ReGen Brands Podcast

On this episode, we are talking about all things related to our recently released State of Regenerative CPG Report.

Many of you have already checked out the report or at least heard us talk about it briefly on Episode 81 where we unpacked the launch of our new ecosystem.

The report synthesizes ReGen Brands' proprietary learnings from almost three years of studying regenerative CPG, including 80 podcast episodes interviewing brand founders, executives, and other key ecosystem stakeholders. 

It is designed to help you understand the ways regenerative brands are winning today along with the key challenges they face on the road to additional progress. This report is a super easy read but it's definitely dense, so we wanted to unpack ALL of it for you on this episode.

So go download your copy and follow along or just listen in as we dive deep into our comprehensive state of the industry.

Episode Highlights:

💭 Why we wrote the report

💡 What we learned along the way

🚀 Unpacking how regen brands are winning today

🛑 Breaking down key challenges and calls to action

🏗️ What we’re building to help solve problems

Links:

State of Regenerative CPG Report

Ramping Your Brand

NOSH Live

Newtopia Now

The Gap and The Gain

Carol Sanford

TIG Brands

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On this episode, we have Camilla Marcus who is the Founder & CEO at west~bourne.

West~bourne is supporting regenerative agriculture with their chef-driven snacks and pantry staples - all impeccably sourced, utilizing regenerative, sustainable, and organic ingredients. The brand’s ethos is 'eat well. do better. gather often.'

In this episode, Camilla shares her journey from chef to brand Founder, the philosophy behind west~bourne’s unique model, the challenges and triumphs of leading with sustainability in the CPG space, and how Camilla is driving impact far beyond the plate. 

We talk about west~bourne’s new Regenerative Holiday Box, Camilla’s new cookbook, My Regenerative Kitchen, and celebrate their big recent win with The Fresh Market.

Episode Highlights:

❤️ Food is our common love language

🍽️ How restaurants influence popular culture

🚀 Making regenerative cool through food

🤝 Partnering with Glossier for their first CPG product

👩‍🍳 Building a chef-curated brand and product portfolio

🎯 Why climate solutions that aren’t health solutions aren’t solutions

🗞️ Trade media’s role in advancing the regen conversation

🔥 Their Regenerative Holiday Bundle & My Regenerative Kitchen cookbook

👏 Taking their avocado oil national with The Fresh Market

💥 Why radical collaboration is our rocket fuel

Links:

west~bourne

My Regenerative Kitchen Cookbook

Union Square Hospitality Group

The Third Plate

Glossier

Oishii

The Business of Fashion

Stella McCartney

Pangai

Baldor Specialty Foods

Canyon Coffee

Mad Agriculture

Lil Bucks

Lundberg Family Farms

Alexandre Family Farm

Alec’s Ice Cream

Patagonia Provisions

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On this episode, we have Ryan Pintado-Vertner who is the Founder and CEO at Smoketown.

Smoketown is a boutique brand consultancy that helps visionaries, mission-driven brands and nonprofits maximize their growth and positive impact without one compromising the other. They use empathy to help solve complex marketing challenges for their clients who are creating more justice, generosity, equity, and regeneration in the world.

Smoketown is supporting regenerative agriculture with their recently released white paper: Unlocking Demand for Regenerative - A Crowdsourced Blueprint for Accelerating Consumer Demand for Regenerative Agriculture

It will come as no surprise to anyone who has listened to this show before to hear that we are convicted in our belief that we need to figure out how to improve our ability to increase consumer awareness and demand for regenerative products. Well, Ryan shares that conviction with us and this white paper was his attempt to explore that concept and share his findings with the community.

And boy did he deliver. The white paper is full of really insightful takeaways and recommended actions to take, and Ryan is here with us today to break it all down. You’ll also learn about his background as an activist and big-CPG brand builder, his previous work at Sometown with mission-driven brands, and his regen awakening that led to him producing this blueprint for driving change.

Join us as we break down how the regenerative community can 1) Increase Consumer Empathy, 2) Refine the Messaging Frame, 3) Double Down on Loyalty and Share of Wallet, and 4) Boldly Collaborate for Big Awareness.

Episode Highlights:

🙏 How his spiritual practice sparked a regen awakening

❤️ Why collaboration has to be a superpower

🎯 Making marketing decisions based on consumer empathy

❌ The limits of sustainability-themed messaging

📈 Why self-interest always outsells altruism

💣 The BIG need for more consumer research

🤝 How cross-promotion can help brands boost regen ROI

🧪 What we can apply from the proliferation of probiotics

🛒 Why retailers have to help drive high-level awareness

💪 How linking regen to nutrition is the biggest unlock

Links:

Smoketown

Unlocking Demand for Regenerative - White Paper

Trailhead Capital

Julia Collins

State of Regenerative CPG Report

Kiss The Ground

Lundberg Family Farms

SIMPLi

Applegate

Regenified Consumer Research

Purdue Consumer Food Insights

Edacious

Bionutrient Food Association

Nutrient Density Alliance

Make America Healthy Again (MAHA)

RFSI Europe

Omie

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On this episode, we have Eric Gutknecht who is the President and CEO at Charcutnuvo.

Charcutnuvo is supporting regenerative agriculture with their Regenerative Organic Certified® beef sausages and they are working to transition their entire product portfolio of beef, chicken, and pork sausage products to ROC™.

In this episode, Eric gives us the real scoop on “how the sausage is made.” We cover his family’s five-generation history in sausage making, his sausage-making training in Europe, and what processes the brand implores that set them apart from the competition. 

Eric also gives us the lowdown on the regenerative organic beef they’re sourcing, how adding the ROC™ certification to their products has boosted velocities, plus what it’s going to take to see more regenerative sausage at your favorite retailer.

Episode Highlights:

🌭 Five generations of sausage-making

↗️ Going from natural to organic to regenerative organic

🏆 What it takes to make better sausage

🍖 Maximizing carcass value and utilization

🦘 Sourcing ROC™ beef from Australia

🤑 Their 25% sales increase post-certification

💪 How Natural Grocers supports regen brands

🔥 New regen products coming in 2025

🥳 Securing ‘menu mentions’ to increase regen awareness

🎯 Why regen potential is equal to retailer commitment

Links:

Charcutnuvo

Regenerative Organic Certified®

Natural Grocers

Hewitt Foods

National Restaurant Association

True Food Kitchen

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On this episode, we have Heidi Diestel who is a fourth fourth-generation turkey farmer and executive at Diestel Family Ranch.

Diestel Family Ranch has been raising turkeys since 1949, and they’re supporting regenerative agriculture with their Non-GMO, regeneratively raised turkeys that are certified Regenified™.

In this episode, Heidi schools us on their family’s journey raising turkeys and how their practices and products have evolved over the years, she gives us an in-depth look at how they raise their regenerative birds and source regenerative feed, plus she breaks down how they think about product innovation and what is coming in the future from Diestel.

Listen folks, that calendar says November, so it is time to start thinking about that Thanksgiving turkey. We went in-depth for a big-time Turkey 101 with Heidi today, and we were fascinated by everything we learned. We hope you enjoy this one as much as we did, and more importantly, we hope you’re serving a regenerative turkey at your holiday meal here in a few weeks.

Episode Highlights:

🦃 Four generations of turkey farming

🔪 Going from butcher shops to natural retailers

😂 Kyle’s obsession with Diestel turkey

3️⃣ The turkey farming trifecta: breed, feed, and time

⁉️ What’s a regenerative turkey?

✌️ Why regen turkey takes both fowl AND feed

🌽 Sourcing 650 tons of Regenified corn

↗️ Diversifying the product portfolio in the last decade

🍗 Creating products for the Thanksgivings of the future

🔥 A three-pronged playbook for regen poultry to scale

Links:

Diestel Family Ranch

Regenified™

Diestel Becomes First Certified Regenified™ Turkey Brand

Global Animal Partnership

Smoketown Report: Unlocking Demand for Regenerative

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On this episode, we have Kyle Sullivan & Jesse Smith from Figure Ate Foods and the White Buffalo Land Trust. Kyle serves as the Director of Marketing and Communications while Jesse serves as the Director of Land Stewardship.

Figure Ate is supporting regenerative agriculture with their persimmon vinegar and beef biltong products, and the Figure Ate brand is a part of the larger White Buffalo Land Trust non-profit that is stewarding the 1,000-acre Jalama Canyon Ranch and serves as a global hub for regenerative land stewardship, ecological monitoring, research, education, training, and enterprise development. 

In this episode, we learn about why developing demand-building enterprises supporting ecological stewardship is a major key to regenerative success, Kyle and Jesse share the journey of launching the brand, formulating the initial products, and selling across multiple sales channels, plus we learn about some new projects and products they have in the works.

Episode Highlights:

🌎 Creating a global hub for regenerative agriculture

⁉️ Why does a non-profit have a food brand?

👉 Building enterprises that support ecological stewardship

🤯 The ecological complexity at the Jalama Canyon Ranch

🍶 Why persimmon vinegar was product #1

🔥 Developing domestic Elderberry supply + new products

😡 Dealing with legal and regulatory challenges in marketing

💪 Leading with nutrition claims on packaging

👀 New biltong flavors coming soon

💫 The quorum of energies that will scale regenerative

Links:

Figure Ate

White Buffalo Land Trust

Richard’s Regenerative

Sandhi Wines

Ventura Spirits

Value-Added Producer Grants

Good Food Awards

Land To Market™

White Oak Pastures

Thousand Hills

Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities

State of Regenerative CPG Report

Good Energy by Casey Means

Outstanding In The Field

Bionutrient Food Association

Nutrient Density Alliance

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On this episode, we have Benina Montes who is the Founder and Co-Owner of Burroughs Family Farms.

Burroughs Family Farms is supporting regenerative agriculture with their regenerative organic farm producing almonds, olives, and walnuts while raising pastured sheep and poultry. Their brand predominantly sells almond-based products like various nut butters and their new almond concentrate, along with whole-snacking almonds offered in various formats and flavors. 

In this episode, we learn about the Burroughs family's long history in farming and with food brands, Benina details their regenerative journey and how they became the first almond farm in the world to be Regenerative Organic Certified®, and we learn about why they launched their own brand and how it has grown over the last few years.

Benina and her family are proving firsthand on their more than 1,000 acres that almond farming can be both regenerative and productive - leading to big wins in water infiltration, farm profitability, crop nutrient density, and more. They even host an Annual Regenerative Almond Field Day to share their efforts with other farmers, brands, retailers, researchers, and more.

Episode Highlights:

🧑‍🌾 The Burroughs family’s history with farming and brands

🫙 Why they created their own brand

😡 How the entire almond industry incentivizes bare ground

🌳 Why farming in California is so different

🏗️ How new harvesting equipment enables regen practices

🔥 Their Annual Regenerative Tree Nut Field Day

🐑 The challenge of building off-take for both crops and livestock

🏆 Their NEXTY-winning Almond Milk Concentrate

🥈 Why they have two regenerative certifications

🛒 How retailers and distributors can support regen

Links:

Burroughs Family Farms

2024 NEXTY Award Winners

4th Annual Regenerative Tree Nut Field Day

Ecdysis

Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

Undaunted Courage

Rick Clark

State of Regenerative CPG Report

Regenerative Organic Certified®

Regenified™

Naturland

CDFA Defining Regenerative Agriculture

Alice Waters Institute

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On this episode, we are celebrating some very big news.

This week, we launched a new unprecedented, multifaceted support ecosystem for CPG brands supporting regenerative agriculture including two new non-profit organizations and one future for-profit organization.

The three entities are called: ReGen Brands Institute, ReGen Brands Coalition, and ReGen Brands Capital.

We’ve shared bits and pieces of our work on all of this over the past year, but we have not really given our audience a full update since August of 2023. And there’s a reason for that, as we’ve been quite hard at work building this new ecosystem.Please check out the updated website, read our inaugural State of Regenerative CPG report, and view the press release to get a nice, concise, articulate download of what we’re doing.

In this episode, we wanted to give you a peek behind the curtain on what went into shaping this vision, building the inaugural entities, hitting some key milestones, and where we go from here. Long story short, if you want to know what the future of our work looks like, then this is a must listen. We’re so proud to take this massive step forward and we couldn't have done it without your support. We hope you’re as energized by this milestone as we are.

Episode Highlights:

🎉 The new ReGen Brands ecosystem

🤯 How we got here

↗️ Where we’re headed

❓ Why this new approach

🏫 Introducing, ReGen Brands Institute

📚 Our new research and education programming

🤝 Introducing, ReGen Brands Coalition

🔥 Our new trade association for regen brands

💰 Introducing, ReGen Brands Capital

🙏 Values-aligned capital for regen brands

Links:

ReGen Brands

New Ecosystem Announcement

State of Regenerative CPG Report 

ReGen Brands Institute

ReGen Brands Coalition

ReGen Brands Capital

ReGen Brands Weekly Newsletter

JellyShot

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On this episode, we have Samuel Taylor who is the Founder and CEO of Long Table.

Long Table is supporting regenerative agriculture with their pancake and waffle mixes made with regeneratively grown heirloom grains. 

In this episode, we learn how Samuel went from actor to CPG Founder due to the combination of a pancake obsession and an acrobatic love interest. He details how the brand went from the farmers market to appearing on Shark Tank, and he shares why regenerative, stone-milled, heirloom grains are a game-changer in terms of flavor, nutrition, and environmental impact.

Lots of great stories in this one folks! Samuel didn’t land a deal on Shark Tank, but he scooped up the next best thing: “the best pancakes I’ve ever had” compliment from all the sharks and a million-dollar sales bump. A little over a year later, he’s looking to build out this brand both online and in retail while being a key purchaser supporting the regenerative grain shed of the upper Midwest.

Episode Highlights:

🥞 Next-gen pancakes from regeneratively-grown, heirloom grains

🎪 The acrobatic love interest that inspired the brand

🍿 Inventing popcorn flour pancakes

🦈 Going on Shark Tank with David Schwimmer

🤯 Doing $1M in sales the 6 weeks after Shark Tank

🌾 Building supply chains with the Artisan Grain Collaborative

🤤 Why stone-milled, heirloom grains are better

📈 Capital-efficient, omnichannel growth

🏅 Working towards Regenified™ certification

💰 Why regen brands need more investment

Links:

Long Table

Artisan Grain Collaborative

Long Table On Shark Tank

Seedhouse Design

Janie’s Mill

Meadowlark Organics

Regenified™

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On this episode, we have Ben Mand who is the CEO at Guayakí.

Guayakí is supporting regenerative agriculture with their various yerba mate-based products that are farmed in regenerative organic systems. 

Yerba mate is a tree of the holly family that is native to the Atlantic Forest of South America, and the consumption of yerba mate is related to the unique relationship between Indigenous Peoples and their forest environments developed over millennia.

On this episode, we learn how Ben has satisfied his appetite for impact across a wide array of brands, and he shares more about Guayakí’s Market Drive Regeneration™ approach - detailing what that means for their farming partners, their business, and their consumers.

Episode Highlights:

🍃 Creating the yerba mate category

🧉 The traditional gourd circle practice of sharing mate

📈 Going from incremental to exponential impact in CPG

❤️ Guayakí’s Market Driven Regeneration™

🙏 Partnering with Indigenous communities

🤝 Farmer price premiums and infrastructure investment

👉 Making responsible business the new norm

🔥 Nailing the brilliant basics to tell the regen story

🔮 Future-proofing their product portfolio

🎯 How retailers should support regen brands

Links:

Guayakí

Yerba Mate 101

Market Driven Regeneration™

Harmless Harvest

#73 - Allie O'Brien @ Harmless Harvest

Regenerative Organic Certified®

World Bank

Follow Kyle and AC on LinkedIn