On this episode, we have Briana Buckles who is the Global Senior Sustainability Manager at Yogi Tea.

Yogi Tea is supporting regenerative agriculture with 9 global projects dedicated to increasing regenerative agriculture adoption in the supply chain for their Yogi Tea and Choice Organics brands.

Yogi has been around for more than 50 years, produces over 70 SKUs, and sources more than 150 ingredients from over 40 different countries. Their products are stocked across thousands of retailers in North America and Europe.

In this episode, Briana shares her 5-year journey trailblazing new regenerative agriculture initiatives at Yogi and how they are increasing regen ag adoption through a three-pronged supply chain visibility, intervention, and expansion approach. Plus, she shares the details on one of their projects in Rwanda with details on how they select farmers to support, partner with local technical assistance providers, and fund the work itself.

Episode Highlights:

💫 The original Yogi recipe

🤯 Sourcing 150+ ingredients from 40+ countries

✍️ Building a Sustainability program from scratch

🌍 Their 9 global regen ag projects to date

🔍 Why it all starts with supply chain transparency

🧑‍🌾 Their work with tea farmers in Rwanda

💲 How they think about the ROI of regenerative

😧 The challenges of certifying their complex supply chains

⚙️ How Yogi designs, implements, and funds their regen projects

🤩 Why every supply chain link needs to benefit from regen

Links:

Yogi Tea

Yogi Tea’s Annual Sustainability Report

Dr. Bronner’s

Fair Trade Certified

For for Life

FairWild Foundation

Rainforest Alliance

Regenerative Organic Certified

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On this episode, we have Matthieu Kohlmeyer who is the Founder and CEO of La Tourangelle.

La Tourangelle is a French-American family-owned & operated culinary oil maker. They’re currently supporting regenerative agriculture with their Regenerative Organic Certified® Sunflower Oil and their soon-to-be-released regenerative olive oil.

In this episode, Matthieu shares La Tourangelle’s 20-year history as a CPG brand and 150-year history producing artisan oils, he shares what makes their production and packaging unique from other players in the category, and he also details their future plans to support regenerative agriculture.

Matthieu is a wealth of knowledge in all topics oil-related and he was nice enough to weigh in on the current seed oil debates, existing issues with counterfeit oils in the market, and why scaling regen in oil products might look a lot different than other categories.

Episode Highlights:

🗝️ Artisan oil-making dating back to 1867

🇺🇲 How Matthieu brought the brand to the US

🥫 Why tin packaging is better for the oil and the earth

✨ What makes La Tourangelle’s oils unique?

😦 Current fraud issues in culinary oil manufacturing

♻️ The added upcycling complexity in oil supply chains

🧑‍🌾 Farmer feedback on regenerative & organic

❤️ Why emotion > education for selling food

👀 What’s the truth about seed oils?

👏 Educating kids in their community garden

Links:

La Tourangelle

Regenerative Organic Certified® Sunflower Oil

Regenerative Organic Certified®

The Codex Alimentarius

The Dorito Effect

Regenified™

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On this episode, we have Jared Simon who is the CEO at Manitoba Harvest.

Manitoba Harvest is North America’s leading hemp food brand, and they’re supporting regenerative agriculture with their recently released Regenerative Organic Certified® Hemp Hearts.

In this episode, Jared breaks down how hemp is grown and some of the agronomic differences between conventional, organic, and regenerative organic cultivation. Jared also shares how Manitoba Harvest is developing their commercial strategy around regenerative and what this means for both their branded business and B2B ingredient business.

Jared was super engaging and insightful, and we really enjoyed gleaning his insights on how a legacy, scaled brand like Manitoba Harvest starts prioritizing regen, opportunities he sees in the broader regen movement, and how their work is influencing the larger, publicly traded parent company they sit within.

Episode Highlights:

💥 Their 25-year history pioneering hemp foods

🌱 The differences between hemp and cannabis

💪 Why hemp is a nutrition powerhouse

🔬 Using AI-Powered nutrition research to drive innovation

👉 Investing upstream to add value

💡 How they think about their regen strategy

📈 Scaling ROC™ hemp with B2B & B2C

👀 The future of regenerative marketing claims

🔥 Educating Tilray’s other brands on regen

🎯 Getting to critical mass with retailers and consumers

Links:

Manitoba Harvest

Hemp Oil Canada / Fresh Hemp Foods

Tilray Brands

Brightseed

Regenerative Organic Certified®

Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC™) Hemp Hearts

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