KANSAS CITY, MO — If necessity is the mother of invention, then today’s dominant agriculture model was definitely born out of necessity, namely the need to feed a growing global population. Yet, decades of planting mono crops like corn and wheat, combined with soil disruption from constant tilling and the use of chemicals, have degraded soil health, polluted the water and air, and created a sizeable carbon footprint that creates about 25% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Regenerative agriculture is one promising solution for restoring the earth’s biodiversity. It’s not a new concept, having been around for hundreds of years. But as climate change concerns grow and consumer demand to know where food comes from and how it’s made increases, the regenerative agriculture movement is gaining ground.
According to Datassential, while only 20% of consumers say they’ve heard the term “regenerative agriculture,” 70% agree the food they eat should be grown on farms that use sustainable practices.
Regenerative agriculture takes sustainability a step further. Whereas sustainability measures are designed to stop the depletion of natural resources, regenerative agriculture takes a holistic approach to farming that simultaneously incorporates techniques that restore crop and soil biodiversity, remove carbon from the atmosphere and sequester it in the soil, improve water quality and usage efficiency, and make agriculture as a whole more sustainable.
“We believe regen ag is the way agriculture will respond to the climate crisis,” said Ben Mantooth, VP of marketing for New Cambria, KS-based Farmer Direct Foods, a flour supplier that sources its grain from its own network of regenerative farms. “It’s been at the forefront of our story for a long time, but it’s also an emerging trend. It’s exciting to see that it’s gaining global adoption.”
Evan Harrison, CEO of Kiss the Ground, a non-profit organization that seeks to increase awareness about regenerative agriculture, noted that the practice is reaching more large organizations.
“You’re hearing a lot of healthy conversation and serious action plans from big companies that can make seismic changes in how they’re sourcing their products to help with all of these issues,” Harrison said.
As one case in point, Minneapolis-based General Mills has committed to converting 1 million acres globally, an area that represents approximately 25%-35% of its worldwide sourcing footprint, to regenerative agricultural practices by 2030.
Mexico City-based Grupo Bimbo set a goal to become a net zero-carbon emissions company by 2050.
“We need to start working with our famers, with regenerative agriculture practices, so we can have healthier soil and better ingredients,” said Irene Espinola Campos, net zero carbon global director for Grupo Bimbo. “It is a model where we transition from an intensive industrial model, which doesn’t mean to eliminate technology or machinery, to a regenerative model where we take that technology and make it smarter.”
While such large-scale commitments can certainly advance the regenerative agriculture movement by leaps and bounds, getting finished baked goods made with regenerative ingredients to the masses on a global scale is a challenge, especially considering that in the US alone only about 1.5% of the 900 million acres suitable for farming is done so regeneratively.
That puts smaller bakers at the forefront of downstream contributions in terms of product innovation and consumer education, due in part to their nimbler operations and pricing flexibility with retail customers.
Kansas City, KS-based Farm to Market Bread Co. is one of those operations.
The bakery, which serves wholesale and retail customers, recently partnered with Farmer Direct to use its hard red winter wheat, hard white wheat and stone-ground rye flours.
“Quality was a high priority when we made the decision to transition, and we see the results in our products,” said John Friend, CEO of Farm to Market. “Being able to be more conscious about where our wheat is coming from as far as having a positive impact on the environment is an added plus.”
Manhattan, KS-based Radina’s Bakehouse, which also sources flour from Farmer Direct Foods, also sees the opportunities that come with using locally sourced, regenerative ingredients.
“There’s a new wave of regenerative agriculture coming, and we want to join that conversation,” said Santiago Bonilla, bakery production manager of Radina’s. “Our goal is to educate our customers so regenerative agriculture can be scaled.”
When St. Louis-based Bright Future Foods, makers of Airly snacks, set out to develop the first-ever climate friendly snacks, designed to remove greenhouse gases from the air, it intentionally sought out farmers already practicing regenerative agriculture and worked with them to add practices and measurement to validate the act of growing grains as a carbon sink.
“We asked them to add one or two more [regenerative agriculture] farming practices and allow us to do a farm-level life cycle analysis,” said Kris Corbin, chief supply chain officer and co-founder of Bright Future Foods. “The growers who participate in the Airly Agriculture program receive premium payments for the extra data collection as well as when they achieve carbon negative results.”
While there’s no doubt that using flour sourced from regenerative farms is good for the environment and helps meet consumer demand for better-for-you, better-for-the-planet baked goods, it must also make good business sense, especially in an industry with thin profit margins.
“At the end of the day, for-profit and non-profit businesses have to be able to support their mission, and profit is incredibly important,” Harrison noted. “When regenerative practices lead to greater profit for the farmer, when the cost of producing products comes down because there’s less input, then there’s more profit to drive the mission.”
This story has been adapted from the April | Q2 2023 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition.
