In honor of Earth Day, we explored some of the ways that CPG brands are creating positive change in the move toward a more sustainable industry with engaged and educated consumers.
When it comes to sustainability, CPG brands are challenging consumers and the market to support healthy farming practices, reduce food waste, and to employ practices and ingredients that support carbon neutrality or even better, reduction. Most importantly, they are setting the standard for communication about sustainability. Consumers are demanding products that align with their values and, increasingly, we are seeing the ways climate change is impacting the world around us. In honor of Earth Day, we explored some of the ways that CPG brands are creating positive change in the move to a more sustainable industry with engaged and educated consumers. Did we miss anything? How else can CPG brands be leaders in sustainable practices? Shoot us an email... would love to chat!
Brands that offer transparency and delve into the complexities surrounding what it means to be sustainable are making practices like upcycling and regenerative farming household terms. By not shying away from scientific terms and nuanced systems, CPG brands invite consumers to be collaborators in imagining a future that prioritizes the health of the planet.
A healthy planet is optimal for making nutritious and flavorful ingredients, so it is truly a win-win. For example, Moonshot Snacks dedicates much of their website to explaining the regenerative farming they use to grow the wheat used in their tasty crackers and share their practices for limited the distances that ingredients have to travel while in production, i.e. the wheat is grown 2 miles from the mill and under 100 miles from the bakery. Moonshot offers honesty in the amount of carbon created by sharing their carbon offset spending to achieve carbon neutrality. Storytelling is a very powerful tool, allowing consumers to understand the steps your product takes to get into their kitchen cupboard, refrigerator, home bar, freezer, etc.
Being transparent will help grow brand loyalty AND is an important step towards being truly sustainable.
Sustainable Farming and Production Practices
Upcycled
The definition: Upcycled food is food that uses surplus food as iingredient(s), i.e. using food that would otherwise end up in a food waste destination (i.e. incerinators, as animal feed, in landfills, or in anaerobic digestors) as ingredients in a new food product.
The numbers
Over 30% of all food produced globally is lost or goes to waste.
28% of agricultural land goes to grow food that is never eaten.
8% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions come from food loss and waste.
Globally, we lose around $1 trillion per year on food that is wasted or lost.
The benefit
Upcycled food reduces food waste and capitalizes on the energy and land already used to create the food without increasing deforestation or increased pressure on the environment. more food without low impact.
The example
Renewal Mill produces their line of baking mixes, flours, and baked goods using a process that works with food byproducts of plant-based milk production. The byproducts are usually pulps, like soybean pulp, oat pulp, and almond pulp, which are dried and milled to product nutritious ingredients.
Regenerative Organic Agriculture
The definition: Regenerative agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that rehabilitate and enhance the entire ecosystem of the farm by placing a heavy premium on soil health with attention also paid to water management, fertilizer use, and more. Regenerative farming uses practices like cover cropping and reducing tillage, organic compost, and more to build healthier soil, improve biodiversity, and capture carbon from the atmosphere.
The numbers
Agriculture accounts for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide
43 different fruits and vegetables studied from both 1950 and 1999 that found reliable declines in the amount of protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and vitamin C due to the erosion of soil health, largely attributed to currently farming practices.
The benefits
Regenerative agriculture puts carbon in the ground and returns it to the soil, improving soil health and helping to fight atmospheric warming. Healthier soil means healthier plants and allows farmers to naturally maximize yields and maintain those yields over time.
The example(s)
Moonshot Snacks' crackers are made with wheat sourced from farms practicing regenerative agricultural practices.
Toodaloo Trailmix is adding regenerative farming-sourced ingredients to their mixes as soon as they become more available in the supply chain. Additionally, Toodaloo directs portions of revenue to the Rodale Institute, a leader in the regenerative movement.
Big Picture Foods exclusively used ingredients grown using regenerative farming techniques in their line of fermented pantry staples, including olives, red peppers, capers, and banana peppers.
Akua’s line of kelp-burgers employs regenerative ocean farming to harvest the kelp, a practice that decreases carbon and nitrogen levels and increases oxygen, creating more habitable enviornments for marine life.
Root to Stem
The definition: any production, process or pactice that uses entire ingredients to create a food product or to cook a meal. Root to stem is named such based on the understanding that many vegetables and fruits are entirely edible, even the parts that might normally be discarded, i.e. roots, stem leaves, and peels. While this is more frequently used to describe methods of cooking in the home, CPG brands can apply it in their production, for example, by creating vegetable rices using the stems of cauliflower and broccoli.
The numbers
Up to 40% of all food produced globally is lost or goes to waste according to the NDRC.
28% of agricultural land goes to grow food that is never eaten.
8% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions come from food loss and waste.
Globally, we lose around $1trillion per year on food that is wasted or lost.
The benefits
Just like upcycled foods, products created using a root-to-stem approach reduces food waste and maximizes the land and energy put into the production of the food. By highlighting the uses of food parts typically discarded, root-to-stem purveyors can encourage everyday shoppers to rethink their compost pile and adopt a zero waste approach.
The example
Candid Noons cacao bites are made using the whole cacao, seed and fruit, and instead of discarding the pulp, it is stirred back into the mix and is a great source of vitamins, antioxidants, and magnesium.
Green Logistics
Inventory: Data is your friend. When you can accurate forecast inventory, you eliminate the likelihood that food will go to waste.
Warehousing: Perhaps the most important question is where your warehouse is located and if it is close to a concentration of your customers that can support efficient ground transportation. Consider multiple operation sites if your customers are spread out. Consider the energy use in the warehouse in terms of light, heating, cooling, etc. Audit the HVAC system
Packaging: Opting for sustainable packaging can singularly impactful. Packaging material has an impact at every stage, including from material sourcing, to transportation to a long afterlife in a landfill. Choosing compostable, recyclable materials, including plant-based materials like bamboo can go a long way. Consider how easy it will be for consumers to responsibly dispose of the packaging- a monomaterial approach increases the liklihood that the packaging will actually be recycled or composted. Flexible packaging requires less energy to manufacture and transport, reduces product waste, and sends less material to landfills. It’s small in size meaning more product can be shipped at once. Though not a replicable model for all brands, stores like Precycle eliminate packaging all together and encourage consumers to bring their own containers to purchase in bulk.
Transportation: strategizing the shortest journey for your product to make it’s way into the hands of a consumer is both very complicated and very important. The increasing popularity in direct-to-consumer sales can help eliminate an additional leg of the trip, but this may be offset due to individually shipments to consumers across a wide area. Starting with where ingredients are sourced, to the location of manufacturing and packaging, followed by the transport to the retailer or consumer, audit the journey your product takes to consider how it could be more efficient. Even if a change is not plausible in the current stage of your business, build in how you will change this as your brand grows.
Going sustainable is good for the Earth, it’s good for your brand, and it’s good for our community. Don’t think that going carbon neutral is feasible for your brand at this time? Consider offsetting your carbon emissions.
New to Foodboro? Learn about membership benefits and sign up today!
When it comes to sustainability, CPG brands are challenging consumers and the market to support healthy farming practices, reduce food waste, and to employ practices and ingredients that support carbon neutrality or even better, reduction. Most importantly, they are setting the standard for communication about sustainability. Consumers are demanding products that align with their values and, increasingly, we are seeing the ways climate change is impacting the world around us. In honor of Earth Day, we explored some of the ways that CPG brands are creating positive change in the move to a more sustainable industry with engaged and educated consumers. Did we miss anything? How else can CPG brands be leaders in sustainable practices? Shoot us an email... would love to chat!
Brands that offer transparency and delve into the complexities surrounding what it means to be sustainable are making practices like upcycling and regenerative farming household terms. By not shying away from scientific terms and nuanced systems, CPG brands invite consumers to be collaborators in imagining a future that prioritizes the health of the planet.
A healthy planet is optimal for making nutritious and flavorful ingredients, so it is truly a win-win. For example, Moonshot Snacks dedicates much of their website to explaining the regenerative farming they use to grow the wheat used in their tasty crackers and share their practices for limited the distances that ingredients have to travel while in production, i.e. the wheat is grown 2 miles from the mill and under 100 miles from the bakery. Moonshot offers honesty in the amount of carbon created by sharing their carbon offset spending to achieve carbon neutrality. Storytelling is a very powerful tool, allowing consumers to understand the steps your product takes to get into their kitchen cupboard, refrigerator, home bar, freezer, etc.
Being transparent will help grow brand loyalty AND is an important step towards being truly sustainable.
Sustainable Farming and Production Practices
Upcycled
The definition: Upcycled food is food that uses surplus food as iingredient(s), i.e. using food that would otherwise end up in a food waste destination (i.e. incerinators, as animal feed, in landfills, or in anaerobic digestors) as ingredients in a new food product.
The numbers
Over 30% of all food produced globally is lost or goes to waste.
28% of agricultural land goes to grow food that is never eaten.
8% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions come from food loss and waste.
Globally, we lose around $1 trillion per year on food that is wasted or lost.
The benefit
Upcycled food reduces food waste and capitalizes on the energy and land already used to create the food without increasing deforestation or increased pressure on the environment. more food without low impact.
The example
Renewal Mill produces their line of baking mixes, flours, and baked goods using a process that works with food byproducts of plant-based milk production. The byproducts are usually pulps, like soybean pulp, oat pulp, and almond pulp, which are dried and milled to product nutritious ingredients.
Regenerative Organic Agriculture
The definition: Regenerative agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that rehabilitate and enhance the entire ecosystem of the farm by placing a heavy premium on soil health with attention also paid to water management, fertilizer use, and more. Regenerative farming uses practices like cover cropping and reducing tillage, organic compost, and more to build healthier soil, improve biodiversity, and capture carbon from the atmosphere.
The numbers
Agriculture accounts for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide
43 different fruits and vegetables studied from both 1950 and 1999 that found reliable declines in the amount of protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and vitamin C due to the erosion of soil health, largely attributed to currently farming practices.
The benefits
Regenerative agriculture puts carbon in the ground and returns it to the soil, improving soil health and helping to fight atmospheric warming. Healthier soil means healthier plants and allows farmers to naturally maximize yields and maintain those yields over time.
The example(s)
Moonshot Snacks' crackers are made with wheat sourced from farms practicing regenerative agricultural practices.
Toodaloo Trailmix is adding regenerative farming-sourced ingredients to their mixes as soon as they become more available in the supply chain. Additionally, Toodaloo directs portions of revenue to the Rodale Institute, a leader in the regenerative movement.
Big Picture Foods exclusively used ingredients grown using regenerative farming techniques in their line of fermented pantry staples, including olives, red peppers, capers, and banana peppers.
Akua’s line of kelp-burgers employs regenerative ocean farming to harvest the kelp, a practice that decreases carbon and nitrogen levels and increases oxygen, creating more habitable enviornments for marine life.
Root to Stem
The definition: any production, process or pactice that uses entire ingredients to create a food product or to cook a meal. Root to stem is named such based on the understanding that many vegetables and fruits are entirely edible, even the parts that might normally be discarded, i.e. roots, stem leaves, and peels. While this is more frequently used to describe methods of cooking in the home, CPG brands can apply it in their production, for example, by creating vegetable rices using the stems of cauliflower and broccoli.
The numbers
Up to 40% of all food produced globally is lost or goes to waste according to the NDRC.
28% of agricultural land goes to grow food that is never eaten.
8% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions come from food loss and waste.
Globally, we lose around $1trillion per year on food that is wasted or lost.
The benefits
Just like upcycled foods, products created using a root-to-stem approach reduces food waste and maximizes the land and energy put into the production of the food. By highlighting the uses of food parts typically discarded, root-to-stem purveyors can encourage everyday shoppers to rethink their compost pile and adopt a zero waste approach.
The example
Candid Noons cacao bites are made using the whole cacao, seed and fruit, and instead of discarding the pulp, it is stirred back into the mix and is a great source of vitamins, antioxidants, and magnesium.
Green Logistics
Inventory: Data is your friend. When you can accurate forecast inventory, you eliminate the likelihood that food will go to waste.
Warehousing: Perhaps the most important question is where your warehouse is located and if it is close to a concentration of your customers that can support efficient ground transportation. Consider multiple operation sites if your customers are spread out. Consider the energy use in the warehouse in terms of light, heating, cooling, etc. Audit the HVAC system
Packaging: Opting for sustainable packaging can singularly impactful. Packaging material has an impact at every stage, including from material sourcing, to transportation to a long afterlife in a landfill. Choosing compostable, recyclable materials, including plant-based materials like bamboo can go a long way. Consider how easy it will be for consumers to responsibly dispose of the packaging- a monomaterial approach increases the liklihood that the packaging will actually be recycled or composted. Flexible packaging requires less energy to manufacture and transport, reduces product waste, and sends less material to landfills. It’s small in size meaning more product can be shipped at once. Though not a replicable model for all brands, stores like Precycle eliminate packaging all together and encourage consumers to bring their own containers to purchase in bulk.
Transportation: strategizing the shortest journey for your product to make it’s way into the hands of a consumer is both very complicated and very important. The increasing popularity in direct-to-consumer sales can help eliminate an additional leg of the trip, but this may be offset due to individually shipments to consumers across a wide area. Starting with where ingredients are sourced, to the location of manufacturing and packaging, followed by the transport to the retailer or consumer, audit the journey your product takes to consider how it could be more efficient. Even if a change is not plausible in the current stage of your business, build in how you will change this as your brand grows.
Going sustainable is good for the Earth, it’s good for your brand, and it’s good for our community. Don’t think that going carbon neutral is feasible for your brand at this time? Consider offsetting your carbon emissions.
New to Foodboro? Learn about membership benefits and sign up today!
When it comes to sustainability, CPG brands are challenging consumers and the market to support healthy farming practices, reduce food waste, and to employ practices and ingredients that support carbon neutrality or even better, reduction. Most importantly, they are setting the standard for communication about sustainability. Consumers are demanding products that align with their values and, increasingly, we are seeing the ways climate change is impacting the world around us. In honor of Earth Day, we explored some of the ways that CPG brands are creating positive change in the move to a more sustainable industry with engaged and educated consumers. Did we miss anything? How else can CPG brands be leaders in sustainable practices? Shoot us an email... would love to chat!
Brands that offer transparency and delve into the complexities surrounding what it means to be sustainable are making practices like upcycling and regenerative farming household terms. By not shying away from scientific terms and nuanced systems, CPG brands invite consumers to be collaborators in imagining a future that prioritizes the health of the planet.
A healthy planet is optimal for making nutritious and flavorful ingredients, so it is truly a win-win. For example, Moonshot Snacks dedicates much of their website to explaining the regenerative farming they use to grow the wheat used in their tasty crackers and share their practices for limited the distances that ingredients have to travel while in production, i.e. the wheat is grown 2 miles from the mill and under 100 miles from the bakery. Moonshot offers honesty in the amount of carbon created by sharing their carbon offset spending to achieve carbon neutrality. Storytelling is a very powerful tool, allowing consumers to understand the steps your product takes to get into their kitchen cupboard, refrigerator, home bar, freezer, etc.
Being transparent will help grow brand loyalty AND is an important step towards being truly sustainable.
Sustainable Farming and Production Practices
Upcycled
The definition: Upcycled food is food that uses surplus food as iingredient(s), i.e. using food that would otherwise end up in a food waste destination (i.e. incerinators, as animal feed, in landfills, or in anaerobic digestors) as ingredients in a new food product.
The numbers
Over 30% of all food produced globally is lost or goes to waste.
28% of agricultural land goes to grow food that is never eaten.
8% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions come from food loss and waste.
Globally, we lose around $1 trillion per year on food that is wasted or lost.
The benefit
Upcycled food reduces food waste and capitalizes on the energy and land already used to create the food without increasing deforestation or increased pressure on the environment. more food without low impact.
The example
Renewal Mill produces their line of baking mixes, flours, and baked goods using a process that works with food byproducts of plant-based milk production. The byproducts are usually pulps, like soybean pulp, oat pulp, and almond pulp, which are dried and milled to product nutritious ingredients.
Regenerative Organic Agriculture
The definition: Regenerative agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that rehabilitate and enhance the entire ecosystem of the farm by placing a heavy premium on soil health with attention also paid to water management, fertilizer use, and more. Regenerative farming uses practices like cover cropping and reducing tillage, organic compost, and more to build healthier soil, improve biodiversity, and capture carbon from the atmosphere.
The numbers
Agriculture accounts for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide
43 different fruits and vegetables studied from both 1950 and 1999 that found reliable declines in the amount of protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and vitamin C due to the erosion of soil health, largely attributed to currently farming practices.
The benefits
Regenerative agriculture puts carbon in the ground and returns it to the soil, improving soil health and helping to fight atmospheric warming. Healthier soil means healthier plants and allows farmers to naturally maximize yields and maintain those yields over time.
The example(s)
Moonshot Snacks' crackers are made with wheat sourced from farms practicing regenerative agricultural practices.
Toodaloo Trailmix is adding regenerative farming-sourced ingredients to their mixes as soon as they become more available in the supply chain. Additionally, Toodaloo directs portions of revenue to the Rodale Institute, a leader in the regenerative movement.
Big Picture Foods exclusively used ingredients grown using regenerative farming techniques in their line of fermented pantry staples, including olives, red peppers, capers, and banana peppers.
Akua’s line of kelp-burgers employs regenerative ocean farming to harvest the kelp, a practice that decreases carbon and nitrogen levels and increases oxygen, creating more habitable enviornments for marine life.
Root to Stem
The definition: any production, process or pactice that uses entire ingredients to create a food product or to cook a meal. Root to stem is named such based on the understanding that many vegetables and fruits are entirely edible, even the parts that might normally be discarded, i.e. roots, stem leaves, and peels. While this is more frequently used to describe methods of cooking in the home, CPG brands can apply it in their production, for example, by creating vegetable rices using the stems of cauliflower and broccoli.
The numbers
Up to 40% of all food produced globally is lost or goes to waste according to the NDRC.
28% of agricultural land goes to grow food that is never eaten.
8% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions come from food loss and waste.
Globally, we lose around $1trillion per year on food that is wasted or lost.
The benefits
Just like upcycled foods, products created using a root-to-stem approach reduces food waste and maximizes the land and energy put into the production of the food. By highlighting the uses of food parts typically discarded, root-to-stem purveyors can encourage everyday shoppers to rethink their compost pile and adopt a zero waste approach.
The example
Candid Noons cacao bites are made using the whole cacao, seed and fruit, and instead of discarding the pulp, it is stirred back into the mix and is a great source of vitamins, antioxidants, and magnesium.
Green Logistics
Inventory: Data is your friend. When you can accurate forecast inventory, you eliminate the likelihood that food will go to waste.
Warehousing: Perhaps the most important question is where your warehouse is located and if it is close to a concentration of your customers that can support efficient ground transportation. Consider multiple operation sites if your customers are spread out. Consider the energy use in the warehouse in terms of light, heating, cooling, etc. Audit the HVAC system
Packaging: Opting for sustainable packaging can singularly impactful. Packaging material has an impact at every stage, including from material sourcing, to transportation to a long afterlife in a landfill. Choosing compostable, recyclable materials, including plant-based materials like bamboo can go a long way. Consider how easy it will be for consumers to responsibly dispose of the packaging- a monomaterial approach increases the liklihood that the packaging will actually be recycled or composted. Flexible packaging requires less energy to manufacture and transport, reduces product waste, and sends less material to landfills. It’s small in size meaning more product can be shipped at once. Though not a replicable model for all brands, stores like Precycle eliminate packaging all together and encourage consumers to bring their own containers to purchase in bulk.
Transportation: strategizing the shortest journey for your product to make it’s way into the hands of a consumer is both very complicated and very important. The increasing popularity in direct-to-consumer sales can help eliminate an additional leg of the trip, but this may be offset due to individually shipments to consumers across a wide area. Starting with where ingredients are sourced, to the location of manufacturing and packaging, followed by the transport to the retailer or consumer, audit the journey your product takes to consider how it could be more efficient. Even if a change is not plausible in the current stage of your business, build in how you will change this as your brand grows.
Going sustainable is good for the Earth, it’s good for your brand, and it’s good for our community. Don’t think that going carbon neutral is feasible for your brand at this time? Consider offsetting your carbon emissions.
New to Foodboro? Learn about membership benefits and sign up today!
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