Regenerating a Healthier World

With climate change one of the biggest threats to the health of people, the planet and the viability of long term business investment, regenerative agriculture is a food production system increasingly being used to address future challenges.  

According to Ben Cole, Managing Director of regenerative food company Wide Open Agriculture, "When people like Larry Fink, head of the world's largest investment fund, and David Attenborough are saying the same thing, you know you should be listening."

These words resonate with us at Food & Nutrition Australia as we consider that for business today, the focus is perhaps not so much about winning the race to the future as it is about working collaboratively to create a better future.

On Purpose
"We're a purpose driven company and creating a healthier world for us is captured around mitigating and sequestering carbon but also offering healthier food aligned to a healthy planetary diet," said Ben.

Using Project Drawdown as a guide, a global initiative that lists and ranks actions that can be taken to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, Wide Open Agriculture's strategy includes implementing the initiatives listed that relate to food and agricultural practises.

"When it comes to reducing emissions, energy, transport, land use and agriculture are the four that really need attention.  All of the elements related to food and agriculture in the top 22 listed by Project Drawdown are things we can do that will cool the planet. We want to be involved in each of those, then build and scale for impact," said Ben.

Hosting the Dance
The other area the company is committed to is closing the gap between farmers and consumers, a committment visually represented by the infinity loop that summarises their business model. 

This committment supports a perspective put forward by Michael Pollan in his book In Defense of Food when discussing the benefits of shortening the food chain. If we can work in a way that brings the grower and the eater closer together, then food 'reclaims its story, and some of its nobility'.

According to Ben, chefs and farmers have been drifting further apart as famers become trapped in a commodity market, seeing their produce dispersed into central bins, or livestock markets and therefore losing it's provenance. 

"Wide Open Agriculture's principle is to host the dance between the regenerative farmer and the conscious consumer.  The depiction of our business strategy as an infinity loop is reflective of this idea which in turn influences our everyday thinking.

If the consumer isn't recognising the difference in their food, and if their story and wishes aren't being passed back to the farmer, we won't create a sense of continual improvement, which is one of the principles of regenerative agriculture," he said.

The other key priniciples of this style of farming are to improve soil health, increase biodiversity and improve the water cycle. 

Leading through Teaching
Creating impact is one of the key points of leverage business brings to the challenge of reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  Adopting farming and food production practises that are better for the health of people and the planet however is just the start. 

Proactively educating consumers, somewhat challenging the idea that 'consumer is king' and leading people to a better place, is another role food companies can adopt as part of the drive toward a better future through food.  This is an area Wide Open Agriculture is also taking on.

The communications side of the business is aiming to not only excite people about the company's foods, developed under the Dirty Clean Foods brand, but also to educate about regenerative agriculture, how it is defined and how the company works together with their farmers to inspire change.

The current portfolio of foods include regenerative meat including grass fed beef and lamb, oat milk and oat related products and a plant based protein project currently in development.

Plans for the Future
Ben expects the regenerative livestock part of the business to potentailly double in the short term and in terms of the oats side of the business, an oat milk, mueslis and granolas are all available as part of their continually expanding product range.

Impact will be measured through the companies committment to carbon neutrality across their operations and to continuing to grow their reach and distribution. 

"What we're aspiring to is that Dirty Clean Food and our partners are available across online and real life supermarkets,and that people can feel really positive about the food they're buying - feeling connected to the farmers and the farmland they're supporting by buying that food".

Connecting regenerative farmers, consumers, retailers and business with a purpose grounded in planetary health is a great example of a growth strategy based not so much on a straight line ahead, but an infinity loop that continues to connect, expand and demonstrate it's unlimited potential.  

For further details on Wide Open Agriculture go here.