On this episode, we have Nick Wiseman who is a Co-Founder and the CEO of Little Sesame.

Little Sesame is supporting regenerative agriculture with its lineup of organic and regeneratively farmed hummus products that includes a flavor lineup of Smooth Classic, Jammy Tomato, Caramelized Onion, Herby Jalapeño, and the newly launched Preserved Lemon.

In this episode, we learn how Nick and his team pivoted Little Sesame from restaurant to retail during COVID, the “freshly-spun” difference that makes their hummus unique, and Little Sesame’s explosive growth strategy and results.

We covered a ton with Nick, and this episode is super rich with insights into everything from direct-trade farm relationships, to driving product velocities at retail, to building self-manufacturing as a competitive advantage.

Episode Highlights:

😍 “Freshly spun” hummus made with regen chickpeas

😯 Pivoting from restaurant to CPG during COVID

🍋 Their new lemon preserve hummus

🔥 The ROI in self-manufacturing 

🤝 Partnering with their chickpea farmer, Casey Bailey

🤯 Farmer Casey’s “10-year regen experiment” and 17-crop rotation

🎯 Obsessing over velocities to drive growth

💰 Why brands need diverse capital stacks and new financial models 

🥳 Using seasonal SKUs and brand collabs to grow

🚀 Planning 1,000+ demos for 2024

Links:

Little Sesame

The Hummus Club

Timeless Seeds Inc.

Athletic Brewing Article

Glyphosate In Hummus (EWG)

Follow Kyle and AC on LinkedIn

On this episode, we have Joséphine Bournonville who is a Co-Founder and the COO at Omie.

Omie is supporting regenerative agriculture with its lineup of more than 200 French pantry staples that are sourced from regenerative farmers.

Omie’s agri-engineers work with over 40 manufacturers and 200 farmers to bring this vast assortment to life. Farming operations are audited with a Regenerative Index score then Omie works with the operators to create a roadmap for improvement and further regenerative practice adoption. All of their products are given a Planet Score, with more than 90% of the portfolio scoring an A or B and nothing being offered that isn’t at least a grade C.

In this episode, we learn about Joséphine’s journey from clean-tech investing to agribusiness M&A to a regenerative food startup, and we hear how Omie has scaled from a direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform into France’s leading regenerative brand.

Joséphine was an amazing endcap to our first international series! Omie is doing incredible work, and it was inspiring and informative to hear about their efforts and compare them to all the other brands we’ve had on the show. 

Episode Highlights:

🇫🇷 France’s leading regen brand with over 200 products!

🚜 Joséphine’s journey ​​from agribusiness to regen CPG

🤯 Working with 46 manufacturers and 260 farmers

🥣 Their new kids' cereal lineup featuring millet

🔥 The power of a strong DTC customer community

💯 Using radical transparency to build trust

📝 Roadmapping improvements with “the regeneration index”

👏 Dedicating 1% of sales to regen practice adoption

🔊 The recent farmer protests in France & Europe

🗯️ Engaging in advocacy + policy to drive change

Links:

Omie

Groupe Roullier

Decathlon

The Regeneration Index

Planet-score®

Farmer Protests

Thierry Marx

2050

Lively Earth

RFSI Europe 2024

Follow Kyle and AC on LinkedIn

On this episode, we have Jay Albany who is the CEO of Wide Open Agriculture.

Wide Open Agriculture is Australia's leading regenerative food and agriculture company and operates 3 distinct enterprises. Under the name Dirty Clean Food, they operate a direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform that sells 300 different regenerative and artisan products directly to wholesale customers and individual consumers. They’ve also launched a line of branded, oat-milk-based CPG products under the Dirty Clean Food name as well. 

WOA is focusing its future growth on its third enterprise - producing and supplying Buntine Protein® created by processing Australian sweet lupin. Sweet lupin serves as a rotational crop in regenerative systems of the Western Australian wheat belt but currently does not have a large, profitable market as a human food ingredient.

Wide Open Ag’s business is a beautiful blend of targeting both local and global impact while operating under their “4 returns” mandate which includes financial, natural, social and inspirational returns. 

Episode Highlights:

👏 Their mission to regenerate the Western Australian wheat belt

🔮 How Jay met the Founders and joined the team

🥩 Bringing better food to Western Australia

🍔 Landing a burger joint to catalyze their brand

📈 Growing Dirty Clean Food to $12M

🥛 Launching the world’s 1st regenerative oat milk

💰 Sweetening the economics of sweet lupins

💥 Introducing Buntine Protein® - a better plant-based protein

🔥 Why Buntine Protein® is better

👍 Tackling local and global impact at once to scale regen

Links:

Wide Open Agriculture

Dirty Clean Food

Short Order Burger

Oatly

Minor Figures

Buntine Protein®

Curtin University

Wide Open Agriculture acquires Prolupin

Saputo Dairy Australia

Follow Kyle and AC on LinkedIn 

On this episode, we have Rafaela Gontijo Lenz who is the Founder and CEO at NUU.

NUU is supporting regenerative agriculture with its lineup of regenerative, cassava-based foods that includes cheese bread, chees bread pizza, tapioca sticks, and more. These items are sold in over 1,500 retail and foodservice points of sale in Brazil.

In this episode, we learn how Rafaela was inspired to leave her job at Johnson & Johnson to start a cheese bread company supporting smallholder farmers, her regenerative awakening and NUU’s regenerative journey, and their recent 4 million dollar fundraise that is set to power their future vision.

NUU is a certified B Corp, certified carbon neutral, led by an entirely female C-suite, and has been recognized by The United Nations as 1 of 50 global companies to help lead the regenerative food movement.

Episode Highlights:

🇧🇷 Our 2nd international episode with NUU from Brazil!

🤤 Why Rafaela left Johnson & Johnson to start NUU

🧀 Bringing better Brazilian cheese bread to the masses

🤩 Their indigenous, hero ingredient: yuca (cassava)

🧑‍🌾 Building supply chains to purchase from smallholder farmers

🤝 Engaging investors, NGOs, and the government in their regen journey

💡 Why all their SKUs are “air fryer friendly”

💰 Their recent 4 million dollar fundraise!

❤️ Why we need to re-feminize the food system

🔥 Using event ambassadors to drive discovery and trial

Links:

NUU

NUU Secures $4 Million in Series A Funding

NUU’s Zero Carbon Factory

The history of Pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread)

Kiss The Ground Movie

Jornada Amazônia

Dengo

VEJA

EcoEnterprises Fund

farfarm

Pão de Açúcar

Carrefour

Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation

Alex Atala - Mandioca 

The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food

Donos do Mercado 

Follow Kyle and AC on LinkedIn 

On this episode, we have Edd Lees who is one of the Co-Founders at Wildfarmed. 

Wildfarmed is supporting regenerative agriculture with its lineup of regenerative wheat flours that are used in retailers, restaurants, and bakeries across the United Kingdom and powered by a network of 80 regenerative farmers.

In this episode, we learn how the brand was started when a famous DJ traded in his turntables for a tractor, how they’ve grown the business through a branded B2B2C strategy, and their big plans for their first Wildfarmed CPG product launch in 2024.

Episode Highlights:

🥳 Our 1st international episode with Wildfarmed!

🎤 How a grammy-nominated musician became a regenerative farmer

🔥 “First they laugh at you, then they hate you, then they want to join you”

👏 Scaling their B2B2C strategy from 1 bakery to 400 customers

🤩 Their regenerative standards and network of 80 farmers

😯 How they won a 25-year tenancy on their demonstration farm

🎯 Why their brand is all about being “Full of Life”

⚡ Their 1st branded CPG launch coming in 2024!

🤯 Partnering with a nationwide retailer to sell bread AND grow wheat

💥 Why stale category + high household penetration = opportunity

Links:

Wildfarmed

Andy Cato

Wildfarmed Standards

Henry Dimbleby

National Trust

The Green Revolution

Cairnspring Mills

Steward

RFSI

Follow Kyle and AC on LinkedIn 

On this episode, we have Derrick Jackson who is a Farmer and Co-Founder of Grass Grazed. 

Grass Grazed is supporting regenerative agriculture with a myriad of direct-to-consumer livestock products and just launched its first CPG item, Grazed Snax. Grazed Snax is a meat stick made from 100% pasture-raised pork. 

In this episode, we learn how Derrick and his family went from raising 25 backyard chickens to 4,000 pasture-raised birds in just 11 months, the barriers that small-scale regenerative farmers face in receiving financing for land acquisition, and why the family has decided to invest in building CPG products as a key to their future growth.

Episode Highlights:

👉 Health and accessibility challenges that made Derrick a farmer

😂 The family raising their first 25 backyard birds

😯 Scaling to 4,000 pastured chickens in 11 months

💰 Diversifying into 5 income streams (poultry, eggs, beef, pork, and dairy)

🔥 Providing a 65-family “buying club” with all of their meat and dairy

🎯 Why they launched their first CPG product

😡 How USDA loans discriminate against small, regenerative farmers

💡 Formulating, designing, and launching Grazed Snax

💥 Shifting their whole focus to pasture-raised meat sticks

👏 Why “bringing farmers to the table” is key to a regenerative future

Links:

Grass Grazed

Grazed Snax

Justin Rhodes

Pastured Poultry Profits

Follow Kyle and AC on LinkedIn

On this episode, we have Zack Gazzaniga who is the Founder of Zack's Mighty.

Zack’s Mighty is supporting regenerative agriculture with its tortilla chip products made with certified regenerative corn.

In this episode, we learn about Zack’s journey in CPG helping to build and scale Sir Kensington’s, why he was compelled to “make chips that don’t break in dip,” and the wild ride building Zack’s Mighty supply chain that included everything from importing an heirloom variety of corn into the US, setting up direct trade supply with farms, investing in proprietary manufacturing processes, and certifying their regenerative claims through A Greener World (AGW).

Episode Highlights:

💪 Creating a chip that won’t break in dip

🥇 Being employee #1 at Sir Kensington’s

😂 Zack’s year-long journey to pick his entrepreneurial pursuit

🤯 The history of “flint corn” and why they use it

🔥 Importing flint corn from Italy for their first growing season

🤝 How regenerative claims can help brands get on shelf at retail

😬 Launching nationally in Whole Foods during COVID 

🌽 Why the best tortilla chips start as tortillas first

🌟 Using A Greener World (AGW) for regenerative certification

👀 Their new “Rolled” chip line and why they aren’t regenerative

Links:

Zack’s Mighty

Sir Kensington's

Flint Corn History

Anson Mills

Stone House Farm

Hudson Carbon

A Greener World (AGW)

Certified Regenerative by A Greener World (AGW)

Follow Kyle and AC on LinkedIn

On this episode, we have Kyle Koehler who is the Founder and CEO at Wildway.

Wildway is supporting regenerative agriculture with its commitment to transition its entire product portfolio to Regenerative Organic Certified®, beginning with a 4-SKU lineup of Planet Friendly Oats and a 3-SKU lineup of Coconut Chips.

In this episode, we learn about Kyle’s 11-year journey bootstrapping Wildway from the farmers’ market to a nationally distributed and profitable brand, Kyle shares his inspiration for taking the brand fully regenerative organic and the immense challenges that has created, plus he also shares how they’re looking to fund the future of the business with redeemable equity.

Episode Highlights:

👏 Wildway’s commitment to 100% Regenerative Organic Certified®

😂 How Kyle cold-called his way into Whole Foods

👍 Not wanting the brand to be synonymous with diet culture

🤯 Bootstrapping the brand for its entire 11-year journey

👎 Challenges of transitioning products to organic + regenerative

🤝 Why pre-competitive collaborations can scale regen supply

🔥 Using “beyond sustainable” to spur consumer curiosity

😡 The pitfalls of the current CPG financing landscape

💰 Funding their future with redeemable equity

🎯 Kyle’s 3-pronged approach to Wildway’s future strategy

Links:

Wildway

Regenerative Organic Certified®

Whole30

Tradin Organics

Mad Markets

One Step Closer

Redeemable Equity

Follow Kyle and AC on LinkedIn

On this episode, we have Monique Hypes and Marie Krane who are the Co-Founders of ⁠Tomato Bliss⁠.

Tomato Bliss is on a mission to “save the heirloom tomato from extinction” with their line of heirloom tomato soups that are made with tomatoes grown on their certified Regenified™ farm in Southwest Michigan.

In this episode, we learn why tomato farming became Marie’s chosen form of activism, how she found Monique to help Tomato Bliss become more than just a farmers market brand, and the strategies they’re using to grow both supply and demand for regeneratively grown heirloom tomatoes at the same time.

Episode Highlights:

😍 “Saving Heirloom Tomatoes From Extinction”

👏 Marie’s journey fighting to save heirloom tomato seeds

💡 Why farming and CPG became her best path to seed-saving

🤝 Hiring Monique to take the brand beyond the farmers’ market

🤯 90% of tomato production comes from less than 25 seeds

👍 Intercropping as their secret weapon for pest prevention

🏅 Why their farm is certified Regenified™

🧑‍🍳 How they’re using food service to fuel their growth

⚡ Why stores should merchandise their SKUs in the produce department

📈 The imperative for regen brands to scale supply and demand in tandem

Links:

⁠Tomato Bliss⁠

⁠Green City Market⁠

⁠Good Food Accelerator⁠

⁠The Food Foundry⁠

⁠The Dorito Effect⁠

⁠Regenified™⁠

⁠Notre Dame & Tomato Bliss⁠

Please follow⁠ Kyle⁠ and⁠ AC⁠ on LinkedIn 

On this episode, we have Cody Hopkins who is the CEO and Founding Farmer at Grass Roots Farmers’ Cooperative.

Grass Roots is supporting regenerative agriculture with its 7-species lineup of meat products.

In this episode, we learn why Cody was inspired to start the Co-Op after being a small-scale poultry farmer, what makes their business model and corporate structure unique, and how Heifer International and Heifer USA have been important partners along the way.

Episode Highlights:

👏 Why Cody started the Co-Op after being a small poultry farmer

🧑‍🌾 Being vertically integrated and cooperating 50+ farmers

🤔 Learning from Zingerman’s ecosystem of businesses

💰 Partnering with Heifer International & Heifer USA

🔥 Balancing standardization and contextualization

🔪 Having ownership in their processor, Cypress Valley Meats

🥇 Onboarding with Land to Market™ & EOV™

😍 Why philanthropists should fund nutrient density testing

💥 Using guaranteed contracts + “common pay rates” to buy from farmers

🤯 Why regen needs scale, efficiency, and vertical integration

Links:

Grass Roots Farmers’ Cooperative

Zingerman's Community of Businesses

Value-Added Producer Grants

Heifer International

Heifer USA

Cypress Valley Meat Company

Land to Market™

EOV™

Follow Kyle and AC on LinkedIn