Is 2024 the Year Regenerative Agriculture Takes Root?

This article first appeared in Presence Marketing’s January 2024 newsletter.

By Steven Hoffman

In 1942, J.I. Rodale first popularized the term organic in the U.S. with the launch of Organic Farming and Gardening Magazine. Some 45 years later, in the 1970s, J.I.’s son Robert Rodale introduced the phrase “regenerative organic.” Robert’s goal was to describe an approach to farming that combined organic practices with a more holistic approach to land management and a focus on rebuilding soil health. Yet it’s only been in the past few years that the term has gained more widespread traction.

With the release in 2023 of two full-length feature documentary films, Common Ground and Organic Rising, along with increased adoption among farmers and producers, awareness of regenerative agriculture is set to gain ground in the coming year among large-scale food manufacturers, policymakers, researchers, the general public and more. Today, advocates of regenerative agriculture say it is the best way to produce healthier food and promote local and rural economies. And, by sequestering carbon back into soils, it can also play a significant role in mitigating climate change.

“2024 indeed will be marked as the year of regenerative agriculture. Why? We are closing in on a tipping point of awareness and collective action is being realized on a huge scale. Not only is soil and regenerative agriculture finally making its way as a leading climate, water and health solution, but we are also showing up as one of the biggest economic solutions for rural economies and businesses across the world,” said Finian Makepeace, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of the nonprofit organization Kiss the Ground and Producer of the films Kiss the Ground and its sequel Common Ground.

“With the recent film Common Ground, and many other feature films and shows in this space sharing the story along with the incredible build of awareness brought on by Save Soil and others, we are seeing a dramatic increase in people comprehending the soil solution. With brands and businesses, there are huge commitments around regenerative agriculture for 2030. I believe 2024 will be a year of turning on those actions and increasing the integrity of their proposed programs. Regarding regenerative agriculture, I feel that 2024 will be the year that the world’s regen leaders find common ground and agree upon a definition that will allow for many more to work and support this space functionally,” Makepeace added.

“I do think that 2024 could be the best year yet for regenerative agriculture. While there is still disagreement over the definition, there is significant consensus that it includes a keen focus on building soil health, enhancing biodiversity, humanely integrating livestock and including worker fairness. New certification and verification programs like Regenerative Organic Certified, Certified Regenified, and Soil & Climate Health provide a lot of support and tools for farmers who want to incorporate more regenerative practices,” said Elizabeth Candelario, Director of Strategic Partnerships for MAD Agriculture, an organization that works with farmers and industry to advance regenerative practices.

In addition, Candelario said, “While their motivations may vary — from mission alignment to strengthening supply chains to mandatory ESG reporting — food companies are (finally) paying attention to the agriculture that is producing their ingredients. And food was finally on the table at the recent COP28 climate summit. The conference opened with a declaration on sustainable agriculture, signed by more than 130 countries, and ended with a final agreement that acknowledges for the first time that sustainable agriculture needs to be included in climate change solutions.”

Regenerative Products Sales Take Off
Now, the marketplace is responding. According to the Regenerative Organic Alliance Impact Report 2022 – 2023, sales of Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC®) products grew an average of 22% from EOY 2022 to EOY 2023, with sales totaling nearly $40 million in 2023. Companies including Dr. Bronner’s, Patagonia, Lundberg Family Farms, Manitoba Harvest, Bonterra and others are leading the certification efforts and serving as role models for other brands.

According to the Impact Report and based on SPINS data, revenue from sales of ROC® products in natural and multi-outlet grocers increased by one-third compared to the same period in the previous year. In addition, the number of ROC® SKUs in the market increased nearly forty-fold in 2023, “indicative of continued growth potential,” the report said. “By offering Regenerative Organic Certified products, brands are responding to the consumer desire to have their purchase make a positive impact at every level: environmentally, ethically, and socially,” the report concluded.

Globally, the market size for regenerative agriculture reached US$975.2 million in 2022, and is projected to be worth US$4.3 billion by 2032, poised to grow at a CAGR of 15.97% from 2023 to 2032, according to a June 2023 report from Precedence Research. North America generated more than 37% of the revenue share in 2022, Precedence Research reported.

While regenerative agriculture practices aren’t yet familiar to most Americans (just one in five consumers surveyed by Food Insight in 2022 said they’d heard of regenerative agriculture), 73% of consumers agreed they would be more likely to trust retailers and brands that implement regenerative agriculture programs, and 72% agreed that they would be more like to purchase from them, Supermarket Perimeter reported in October 2023.

Major retailers are taking notice. In December 2023, Whole Foods Market announced that it had implemented new standards to protect pollinator health. As such, the retailer will now require all fresh produce and floral suppliers to implement supply chain practices that help protect honeybees and other native pollinators.

Speaking to executives at Progressive Grocer’s Grocery Impact conference in November 2023, Whole Foods CEO Jason Buechle said, “Whole Foods Market invites you to help us start a ripple effect of change that will fix our broken food system. The decisions we make as a business — even the smallest ones — in how food is raised and grown today can have a profound and lasting impact on nourishing people and the planet for future generations to come. One of the biggest challenges our food system is facing now and will continue [to face] in the future is the climate crisis. If we continue farming in the large-scale, mechanized way that much of the industry currently does, our topsoil is not going to have the nutrient density it needs to grow the foods we know and love today,” Buechle said.

To address this challenge, Buechle reported that the retailer is working with farmers, ranchers, suppliers, scientists and other experts, as well as leading organizations, to leverage regenerative agriculture to evolve the practices used to grow, raise and produce the products that it sells. A focus on regenerative agriculture and responsible sourcing is an essential part of the retailer’s value proposition, which remains strong despite the mainstreaming of natural foods and the effects of inflation on consumer spending, according to Buechle.

Regenerative Food and Agriculture in 2024
In October 2023, Forbes reported that water stewardship will one of the biggest food trends in 2024. “As the tides of environmental consciousness continue to shape consumer choices, it is no wonder that water stewardship is set to become one of the top food trends for 2024,” wrote Senior Contributor Daphne Ewing-Chow.

“The global agri-food industry— valued at $6 trillion— is one of the most highly exposed to water risks, with water stress impacting many of the world’s largest food-exporting countries. Paradoxically, despite mounting perils to both food and water security stemming from water depletion, pollution, and climate-induced droughts, the food and agri-business sector is a chief contributor to the problem, accounting for a substantial 70% of all freshwater withdrawals,” she continued.

According to Ewing-Chow, “Regenerative agriculture plays a pivotal role in enhancing soil health, facilitating nutrient retention, bolstering natural resilience to environmental challenges, and mitigating erosion. This contributes to the conservation of water resources and the enhancement of ecosystem water quality, reducing the volume of water required for farming activities and decreasing harmful water and nutrient runoff from agricultural lands.”

Forbes also reported that in September 2023, SAI Platform, a network comprising 170 major food companies dedicated to sustainability, unveiled a global framework outlining the transition to regenerative agriculture for food businesses. A number of mainstream food brands such as Unilever, Nestlé, McDonald’s, Danone, and General Mills have already committed their support for regenerative agriculture, Forbes reported.

Greater technical innovation and research into regenerative agriculture will continue over the coming year, the Global Ag Tech Initiative predicted in its December 2023 report, 5 AgTech Trends to Watch in 2024. “Essentially mimicking natural process and biodiversity on agricultural land, the ultimate aim of regenerative agriculture is to improve soil health in order to boost yield. To address the challenges of climate change and feed a global population of over 8 billion, regenerative agriculture is vital. Digital tools use accurate, up-to-date data to create tailored regenerative agriculture solutions. These consider soil conditions, weather conditions, microclimates, and current crop growth or land use, as well as individual budgets and local regulations. Platforms offering site specific data will likely reign supreme in 2024. A view of sustainability that extends beyond simple carbon metrics and one-size-fits-all solutions is necessary and will enable the establishment of realistic, actionable objectives for growers, promoting sustainability and formulating strategies tailored to local environments,” the report said.

Beyond Food – Regenerative Fashion Threads the Needle
On the textile and fiber front, companies including fashion leader Mango will begin incorporating regeneratively grown cotton into its 2024 fashion collections, the Fashion Network reported in December 2023. The company has partnered with Materra, a British-Indian company specializing in regenerative cotton cultivation, and said it will be able to ensure complete traceability across the value chain of its cotton, from seed to final garment.

“As a global fashion company, our intent is clear: to contribute to creating a fairer society and reduce the fashion industry’s impact on the environment. This is why we ally ourselves with key partners like Materra, which will help us accelerate our path to ensuring that 100% of the fibers we use are sustainable by 2030,” said Andrés Fernández, Mango’s director of sustainability and sourcing.

Other fashion brands driving regenerative agriculture initiatives include J.Crew, Prana, Terra Thread and other textile and fiber companies that are members of the Regenerative Organic Alliance. “Big fashion brands and independent labels are embracing regenerative agriculture as a win-win solution that could allow them to source climate-positive materials. The challenge is that the concept doesn’t have a singular definition, and without clear standards it risks becoming a tool for greenwashing,” Business of Fashion reported in August 2023.

California Could Define Regenerative
Speaking of a definition, beginning in January 2024, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), in collaboration with the State Board of Food and Agriculture, will host a series of public listening sessions to receive comments to help define “regenerative agriculture.”

“As interest in ‘regenerative agriculture’ continues to grow, we are seeing the introduction and evolution of the term in California policies and programs,” CDFA said. “Incorporating a definition of regenerative agriculture for state policies and programs provides a science-based criterion for the designation or recognition of the term ‘regenerative’ in agriculture-related policies of the state. By defining ‘regenerative agriculture’ and its associated practices, we are working to formalize holistic methods of farming that are designed to protect, sustain and enhance natural resources on our farms and farming communities throughout California,” the agency said.

Max Goldberg, Editor and Publisher of Organic Insider, commented, “If California codifies or legally defines ‘regenerative agriculture’ … it will certainly raise the profile of this term among consumers and farmers may end up paying more attention to the way they manage their soil, which is a real positive. However, both the opportunity for greenwashing and the consequences for organic could be severe,” he cautioned.

“At its core, the regenerative agriculture controversy stems from the question of whether a farming practice can be truly ‘regenerative’ if super-toxic chemicals, such as glyphosate or dicamba, are applied to the crops. There is no question that the regenerative movement has brought incredible attention to soil health … and that it has led to very important steps forward in farming practices around the world. But with all of the positive developments, ‘regenerative’ is ripe for abuse and greenwashing, and the multinational chemical companies, who have no intention of minimizing the importance of GMO seeds and synthetic pesticides, are eagerly embracing the term,” Goldberg added.

Elizabeth Whitlow, Executive Director of the Regenerative Organic Alliance, which manages the Regenerative Organic Certified program, told Organic Insider that she believes that California needs to act with real caution. “There are many groups and farmers advocating for ‘regenerative agriculture’ that are doing some excellent and extremely vital work. My concern, however, is that if the state defines ‘regenerative agriculture’ and it excludes organic, it could have the unintended effect of actually doing a lot more harm than good. Bad actors greenwashing the term is a real threat, and all stakeholders in California’s organic industry need to be fully engaged and on board with how the state is going to define ‘regenerative agriculture.’ The stakes are very high, for both California and our entire country, and this process cannot be rushed,” she said.

Woody Harrelson’s Regenerative Reason for Hope
Three-time Oscar nominated actor and environmental activist Woody Harrelson, in a December 2023 Op-Ed in The Wrap, expressed that, after serving as a co-narrator on the film Common Ground, he is “no longer hopeless for the future.”

Harrelson writes:

We stand at a crossroads, facing two paths. One leads to climate chaos, food shortages, deserts expanding and a biodiversity crash. The other involves rethinking our relationship with nature by choosing regenerative agriculture. The regenerative path can give us abundant, nutritious food, thriving ecosystems and a future for generations to come.

I had a surreal moment when I met King Charles and he said he loved “Kiss the Ground” so much he personally sent it to 1,000 people. I hope the same is true of “Common Ground” – I hope thousands of people send the new documentary to thousands of their friends.

I’ve never been a big believer in the political process in this country, but I believe in people. Congress is currently debating something called the Farm Bill. There are a lot of good people in America, who deserve to eat clean food, and it would be refreshing to see Washington prioritize communities over commodities.

I’m no longer hopeless. I’m actually inspired. In fact, I’m committed to using my voice and activism to make the regenerative agriculture movement spread far and wide.

We don’t just need to support soil in the Farm Bill — we need to make the effort in every way we can, from turning our lawns into food gardens and our food waste into compost, to buying food from local regenerative farmers and ranchers. We all eat and we can all support the people who are doing the hard work to feed the world with healthy regenerative food. We can vote with our dollars.

One thing is for certain, it’s time for a change. Soil is our common ground. 

Let’s make regenerative agriculture our priority. 

Learn More
Growing Life: Regenerating Farming and Ranching, by André Leu, December 2021

Food Climate and Nature FAQs, The Nature Conservancy, Sept. 1, 2023

Regeneration International, a global nonprofit organization and educational resource

44th Annual EcoFarm Conference, Pacific Grove, California, Jan. 17-20, 2024

Regenerative Business Live, United Nations, New York, NY, May 7, 2024

Steven Hoffman is Managing Director of Compass Natural, providing public relations, brand marketing, social media, and strategic business development services to natural, organic, sustainable and hemp/CBD products businesses. Compass Natural serves in PR and programming for NoCo Hemp Expo and Southern Hemp Expo, and Hoffman serves as Editor of the weekly Let’s Talk Hemp Newsletter, published by We are for Better Alternatives. Contact steve@compassnaturalmarketing.com.

Founding an Industry: Q&A With Energy Bar Entrepreneur Jennifer Maxwell

In the mid-1980s, Jennifer Biddulph was a nutrition and science major and track athlete at the University of California, Berkeley. Her boyfriend, Brian Maxwell, who had been a track star at UC Berkeley a decade earlier, was an Olympic marathon runner.

Like many marathoners at that time, Maxwell was concerned about what to eat to avoid running out of carbohydrate fuel and “hitting the wall” during a race. He and Biddulph began experimenting with recipes that included amino acids, complex and simple carbs, and other nutrients that could not only help high-level athletes perform, but also get what Biddulph called “that extra 1% advantage.”

In 1986, Maxwell and Biddulph debuted PowerBar®—the world’s first energy bar. In the ensuing years, the duo grew their company into a nine-figure business, married and had a family, and eventually sold PowerBar to Nestle in 2000.

JAMBAR founder and CEO Jennifer Maxwell

But in 2004, tragedy struck. Brian, who had been diagnosed with a congenital heart condition as a teenager, died of a heart attack at age 51—leaving behind Jennifer and six children under the age of 15. Devastated, Jennifer turned to music as a healing force. She took up the drums and today plays in two bands. She also started running again, and in 2021, combined all of her passions into a new energy-bar company, JAMBAR®.

All of JAMBAR’s four flavors are certified organic and whole-food based, and Jennifer Maxwell donates 50% of the company’s profits to community, education, music and outdoor activities. She also funds a sustainability program and entrepreneurship scholarship at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.

Recently, Maxwell joined industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steven Hoffman for their podcast Compass Coffee Talk. Read on to learn more about the genesis and evolution of PowerBar and JAMBAR, along with Maxwell’s thoughts on philanthropy, sustainability and the future of the natural products industry.

Q: You literally created the energy bar industry and an entire food category out of scratch. What was it like back in PowerBar’s early days?
We started in our little apartment from nothing, really from nothing. And we grew not just a great product that was innovative at the time, but also a company that was innovative, as well.

We had an employee stock-ownership program, so all of our employees owned the company. We also divvied up the profits among all of the employees, from the warehouse people to top management. And I think that was one of the things that led to our success—people really believed in what we were doing, and they were essentially working for themselves.

Q: How did you actually get PowerBars out there and into stores?
We started as a mail-order business; of course, there was no Amazon at the time. We figured the bar would sell itself, so we'd go to events and give out a lot of product, and also put flyers on windshields of cars at races. There would be a little coupon you could tear off and you'd send it in the mail and get your three dozen bars for $39.

I was still a student at Berkeley, so on breaks from classes, I’d go to the post office, get the orders in the mail, go back to our apartment and fulfill the orders and put them out on the porch for UPS to come pick them up. And all of a sudden, we'd have 20, 30, 40 boxes a day going out of our little apartment.

After we moved on from being a mail-order business, our main market was bike shops. We went down to the local bike shop, walked in, showed them the product. People were so receptive to our bars that we were able to do our own brokering. We'd have stores calling us to place an order.

Q: By the '90s, things were rocking and you ended up selling PowerBar. And then you had some life events occur, unfortunately. You took a break to take care of the family and play music. What led you to get back into the industry with JAMBAR?
JAMBAR came about as part of a conversation I was having with my daughter around the kitchen table. She said, "Mom, I know you like energy bars, and there's nothing out there that you want to eat for one reason or the other." And I said, "You're right. I'm a food scientist, so why don't I get back into the game and spend some of my knowledge and experience creating something that is great?"

It took me about four years of putting ingredients together to come up with a product I liked. My big thing is I wanted it to be organic, because I believe in preserving our earth and helping people avoid pesticides and eating the best that they can. That limits ingredients a little, because you have to have mass quantities of organic ingredients available.

And then I wanted to use all real food. I didn't want to use ingredients that I didn't know where they came from, that were somehow changed in a lab or created with mechanisms that I didn't really want to put in my body. I wanted ingredients that are close to nature and that taste great.

And, of course, there are a lot of ingredient options that we didn't have in the '80s, whether it's different grains, proteins, fruits, chocolate, and different ways of holding the product together. That’s a plus because one of the most important things I wanted to include in my portfolio of flavors is a lot of variety.

Each of the four JAMBAR flavors—Chocolate Cha Cha, Malt Nut Melody, Jammin’ Jazzleberry and Musical Mango—is very different from the other. Where other products on the market might take a base formulation and just add a little of this, a little of that and call it a new flavor, I didn't want to do that. So it made my formulation job very challenging—working with an array of very different percentages of all of these different ingredients, but keeping each bar similar enough that it's treated the same in the factory.

We have our own state-of-the-art manufacturing facility—which, interestingly, was once a Grateful Dead recording studio—so that gives us the ability to call our own shots. We can do a run of one flavor and then reset for the next run of a different flavor. We can say, “OK, it's Mango Bar Day.” We cut our own mango, and because it’s the second ingredient on the label, we have a lot of mango in there.

Q: What are some of the other major differences you see in the supply chain and business practices as you’ve come back into the industry with JAMBAR?
I think there’s always a lot to learn. I have a lot of experience and I have my own way of doing things, but I have to be able to adapt to a new way of doing things, which is full of technology. We came from an era of no technology to an era of everything's technology. So that's a pretty steep learning curve. Of course, I don't live in a tunnel or a cave, but in terms of really getting the most out of your resources, you have to be very savvy with your technology.

But the caveat to that is we have to be able to keep what makes us human. And that’s the challenge we are having today, in terms of really looking at what we want to accomplish. With JAMBAR, we want to accomplish supporting community, we want to accomplish manufacturing a great product full of real-food ingredients, and we want to accomplish having a type of work environment where people feel they can really make a difference and be a part of.

And the overall arching concept behind remembering what makes us human is communication. Sometimes, when you get a lot of technology involved, effective communication goes out the window. That's what I'm seeing with sales, in distribution and sometimes in marketing and brokering—communication can become very challenging, and you can lose a little bit of the essence of what you want to accomplish each day or each week or each month. That’s why I emphasize communication—it’s paramount to keeping the ball moving forward.

Nestlé, World’s Largest Food Company, to Invest $1.3 Billion in Regenerative Agriculture

Photo: Pexels

This article originally appeared in Presence Marketing’s October 2021 Industry Newsletter

By Steve Hoffman

With agriculture accounting for nearly two-thirds of Nestlé’s total greenhouse gas emissions – with dairy and livestock accounting for half of that – the world’s largest food company announced on Sept. 16, 2021, that it is investing $1.3 billion over the next five years to help its farmers and suppliers transition to regenerative agriculture practices.

“With our long-standing partnerships with farming communities globally, we want to increase our support for farming practices that are good for the environment and good for people,” said Mark Schneider, CEO of the Swiss-based food company in a statement. “In the spirit of enabling a just transition it is vital that we support farmers around the world that take on the risks and costs associated with the move towards regenerative agriculture.”

Nestlé’s Chairman, Paul Bulcke, added, "We know that regenerative agriculture plays a critical role in improving soil health, restoring water cycles and increasing biodiversity for the long term. These outcomes form the foundation of sustainable food production and, crucially, also contribute to achieving our ambitious climate targets." 

According to Food Business News, Nestlé said it will focus primarily on three initiatives. First, Nestlé said it will use its network of R&D personnel and agronomists to develop more environmentally friendly crops and production practices. Second, the company said it will offer training and help producers exchange information and best practices that may be adapted locally, and that it will support farmers by co-investing with them, facilitating lending or helping obtain loans for equipment. Third, Nestlé said it is committed to paying premium prices for products produced using regenerative agriculture practices. 

“This means rewarding farmers not only for the quantity and quality of ingredients, but also for the benefits they provide to the environment through soil protection, water management and carbon sequestration,” the company said.

Nestlé’s announcement was made in the lead up to the UN Food Systems Summit in New York, as part of Nestle's contribution to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, the company said. It also follows the recent report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shows the climate crisis is intensifying, it added.