From human to animal welfare, regenerative advances

Consumers are increasingly rebelling against food systems that they believe cause harm. They demand healthier foods that heal the planet and are good for workers, as well as being kinder to animals. Progressive sectors of the food industry have responded in kind, with a series of new supply chains and production headings under the heading “regenerative”.

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One of the leaders of the movement in the USA is ROC (Regenerative Organic Certification), with three seals that encourage the continuous improvement of the means of production. Launched in 2017, the founders understood that organic was among the most popular and trusted standards.

ROC currently has more than 2.3 million hectares cultivated on around 50 thousand farms, 370 crops, 118 brands and more than 800 products. Certified brands like Simpli, GoodSam and Lundberg Family Farms continue to rack up industry awards and accolades, while allied organizations like Mad Agriculture have committed more than US$50 million in funding to expand such practices.

Check out the interview with Elizabeth Whitlow, executive director of ROA (Regenerative Organic Alliance), about what is driving these trends.

What is the ROC?

ROA was created in 2017, led by the brands Patagonia, Dr. Bronner’s and The Rodale Institute. All of these organizations have been working with organic products for a long time, it is part of their DNA. These are organizations that really question the assumptions of “business as usual”. They wanted to continue to support organic products, but saw many opportunities to really promote an agricultural system that was more comprehensive and holistic.

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The idea is that buyers can be immediately certain that everything they buy will have a positive impact on all levels: environmental, ethical and social. And so ROC farms and products meet the highest standards in these three pillars. That is, soil health, animal welfare and social justice at work. The ROC is a non-profit organization that oversees the standard. We work with third-party and accredited certifiers. We require organic products as a base and work from there.

The “R” word, for regenerative, seems to be overused lately. Why?

Regenerative has become a buzzword. It is a very popular marketing term and anything that is a popular marketing term is subject to greenwashing. You see some big corporations jumping on board and wanting to claim regeneration and become regenerative.

To regenerate is to give life, to bring life back. Regenerating the soil, regenerating a community. Not to depreciate, not to degenerate and move away from an agricultural system that we have had for 75 years and that is incredibly exploitative and extractive. It is a high entry, a high exit, with a high risk to the health of people, rivers, soil and air.

You can’t just fill the pockets of large corporations that promote this system. So we want to look at agriculture through the lens of how First Nations people did it for thousands of years, before we got into this chemical-based agriculture of the last 100 years. Ultimately, the main driving force behind everyone’s extreme interest in regeneration is climate change.

What does the ROC mean when it says “soil health”?

We are very aligned with regenerative efforts. You will keep the soil covered, basically like armor over the soil, keep roots alive whenever possible, minimize soil disturbance by moving away from crops and heavy equipment, bringing in biodiversity whenever possible or increasing diversity through cultivation of forages.

We have crop rotation requirements that go beyond federal organic law (in the USA), at bronze, silver and gold levels, in a program that promotes continuous improvement. We also really try to encourage pasture rotation with the animals and bring them back to a natural life on farms. Therefore, these are some fundamental principles. (In Brazil, 95% of the herd is raised entirely on pasture, unlike the USA, which uses confinement intensively).

What are ideal animal welfare standards?

We recognize 14 different global certification programs, animal welfare programs with really high standards. We have learned a lot from many agents in this sector. We look at grazing systems that are certified and approved for animal welfare. We also elevate the basic principles of animal welfare: freedom from discomfort, fear, hunger and pain. I would say that the most important thing is the freedom to express the natural behavior of the species.

If they are birds, they like to forage. They need trees to protect themselves. They don’t want to be in open fields with predators flying overhead. In other words, really understanding the species and what their natural tendencies are. Also look for adequate shelter and limited transport times. This is really challenging because we have a highly consolidated meat industry and not a really strong infrastructure for processing animals.

ROC also has a human work and social responsibility component. What does this mean and what are some of the opportunities it offers?

This social justice pillar is one of the most challenging aspects of the program. There are many different certifications available that verify fair labor practices. Fair Trade International, Fair Trade USA, Fair For Life, Small Producer Symbol and Natur. We had some real difficulties in applying the social justice pillar, in the US in particular, because some of the programs were not as widespread or not as applicable.

For example, in the analysis of food safety, environmental and labor practices. And it’s for really big buyers. Therefore, it is not applicable to a more diversified farm that is not actually selling to Costco or TargetTGT, which are large retail chains.

When we talk about vulnerable workers, we get about 10% of engagement on our social channels (like when we talk about soil health). We really need to do a better job helping everyone understand the plight of workers.

Sometimes they are in a work environment that is classified as slavery and other really egregious examples of labor exploitation. So these are really terrible questions. We are working on a guideline for farmers and agricultural workers so that we can help them understand what their rights are.
If you talk to any of the farms in the Global North that have gone through our certification program, what they will see is how an empowered workforce is actually more productive, morale is better, they get along better, broken equipment is repaired sooner. Our social standards are quite strong. One of the criteria is to achieve a decent salary. It’s a difficult task for farmers to pay a living wage, but everyone should earn a living wage.

At the end of the day, we are a certification. We are a logo that is placed on the packaging for the consumer to buy something. We cannot have contractual relationships. It is not our mechanism. Therefore, I still think there is a long way to go to improve, but we are on the right track and the main thing is that we don’t want to have all this focus on soil health without considering the health of the people who work the soil.

What are the ROC’s future plans?

The idea is to invest heavily in marketing and help retailers explain to consumers why it is important to have reliable and meaningful third-party certification and why organic is important.

We need to get policymakers to understand all the beautiful benefits that organic products bring. To see what happens in each community where there is more organic farming, more organic businesses, healthier people, better economic returns and more resilience. But I’m not going to waste my time talking to people who don’t believe it or think it’s too difficult. No, it’s not very difficult. We can make more regenerative products. And I believe it’s just a matter of continuing to talk about what we can do rather than what we can’t do.

*Errol Schweizer is a contributor to Forbes USA. He worked in retail for 25 years, seven of which as VP of retail at Whole Foods. Today, he is a board member, advisor, and mentor to 20 companies in the natural products, CPG, cannabis, e-commerce, and nonprofit sectors. He also hosts The Checkout podcast.