Regeneration & Resilience Supply Chain Innovation & Technology

Redesigning the Food System for Resilience:
Lessons from the Field

Another central thread throughout SB’24 San Diego highlighted the efforts underway by startup innovators, multinational brands and NGOs to redesign our food system for resilience.

By Hannah Zimmerman | Published 1 month ago | About a 8 minute read

Image: Aleph Farms

The rise of complementary proteins diversifying food production

Image credit: Plantible Foods

Addressing the environmental and social impacts of industrial agriculture has become crucial as global meat consumption continues to rise. Industrial animal agriculture emits more greenhouse gases than the entire transportation sector combined and contributes to climate change, biodiversity loss and food insecurity.

A Tuesday afternoon panel, moderated by Marika Azoff — Corporate Engagement Lead at the Good Food Institute — convened innovators from cultivated, fermentation-derived and plant-based protein startups creating sustainable solutions to meet growing protein demand without further harming the environment.

There are currently over 1,500 companies working on complementary proteins and products, seeking to create more protein options for consumers. One of these is San Diego-based Plantible Foods, whose contribution to reshaping agriculture comes from lemna (aka duckweed) — a tiny, high-protein, aquatic plant that contains all 9 essential amino acids, doubles in size every 40 hours, requires minimal resources (10x less water than soybeans [almost 100x less than beef] and uses zero arable land, according to Plantible’s website), and absorbs 10x more CO2 than a healthy forest. The company extracts lemna’s protein to produce Rubi Protein™ — which the company says also emits significantly less greenhouse gas than conventional, animal-based protein sources.

OK, Now What?: Navigating Corporate Sustainability After the US Presidential Election

Join us for a free webinar on Monday, December 9, at 1pm ET as Andrew Winston and leaders from the American Sustainable Business Council, Democracy Forward, ECOS and Guardian US share insights into how the shifting political and cultural environment may redefine the responsibilities and opportunities for companies committed to sustainability.

Tell me more!

“Rubi can be used in a wide range of applications — in the plant and meat space, as well as the cosmetics space,” said Plantible co-founder Tony Martens.

Meanwhile, Sacramento’s The Better Meat Co champions mycelium protein as a sustainable alternative to animal protein. Unlike traditional meat production — which is lengthy, resource intensive and polluting — mycelium can be grown and harvested in just 20 hours, making it highly efficient. As Principal Plant Engineer Jacqueline Samson explained, mycelium-based proteins offer a whole-food approach — preserving valuable nutrients and producing less waste without the need for complex protein-isolation processes.

“Our ingredients go into any kind of packaged goods that you can find at the grocery store,” she said. “It’s also an ingredient that can be hybridized with meat products due to the fact that it has neutral flavor and color, and a meat-like texture.”

While these innovations show promise, scaling these technologies is critical. If alternative proteins are not affordable and scalable (as well as delicious), their positive impact on sustainability will remain limited. Israel’s Aleph Farms is on a mission to replace the whole cow through cellular agriculture, which lab-grows meat directly from animal cells. In addition to freeing up considerable land and water resources, cultivated beef production eliminates methane emissions — a major benefit over conventional beef farming.

“We want to appeal to the most people as possible,” said Nicky Quinn, Aleph’s VP of Marketing. “We want to have delicious products that people want to eat.”

The journey to mainstream adoption of these novel proteins involves engaging both businesses and consumers. Plantible Foods’ and The Better Meat Co’s offerings are primarily focused on B2B markets — providing ingredients for plant-based and hybrid meat products, as well as non-food products. These partnerships are essential to introducing novel proteins into familiar products, making the transition smoother for consumers. Educating the public on the environmental and health benefits of alternative proteins is also crucial to achieving widespread acceptance.

“I call it aesthetic activism,” Quinn said. “Trying to make the right things cool and delicious through the power of storytelling and experiences to persuade people to make better decisions.”

As the alternative protein industry advances, securing capital and expanding production capabilities are key milestones. The need for investment, strategic partnerships and government support to build commercial-scale facilities and drive innovation will be key in cultivating the widespread shifts in eating habits necessary to help future-proof our food system.

The theme of food-system change, with an emphasis on regenerative agriculture, carried through several keynotes on the final day.

Unlocking consumer demand for regenerative agriculture

Kristine Root

Kristine Root, Chief Marketing Officer at regenerative ag certifier Regenified, examined the field from a consumer demand perspective. She shared the findings of a Regenified study that assessed consumer interest in regenerative agriculture and values-based purchasing — which found that while only 12 percent of the US population doesn't care about deeper values when making purchases, 88 percent are driven by more than taste, price and brand. A subset of these values-based shoppers aligns with the principles of regenerative agriculture — with 68 percent of general consumers, 86 percent of value-based shoppers, and 94 percent of regenerative shoppers supporting regenerative products. Awareness of regenerative agriculture has grown rapidly, doubling in the past 12 months due to things including documentaries and media coverage. Regenified’s research suggests that ‘regenerative consumers’ are not to be underestimated — they represent 20 percent of the population and are highly motivated; 89 percent will go out of their way to purchase regeneratively grown products and 92 percent want certification. “The regenerative shoppers are more engaged, more educated, and more motivated to take action,” Root asserted. “These are the people marketers should want to mobilize.”

However, 40 percent of value-based and 44 percent of regen shoppers say they struggle to find these products. Addressing this barrier by highlighting regenerative-ag practices as a differentiator will not only drive brand reputation and revenues but foster a more resilient food system.

Check out more highlights from throughout the week at SB’24 San Diego!

How to reframe your brand as a lifestyle choice while remaining true to your mission and values

Ben Mand

Ben Mand, CEO of Guayakí Yerba Mate, shared additional insights on making a brand more successful by aligning purpose with product. Yerba Mate, a caffeinated plant enjoyed for centuries in South America, serves as the core of Guayakí’s mission-driven business — which started in 1996. Mand argued that while style is easy to sell, lasting brand success comes from having a clear purpose that resonates with consumers. He believes brands, like people, need to be multidimensional — balancing sustainability with authenticity. Guayakí’s recipe for success can be applied to any brand trying to show up as a lifestyle brand: fostering genuine connections with communities, resisting trends that compromise the brand’s values, and staying true to its purpose of improving the environment.

“Establish your foundation and authenticity before you focus on style,” Mand advised. “You can be funny or whatever you want, as long as it is true to you as a brand.”

The Walmart + PepsiCo model for championing regenerative agriculture

Mikel Hancock and Margaret Henry

Next, Margaret Henry, VP of Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture at PepsiCo; Dan Yeoman, Managing Director of the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund; and Mikel Hancock, Senior Director of Sustainable Food and Agriculture for Walmart, shared lessons learned from the two food giants’ ongoing collaboration to scale regenerative agriculture across their shared North American supply chains. The three partners emphasized the importance of collaboration between companies, farmers and external stakeholders — exemplified in their Midwest Row Crop Collaborative. Lessons learned to date include: Scaling efforts and creating a resilient supply chain hinge on aligning internal business goals with sustainable farming practices; farmers need support through risk reduction and long-term investment; and external partners, including governments and NGOs, are key to meaningful impacts. A key challenge is making regenerative practices relevant and accessible to farmers and consumers while ensuring future progress through collaboration and shared vision.

“You have to have humble conversations with everyone in the room,” Hancock said. “If you stop, listen, provide assistance and find a shared goal; you can get momentum really fast.”

Preserving rice for generations to come

L-R: Kristen Campos and Hallie Shoffner

Collaboration with farmers is also central to Mars’ partnership with rice producer Delta Harvest. Kristen Campos, VP of Corporate Affairs at Mars, and Delta Harvest Farmer-CEO Hallie Shoffner discussed how their collaboration has led to research and learnings advancing water conservation in US rice farming. Mars, producer of Ben's Original — one of the world's most popular rice brands — partnered with Shoffner and her team of other women and minority farmers to explore ways to cut water use and greenhouse gas emissions from producing rice, a crop that feeds 4 billion people globally but consumes large amounts of water and contributes to 1.5 percent of global GHG emissions. Together, they are working with the USDA to scale practices including alternate wetting and drying and multiple inlet irrigation to cut water use and methane emissions, and promote financial incentives and collaboration to make these practices profitable and scalable for farmers.

“It’s not simple; every farm is different, and every practice has pros and cons,” Shoffner said. “We need an economic system that funds research and incentivizes on-farm implementation.”

Hannah Zimmerman

Impact Manager, Purpose + Sustainability

Formerly working in the advertising world in Kansas City, Hannah Zimmerman has now married her past experience with her passion for sustainability. When she isn't chasing her four-year-old daughter or helping companies along on their sustainability journey through consulting, reporting, communications and certifications, she is working on her master's in Sustainability through Harvard.

Tags:

Regeneration