What is regenerative agriculture? In this episode of the “Tip of the Iceberg,” Ali Cox, CEO and founder of agriculture marketing consultancy Noble West, says regenerative ag in the fresh produce industry means growers manage inputs, sequestering carbon by not overtilling land and focusing on sustainable farming.
“Regenerative ag in produce is really in the nascent stages,” she said. “There are a few different companies, I know Braga has a few test plots of regeneratively grown produce. I know Taylor Farms is looking at some regenerative, but it’s at the test plot level. There hasn’t really been a consumer brand to my knowledge that has been sold as regeneratively grown and packed and packed produce.”
She said the growers she works with are considering becoming Regenerative Organic Certified, and she sees that continuing to grow. But she said there’s a big divide between what consumers want from growers and the value they’re willing to pay for their food.
“There’s an ocean between that knowledge, and that’s where we’re going to see the ROC certification continue to flourish,” she said. “We’re going to need to understand how well [the certifications] educate consumers and do consumers understand and value that certification. Do they understand what they’re paying for and why is their lettuce, for example, maybe two to three times more expensive?”
Cox says this is the challenge with regenerative ag and organic production; while growers might see value in the certification and consumers may see value in the certification, that doesn’t necessarily translate to higher returns for farmers.
“We really work with our clients to help them understand if they’re going to make that decision [to pursue that certification], those are business choices but how are they going to be paid for that and how are they going to get an ROI,” she said.
Regenerative ag in the future will likely include a greater focus on soil and pollinator health. And don’t think that conventional growers, just because they don’t adopt regenerative ag practice, don’t care about those things as well, she says.
“What I really dislike is when we make the assumption that farmers and ranchers don’t care about their soil and their soil health even if they’re farming conventionally,” she said. “It just like really grates on me because they care more about it than anybody else because it’s their whole livelihood.”
She says those in the regenerative ag industry need to be careful about the number of certifications and requirements that become a part of regenerative farming.
“We’ve got to be really careful that regenerative doesn’t go the way of organic or it doesn’t go the way of food safety or whatnot,” she said. “I’d argue that food safety has been the culprit of quite a bit of food loss and a lot of food waste, and that’s a place where I think that we’re just shooting ourselves in the foot. … The more we overlegislate this and the more we over certify it without putting the consumer first, we will continue to have these problems.”
View the full episode by clicking the video player above.
