Plant-based meat and dairy alternatives may have exploded onto the food scene in recent years but the hype is catching up, consumer sales have been lackluster and investors are turning away. Questions have emerged about whether plant-based alternatives are the climate solution they claim to be, or an ethical choice throughout their supply chains. Are they even taking the right approach by aiming for replicas, or do we need new protein formats altogether?

To tackle these questions and more we hosted a very special live show at New Hope Network’s Natural Products Expo West, with a panel including Miyoko’s Creamery founder Miyoko Schinner, Rainfed Foods founder Sujala Balaji, and Danone’s VP of Marketing Plant-Based Beverages Olivia Sanchez. Our first-ever live show features some serious debate about the future of plant-based food.

Today we cover:

• Why the success of plant-based products has slowed down in the US
• Is it important for those working in the plant-based food industry have a plant-based diet?
• Is there room for flexibility in our diets? Should plant-based foods be complemented with animal products?
• The potential unintended consequences of plant-based food
• What should the role of big conglomerates be in the plant-based sector?
• The rising demand for meat around the world and how emerging markets are responding
• The role of regenerative agriculture in the plant-based trend.

This episode marks the end of Season 1! We’ve really enjoyed ourselves and hope you have too. Let us know what you’d like to see us cover in future by leaving a comment or contacting us via newfoodorder.org.

Show Notes

• The Vegan Good Life with Miyoko
• Rainfed Foods
• Danone
• Expo West
• WWF Future 50 Foods report

Subscribe to our newsletters that track all of the business, tech, and investment trends in food: https://tinyurl.com/nfonewsletters

Follow us on Instagram: @newfoodorderpod

Follow us on Linkedin: @agfunder & @foodtechconnect

Thank you to Foodshot Global & New Hope Network for sponsoring the series.

And a huge thank you to everyone who helped us bring this podcast to life:

Production: Patrick Carter, Cofruition

Audio Editing: Tevin Sudi

Original Music: Rodrigo Barbera

Art: Lola Nankin

Project Management: Patrick Carter

Hardly a month has gone by in the past two years without a large food or agriculture corporate announcing a pledge to go carbon neutral by some future date. Given the food and agriculture industries contribute over a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, these commitments are certainly welcome. But as we increasingly learn about the industry’s potential to be a solution to reversing climate change through carbon sequestering farming practices, the question quickly became: is carbon neutrality enough? Shouldn’t these corporates have higher goals and be targeting carbon removal from the atmosphere?

Furthermore, is carbon even the right focus when you consider other important measures of sustainable and ecological farming?

To discuss this complex topic, we brought a diverse guest roster onto the podcast in another roundtable format episode, including: Ivo Degn, Climate Farmers CEO; Dani Nierenberg, president of Food Tank; Kathleen Merrigan, Executive Director for the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems; Julie Kunen, Director of Sustainability for Oatly North America; and Debbie Reed, Executive Director for Ecosystem Service Market Consortium.

We discuss:

• Is carbon neutrality enough, or do we need to look beyond it?
• Is it detrimental to have such a strong focus on carbon neutrality? Does the focus detract from other important areas of regeneration and supporting all ecosystem services?
• Are carbon credits and overall certification of processes misleading and potentially damaging to the regenerative process?
• How corporations and startups might work better in the sector
• How are farmers and production workers affected by the carbon neutrality push?
• How might we design these systems to ensure farmers benefit
• How to ensure we don’t just end up “greenwishing” while searching for a solution

Show Notes

• Climate Farmers
• Food Tank
• Swette Center
• Oatly
• ESMC

Subscribe to our newsletters that track all of the business, tech, and investment trends in food: https://tinyurl.com/nfonewsletters

Follow us on Instagram: @newfoodorderpod

Follow us on Linkedin: @agfunder & @foodtechconnect

Thank you to Foodshot Global & New Hope Network for sponsoring the series.

And a huge thank you to everyone who helped us bring this podcast to life:

Production: Cam Gray, Cofruition

Audio Editing: Tevin Sudi

Original Music: Rodrigo Barbera

Art: Lola Nankin

Project Management: Patrick Carter

There’s enormous potential for agriculture to help reverse climate change through its potential to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. But are we asking farmers too much? Already laden with debt and the pressure to produce more with less, how might we support already cash-strapped and stressed farmers in their transition to regenerative agriculture? Should it be their responsibility alone?

In this episode, we continue our exploration of regenerative agriculture, its potential, and its challenges with Benedikt Bösel, Germany’s first regen ag Farmer of the Year and owner of Gut&Bösel; Jennifer O’Connor, Executive Director of Funders for Regenerative Agriculture; Felipe Villela, founder of reNature; and Kelsey Scott, Director of Programs at the Intertribal Agriculture Council and owner of DX Beef.

We discuss:

• What needs to change to support farmers throughout the transition to farming regeneratively
• Who should bear responsibility for driving this transition? Farmers, corporates, governments?
• What regenerative producers actually need from corporates, governments, and investors
• The language of regeneration and how to have productive conversations with producers
• What collaboration models and other resources exist or should exist to help them
• Funding sources for farmers, where they can access it, and the challenges involved
• The mindset shift needed among corporations and policymakers to help producers manage their lands regeneratively and profitably
• Indigenous producers and the generational damage that is being done on existing farms

Show Notes:

• Gut&Bösel
• Funders for Regenerative Agriculture
• reNature
• Intertribal Agriculture Council
• DX Beef

Subscribe to our newsletters that track all of the business, tech, and investment trends in food: https://tinyurl.com/nfonewsletters

Follow us on Instagram: @newfoodorderpod

Follow us on Linkedin: @agfunder & @foodtechconnect

Thank you to Foodshot Global & New Hope Network for sponsoring the series.

And a huge thank you to everyone who helped us bring this podcast to life:

Production: Cam Gray, Cofruition

Audio Editing: Tevin Sudi

Original Music: Rodrigo Barbera

Art: Lola Nankin

Project Management: Patrick Carter