catspring Yaupon.

Catspring Yaupon is supporting regenerative agriculture with its loose-leaf and bagged yaupon teas and also its new VIBE Yaupon crystals.

What is Yaupon??

It is the one and only naturally caffeinated plant that is native to North America.

In this episode, we learn all about Yaupon and Abianne’s work building both a brand and a completely new category at the same time.

Episode Highlights:

🪴 Meet Yaupon - the only naturally-caffeinated plant native to North America

🌀 Yaupon’s historical journey from ubiquity to eradication to resurgence

💥 How they sustainably wild harvest the Yaupon

😡 The challenges of building a brand and creating a category at the same time

🤯 Comparing Catspring Yaupon’s supply chain to most imported tea

🙏 Why regenerative agriculture is indigenous agriculture

🏆 Recent PR wins for Yaupon as a category

💫 Their newest innovation: VIBE - Yaupon Crystals

😧 How Abianne has raised $1M of non-dilutive capital

❌ Why regenerative food should never be a luxury good

Links:

Catspring Yaupon

Instagram - Catspring Yaupon

Facebook - Catspring Yaupon

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