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Regenerative by Design Podcast where we get to the root of health, climate, economics and food. Host, Joni Kindwall-Moore, is an RN, an Ethnobotanist and the founder of Snacktivist Foods. Join us on this journey as we explore the ideas, stories and personalities behind the regenerative food system movement including climate change, human health, economics and food as well as other deeply interconnected topics.
In this podcast, we will be “going there” and leaning into topics that might make you squirm… just a little. We want to challenge ourselves to think outside of the box and to discover the deeper side of our world’s problems so that we can better understand how to solve them.
We aim to unpack some of the most dynamic issues of our day with some of the most inspiring minds who are pushing the boundaries of our current norms and thinking paradigms.
We have seen incredibly disruptive events in the past few years like pandemics, climate events, disasters and war. These often trigger system changes that are reactionary and have short term gains. When these are practiced over the long term, they often have a degenerative effect on health and the environment.
Regenerative design thinking is the opposite, and is an intentional, premeditated process that involves a high level of observation, analysis, creativity, and looking beyond reductionistic principles while embracing systems thinking and additionality to create regenerative solutions.
Regenerative agriculture has become a powerful force for positive transformation and hope in todays world. And no discussion about agriculture is complete without a conversation about food.
Food is the connection between people and the planet so grab a cup of coffee or your favorite running shoes and get ready to take a mental and philosophical leap into the future of food and our planet.
Hello everyone, you are
listening to the regenerative by
design podcast where we will be
getting to the root of health,
climate, economics and food. I
am your host, Joanie Kenmore.
Join me on this journey as we
explore the stories of
individuals and organizations
who are working to realign our
food system with both human
health and the health of our
planet.
All right, hello, everybody. And
welcome to the regenerative by
design, podcast. I am so excited
today, because I have two folks
that I have always wanted to
interview on my podcast this
morning. And it's a husband,
wife team, which is meaningful
to me, because I also founded a
company with my husband. And
they together the rose have put
together an incredible brand
called White leaf provisions.
And I'm just gonna let them
introduce themselves to kick
things off this morning. So good
morning,
I, how are you doing?
I'm good. I'm still still just
getting going this morning. It's
early here in Oregon, where I'm
recording this morning. And I'm
just super excited that you guys
made time to talk to me today
and to tell our audience about
your amazing work.
Awesome. Thank you so much. So
I'm Megan. I am the co founder
of white leaf provisions. And I
have Keith, my husband next to
me here. And I love telling our
story. It started out as a
passion project many years ago
that has unveiled itself into a
nationally distributed brand
with a regenerative focus. And
I'll let Keith kind of tell the
background story a little bit on
it. Just to give your listeners
an update. Yeah,
totally. Thank you for for for
setting this up. This is great.
I'm always happy to share the
story. But I guess really the
foundation is a white leaf. It's
kind of I guess the meeting of
two minds between Megan and
myself. quick background on
myself. I grew up in Ireland
raised in the southeast coast of
Ireland. small rural farming
community right on the coasts.
cool way to grow up, I was
actually surrounded by
regenerative organic farms,
small family run farms, I guess
they were before they had to be
labeled regenerative and
organic. I guess that's just how
people used to farm in Ireland.
They couldn't afford to purchase
seeds. They couldn't afford the
external inputs. Couldn't afford
the expensive fertilizers. So
just through generations, they
just learned had firm in this
regenerative manner I was always
obsessed with with. Yeah, this
level of farming and food
purity. I went on to be a
classically French trained
chefs. With you know, this
upbringing, really at the core
of all of that I cooked
throughout Europe, Australia and
Asia and America for many years,
lots of years of executive
level. But being in the culinary
scene in Europe, that's where I
become aware of biodynamic
farming, which really is the
gold standard for Regenerative
farming. It's the know it's
certified by a group called
diameter. They are the oldest
ecological certification in the
world. That certification is
pretty much the forefather to
all organic certifications as we
know them today. It's really the
pillar of regenerative farming.
And I think a lot of the
regenerative certifications, you
know, a lot of their core
attributes really go back to
this biodynamic farming was
founded in 1922. Has a huge
presence in Europe. But I was
always just very, very
interested in that level of
farming and how these people
treated their firms. Maybe it's
been a few years in Europe to
with her education, lived in
Paris, Italy, Spain for a pretty
long spell. So I think that's
where she got her first
introduction to this level of
firming as well. I moved to the
States 15 years ago where we met
for the first time. So needless
to say, we were kind of geeking
out that we all have these
random things in common. We were
both obsessed with regenerative
biodynamic farming organic 2.0.
And so needless to say, I
quickly fell in love got married
a few years later, we gave birth
to our first son Keegan. And
when Keegan was born, that was
really the catalyst for white
leaf. We were you know, we were
like every parent right? So we
were looking for the cleanest
and best products for son cooked
on his meals from scratch. We
were like family that we're
importing the formula from
Europe. I know I notice a huge
growing number of people who
were doing that or were doing
that. But as we got older, we
were looking for snacks that
were you know on the go snacks,
Park plane ride, car ride all of
that. So we discovered baby and
toddler food aisles in the US
for the first time. We were
encouraged by what we saw but we
were also a little display to
what we didn't see. So you know
90% of the sets were organic and
GMO free which was amazing. It
was it was it was great to see
that I think was probably one of
the only sets that was in the
entire in the stores. We shopped
in that were, you know, had that
much organic and GMO free in
there. We were a little dismayed
boy, there was no mention of
regenerative farming. Nobody was
talking about biodynamic
farming, no one was talking
about soil health, nutritional
density. Animal welfare, we
just, I couldn't believe that
that level of purity and
transparency was not available,
especially in the baby food
aisle, right, where you have
such an engaged consumer looking
for the cleanest products
possible and know what he was
doing. So we set out with the
help of Megan's dad, and we
started whitely provisions we
launched in 2018. In Southern
California, we were touting
regenerative and biodynamic
farming way back when the
conversation was much smaller.
So it's, it's, it's been a it's
been an amazing journey so
far. That is really cool. And I,
I agree with you having raised
kids, my kids were born in 2006,
my oldest and I, you know,
remember being really pleased
that there were a lot of things
that were organic, or like
really defined that free from,
you know, like, okay, cool.
These are free from chemicals
that I don't want my child to
have. These are free from GMO
foods, etc. But it wasn't that
full of mindset of like, oh,
this is farmed in a way that is
going to deliver more nutrition
or deliver more impact through
the food to the baby. And and I
think that that's a huge part of
this whole market shift to
regenerative and biodynamic
thinking, is it is that shift
from just reductionism like,
okay, cool, it's free from so
that means it's better for me,
which really, when you think
about it is kind of a mental
leap, you know, it's free from
something which is therefore
better. Instead, this bigger
concept that it's like, it's
full of better, which makes it
easier to be free from because
we know healthier, plants don't
need the chemicals, they deliver
more nutrition, and that's why
they're there. They don't they
are more resilient in the field
as well. So I love this
thinking. And I was a longtime
fan of the work of Demeter. And
one of the farmers we work with
is Demeter certified. And as a,
as a consumer, it was one thing
buying things imported from
Europe. And they were Demeter.
And I was like, Oh, this is
great, because it is that
regenerative philosophy. It's a
it's a mindset that goes beyond
just the mechanics of farm
management. And, but then, as a
brand new, a brand new founder,
I realize how hard it is to find
facilities and manufacturing. So
after Megan gives a little bit
of background about herself, I'm
really excited to hear about how
you guys found a place that
would even allow you to bring in
a supply chain like this. So
Megan, go ahead and share a
little bit more about your
background. And because you guys
have such a great story, and
then let's and then after that,
I'd love to deep dive into like
the mechanics of how you guys
got started. Sure,
yeah. So I grew up the daughter
of serial entrepreneurs. One
notable company that my parents
had was a snack company in the
90s that exited Campbell's Soup
under the Pepperidge Farm brand.
So I literally grew up in CPG
space and didn't realize how
much I had learned and retained
during those years, my summers
are spent interning with them
for decades. And so we, when we
decided to look at this company,
I had reached out to my parents,
my mom had formulated a product
from scratch. Essentially, it
was a brownie that was made from
purees, of prunes and dates and
other gorgeous fruits to take
out the fats, because you have
to think we're in the 90s when
everything was fat free. And so
I was, like Keith had mentioned,
I was quickly fell in love with
the way Europe does things with
food and farming. And my my
education took me to Europe, I
have a master's in photography
and as a fine arts major. So
really a completely different
path from what we're doing
today. But what was the same is
the passion I have for this
level of purity and transparency
and the food supply. And like
Keith had mentioned, when our
son was born, we really wanted
to have that same kind of food
access here in the US. And so
our mission really was in the
beginning was to build this
supply chain in the US. But like
you mentioned, it was quite
difficult to do so. So we went
back to well, let me start back.
So we naively had reached out to
a lot of the manufacturing
facilities here. And what's
shocking is that there's there's
only like two or three that
actually make the baby products
for every baby brand, you see.
And their minimums were so
intense, like 300,000 pouches
per unit per SKU. And being a
small brand we really thought we
would only be a rich regional
brand. We didn't think we were
ever going to be where we are
today. So we we looked back to
the store So we we said okay,
Demeter biodynamic is in such
mass supply in Europe. Let's go
over there. Let's work closest
to the farms that we're going to
be sourcing from. We wanted to
really have that focus. And we
partnered with a really gorgeous
manufacturing facility in
Europe, who understood what we
were trying to achieve, who was
willing to work with us on much
smaller minimums. And so when we
started new imported, an almost
full 20 foot container, and we
were scared, how are we? How are
we going to sell through this,
and now we're doing about 540
foots a month. And I
think another key attribute to
that, too, is back then, I mean,
we were, we were trying to
figure this out for years before
we launched in 2018. So the
regenerative conversation was
very regional. I mean, we were
big supporters of Brookdale and
some of these other smaller
groups that were another much
smaller brands that were
supporting this, but beyond that
conversation was way smaller
than it is today. And that
diameter certification. What we
liked about it, but it also was
made everything a little bit
more complex is that everything
has to be demoed or certified in
the chain for you to put that
certification on your product.
The firm's naturally have to be
certified your handling for the
products raw and finished
ingredients have to be certified
and processing facility has to
be certified. So everything has
to be seen and signed off, which
we really liked. But in order to
do that, it comes back to those
conversations we were having
with some manufacturers in the
US, they didn't want to put on
an extra additional
certification, we called
hundreds of firms in the US the
supply chain just wasn't there.
It's it's much today, like it is
we see what's happening with
regenerative movement, it's
growing. But back then, it was
not really where it is today.
And we kind of took an internal
look at ourselves, like what can
we do for this movement in the
US, I mean, we still we want to
put a product on shelf and start
educating people about this
level of farming, you know, so
that's we never deviated from
the diameter certification 95%
for ingredients or diameter
certified, and it's been, it's
been really good way to go. For
us. I think
a lot of a lot of consumers
don't understand that the
judicious dedication it takes to
maintain that level of
certification through a supply
chain. And, and that it is it is
an additional layer that you
have to be really passionate
about, like you have to really
believe that wholeheartedly,
that it's better and that it's
worth all of those extra layers
of time. And, and barriers
honestly, like when you find
something that you'd love to
bring in. But you realize, okay,
we've got the supply chain
there, Demeter certified, it's
except it's what we want. But
there's nobody around to process
it, that you would literally
have to just find something
else. And that there's a
sacrifice there for that
quality. And it's something that
I didn't know, as somebody who
came in from hard sciences and
health care, I had no visibility
into really what happened in the
food system, from a business and
supply chain level. And for me,
that's been an interesting wake
up call. How little access to
specialty manufacturing there is
in in North America. I always
assumed it was everywhere. Yeah,
so are you guys still producing
like 100% of your products in
Europe.
So we have an applesauce line we
produce out of Colorado. And
then we are growing into a
another line of applesauce due
to consumer demand for it, which
we're going to be working with
the largest diameter orchard out
of Chile. So we're going to be
partnering with a company down
there. Again, completely set up
supply chain. And we as a brand
back into the demo or
certification. So we're agnostic
to our location based on that.
We do have a product line that
we're developing that's kind of
not able to speak about
publicly, but that is we're very
proud of this one. And this one
will be a US grown and
manufactured product. And that
goes back to the ethos of the
brand is we do want to build
this level in the supply chain
in the US. Like you mentioned,
it does take time, and we're
leaning into what is readily
available in the US from a
supply standpoint. And so that's
kind of what we're doing and
it's a nice add on to our
product line for our customers
journey as well. And I
think exactly what you were
saying Joanie, I think over our
journey what I've noticed is it
just it sounds very easy to
people kind of outside Google
where can you just get more
farmers to grow these products?
But yeah, you know, there's
every everything has to be you
know, the logistics have to be
set up the processing has to be
set up to storage, it's it's in
the
farmers market to see the demand
for it from the customer. And
that goes back to why we are
doing it from Europe. The way we
are doing it is because we need
to show the farmers in the US
that there is a demand because
the more we grow with our
products that we have right now
it shows that there is To demand
for more regenerative and that's
how we landed on this third
product that we're developing is
we surveyed our customers. And
they said, and we said, what do
you want to see next? Because we
were fielding many emails and
social media DMS about I love
your baby food line so much, but
you've gotten me hooked on this
kind of supply chain, I want
more of this product line. What
do you have next? What can you
bring? And so people don't want
to go backwards. They want to
they want to go down this
journey with us. And that's kind
of the goal of white leaf as
well. When we named the brand
white leaf provisions, it was
never to be a baby food company.
It's just something we started
with whitely provisions, we've
always aim to be a family brand
with regenerative at the core of
all products that we've
launched.
So for our listeners who aren't
familiar with your products, can
you explain what products you
have on the market today?
Yeah, we have 10 Baby food
skews, they kind of start from
an age range of three months
upwards. I'm sorry, six months
upward. So we've 10 Baby food
pouches, but snacks. And then we
actually have four applesauce
skews as well. Our current
applesauce is rent for four
ounce cups. And growing all the
time, we're actually getting
those reformulated into four
pack pouches as well. They'll
come to market later this year.
And then like Megan said, we're
actually working on a few other
products. I guess they're going
to be more kind of in the
lunchbox section. But yeah, we,
I think what we've done is
starting with the baby food
line, we, like Megan had
mentioned, like, you know, as
babies aged out of our products
they're looking for what's next,
you know, there's, there's,
there's a lot more, when does
that does the kids grow up and
go to school and look for snacks
and things like that. So
and that's a really tough gap to
I mean, I relate to this as a
parent, where it's one thing
when you're feeding your babies,
a they can't necessarily say no.
I mean, they can with spinnings
have been out. But it's like
basically like very little
children, they eat what you put
in their hands, then you enter
the school age zone where
suddenly lunchbox planning can
be quite intimidating for a lot
of parents. And especially when
you don't have a lot of time, or
when your kids are doing some
activity where they're not going
to sit down and they can't like
eat like more of like a true
bento box, or thermos type
lunch. Like I have those kids
like where my youngest is. She
always wants to bring food she
doesn't like, like grab and go
food. So at school, she always
brings a thermos and it's like
super heated up like dinner type
foods, like she's just not like
a chips and sounds kind of kid,
like the rest of her, her peers.
But when she does have to go on
a field trip, and it's like,
okay, it's gotta be something
super grab and go. I feel like
there's often a huge void of
things that I'm like, Okay, I
feel good about you eating this.
And you'll actually eat it and
like it and not like trade with
somebody else for something that
I would be mortified to know
that you're eating. What kind of
what kind of thinking process
have you guys put into that part
because your parents you see it
and you get it, it's, it's tough
to meet kids at that grade
school age gap and make it cool,
make it delicious, but still hit
all the checkboxes that we as
parents want for nutrition.
Right? So
we're tasked with that too. And
we kind of drilled down and
said, Okay, what, what do we
find wrong with the products
that are readily available. And
it's usually for us, it's the
insane amount of sugar in
something that doesn't have to
be there, or the insane amount
of sodium. And so we kind of
want to create products that
kind of are very nutrient rich
and have less of both of those
items in there. I went down the
snack aisle recently and ended
up not getting anything because
of the sugar count in half the
products and so that that is
where he is some but it is it's
trying to do that balance
because you don't want the child
to be alienated when their
friends have something that we
normally wouldn't them to have.
But you also want that same
experience. And so it goes back
to our supply chain, though, in
terms of what is available and
what can we lean into and make
and so what we've taken our
stance on is reinventing some of
the fan favorites from decades
ago and making them just
elevated is kind of our thought,
which
is a cool design process because
I feel like if we can give
anybody whether it's kids or
adults the permission to kind of
have their cake and eat it too.
So enjoy something in that same
delivery modality whether it's
like a pouch squeezer, or
whatever that might be, but it's
like delivering something of
better quality. It's like the
barriers to acceptance and
repeat use have been reduced.
Because like now You have a kid
who's hanging out with like,
like, I know your pouches
because I've bought them for my
children. And they're like
hanging out with their friends.
And they all have a pouch or
something. So it's like it
already fits into that kind of
status quo of what they're
looking for. You know,
otherwise, I feel like kids gets
self conscious really easy about
things in their lunch. Like,
I've gotten a lot of grief from
my children about this, over the
years, where they're like, Mom,
we are the only kids that take
this kind of stuff to school. I
wish it just looked more normal.
And I think it's because we were
doing a lot of scratch things.
And so it's not coming in a cool
pack. So I actually personally
as a mom love that you guys have
embraced like packs that are
more familiar in that way. But
holy, Kamali, like squeezer
packs, that's an entire another
supply chain to manage to, like,
how have you guys managed to
navigate that, especially
through the ethos of better for
you organic, etc? Yeah,
so we work with really great
partners. Surprisingly, there's
not that many pouch
manufacturers in the world. And
yeah, there aren't their parent
companies on one another. So
we're always looking to to push
into the next best thing. And
we're really excited for the new
applesauce launch. Because we're
we're stepping out of that seven
layer pouch, and we're going
into a single layer, still a
pouch, but better for the
environment, while we work to
push the limits even further.
But with us, we've we've really
been in a wonderful position
where we work with really
wonderful suppliers. And because
we started small, we've grown
into this scale, it's been easy
for us to really work with some
of these partners. Because of
that reason, I would say,
Yeah, and I think some of the
pillars of Waikerie provisions
and all the products we bring to
market really kind of stay the
same, I think leads over the
years we've had to really adopt
and how we educate people on the
level of farming and
transparency of the ingredients
that we use. So that's been a
huge, huge attribute for us.
Over the years, we know we when
we started, we started heavily
educated on biodynamic farming
and mixed results here and
there. As you can imagine, I'm
sure everybody on the
regenerative journey or
Trussville, trying to figure out
what is the what is the sweet
spot? Where do we how best to
educate people, I think what
we've drilled into about five or
six key attributes, divided
nomic farming, we have
associated our products with
eating and how good which you
may be familiar with. So he does
a whole carbon footprint
analysis of our firms or
ingredients or finished
products. Yeah, and nutritional
density will be the next piece.
And I think all of those
attributes will is kind of that
that that's going to be kind of
the foundation for everything we
bring to market. And thankfully
everybody involved in the team
at White leaf. You know, a lot
of our core team are actually
made up of moms who are
genuinely passionate about the
business we're building and want
to be a part of it. So it's been
really nice to see that piece
evolve over time.
Yeah, that's awesome. How do you
guys deliver the story of of
transparency like how are you
guys communicating with your
customers to that they see and
and learn from the degree of
dedication that you have to your
supply chain partners.
We need to do frankly, a better
a better job at that. But being
so small, we're we're stuck with
that piece. But we do work with
a lot of micro and NEEMO
influencers that have come to us
they've been more evangelical
brand followers, and they tell a
really lovely story. We really
lean it goes back to what we
were first talking about free
from and and we talk about the
beautiful outcome of a
biodynamic farm. And we really
lean into partnerships, and
really showcase different things
that different groups are doing.
Biggest Little farm, for
example, kissed the ground. And
we really lead that customer
journey to discover regenerative
for themselves. And it really
kind of leads them back into
wanting to learn more and
purchase our products that way.
I think on pack we have we put a
QR code on all of our products,
I think that got like 10 to 12
slides, and it gently educates
on on our products and why
they're different from what else
is out there. I think that's
been that's been a huge piece
for us. But I think a lot of the
support is actually coming from
the retailer level too. Right.
You know, a lot of our large key
accounts have been huge
proponents for Regenerative
farming. So they've been very,
very supportive over the years.
You know, and a lot of these
large key accounts, they
definitely took a chance on us
you were talking 2018 2019 When
the conversation was much
smaller, but but they were
acknowledged that the baby food
sets need to be shaken up. They
need something that's clearly
different. Yeah. And so they
really took a chance on us and
they've been very, very
supportive over the years,
especially with just a small
brand like ours. Yeah,
that's great. I feel like baby
food is a great place. To really
pioneer new conversations,
because I know for us in working
with regenerative supply chains
back in 2018, retailers were
like nobody knows what
regenerative is, there's no
point in even putting it on the
package. Like, there's no way to
differentiate that. And I think
it was like, especially in
certain sets, there wasn't a
strong enough signal for
consumers to really make that a
motivator for giving away shelf
space, you know, because it's
like real estate. But I think
that it's super smart to pioneer
awareness around bigger
conversations, when it comes to
supply chain integrity. I'm in a
in a space like baby, because
it's literally of all the places
in the grocery store, I would
guess the one that has the
highest rate of the consumer,
really analyzing the packaging,
prior to purchase. It'd be
interesting if somebody's done
like a little statistical study
on that, like, Of all the places
in the store that people take
that time, I bet you anything.
It's that 1020 feet in that set
where there's baby food. Yeah,
absolutely. I mean, I couldn't
agree more. I think we're
probably a perfect example of
of, you know, we're a much
smaller company than a lot of
the others that are out there.
But I think a lot of our growth
today is really just organic.
You know, I think, I think
pretty years people
underestimated how much parents
care about this, or how much
once their eyes get open to
this. Yeah, how much it's very
hard for them to look back. You
know, we talked about soil
health, and we talked about
compost, and it's still stuns us
how many parents can still just
gravitate to that they just get
it, you know, healthier
nutritional rich soil, rich
fruits and vegetables. Replacing
fertilizer with compost like
this is I think, the organic
certification. It's an amazing
pillar for everything that we're
doing, for sure. But I think
that certification was put out
there as kind of the the be all
end all. That's that's, that's
it. And I think, especially in
the baby food set, where you
have pretty much every brand is
organic, GMO free. I think
parents just being parents,
naturally, they're still looking
for the next thing, right?
They're looking to take a deeper
dive and more transparency.
Yeah. So when we start talking
about soil health, and all of
these amazing attributes, it's
amazing how parents from every
demographic, regardless their
knowledge of farming, or soil or
anything, they just really
gravitate towards it. And that's
I think that's been probably one
of the biggest driving forces in
to where businesses today, and
you're spot on parents do they
research, everything. Even we
just had a another baby about
three years ago, and it was same
thing I was on the couch,
reading, just reading countless
things on what crib sheets do I
buy what you buy, that you go
deep on on, on this? It's a
little being and it is a very
vulnerable little being. And so
and that that is why I think we
have seen a lot of success with
the brand to date is because
people take the time to research
and they take the time to become
educated.
Yeah. And it's meaningful, like
they have some sort of pain
point. That's, you know, makes
them go, Okay, I'm going for
this one, even if it's more of a
premium, etc, because there's
this perceived risk of not, you
know, preserving that purity
with the baby. And it's
interesting how quickly that can
fade as the baby grows up. And
then you end up having teenagers
and you look at what like the
typical teenager consumes. And
it's, it's rather startling how
quickly, families move away from
that, thinking around purity and
exposure to these little
developing bodies, where like,
babies are so little and
vulnerable. But then I look at
my teenagers. And think about
the effects and long term
effects of all these different
toxins and endocrine disruptors
when they're going through like
puberty, for example, like,
they're still so vulnerable. But
there's still this real
disconnect in the American
public around exposure to toxins
and food and beverages for
adolescents. And so I'm really
pleased just to know that you
guys are expanding beyond just
baby because I think that's such
an important space that we need
to innovate in like snacks, and
portable foods that are
appropriate for kids that are
beyond the baby years. Yeah.
And I think it just like you
said, it comes down to lack of
it comes down to the supply
chain in the US is dominated by
a few key players. And that's
the food that's being put out
marketplace. And it does it
takes innovative thinking and
innovative brands and people to
really just take a chance to
help change that. And we're
seeing it with our 11 year olds,
like it's a needle in a haystack
to find products that he can
grab and go that we feel happy
about giving him and there is a
lot of compromising in terms of
our own ethos with what we're
we're giving and it just It
comes from lack of, you know,
like, Yeah,
I kind of on the flip side of
that, too, is it's been really
encouraging to see the growth
and, you know, of the
regenerative movement over the
years. And I think that's also
really helped kind of lift our
business, too. We've been
definitely part of that tide,
for sure. But we see all of
these amazing products that are
coming to market. And it's
really, really encouraging to
see that too. Because we know as
founders, the dedication it
takes to push the boundaries of
that organic product and bring
something that's regenerative to
market. Yes. So it's been
amazing and really encouraging
for us to see that too.
It's been a ground swelling. And
I feel like especially in the
last two years, the conversation
around regenerative and the
intrigue from people that you
wouldn't even necessarily expect
to be interested in it. I feel
like the regenerative story has
a really incredible way of
resonating across multiple
demographics, even people that
sometimes for whatever reason,
have a bit of a knee jerk
reaction to organic, and often
maybe don't trust that organic
has the standards in place that
it that it has historically
promoted, or they just don't
think that organic is scalable,
globally, for whatever reason,
when you start talking about
regenerative and I think it's
because it's a systems based
approach rather than
reductionistic. That there, it's
like, you can see that they're
invited into this new way of
thinking that they're like, oh,
maybe we could scale this, maybe
this is something that could
totally ripple through the
entire food system and become a
new norm. And that's a really
fascinating conversation, that
I've had the pleasure of being
involved in a lot this year,
from large buyers, or large,
like food service, things like
that were like before, they
always said, Oh, well, we love
the idea of organic, but it's
impossible for us. Because
they're so big. And now they're
like, wait, maybe regenerative
is a place that we can get
involved. Maybe there's a place
for us here. And it can help us
level up our procurement. So
it's no longer just conventional
commodities with no segregation
or differentiation at all. So
it's been really fascinating
what's been happening with this
conversation across the board.
And I'm sure you guys are
hearing this too.
Yeah, absolutely. Like think
just talking about our products.
I know, everyone's got a
different kind of take on on,
you know, market adopting to
their products. But you know,
we've we launched in the in the
natural set in the US, I think
we're in over 3000 doors today.
But but that seems to be where
we're meeting the customers
where where they are, right. But
that's when we launched that's
been kind of the footprint for
widely for we have noticed that
we've seen more and more
interest from the conventional
channel for products. And so
it's been really nice to now
see, you know, some of these
deeper value add baby food
brands, not just not just
whiteleys, but ones that have a
deeper level of transparency are
a deeper value add, I think
they've been the big drivers of
the baby food sets and natural,
you know, there's about three or
four brands out there. And I
think whyteleafe is playing a
part in that as well. But we see
that starting to spill over we
see conventional take notice.
And yeah, we feel that so many
calls, were just at that point
where this is extremely scalable
for what we have. But I think
it's the regenerative piece is
what, you know, a lot of these
conventional channels are
really, really interested in.
And they feel that the baby
foods that we were saying
earlier, that's where you have
probably the most engaged
consumer, right, you're buying
the very first solid foods for
baby. And it's it's a huge and
important decision. And so I
think we really witnessed that
as an amazing segue into
conventional for Regenerative.
And so we're in Meijer, and
rallies and Wegmans and a few of
those counts, but it's been
really nice to see how quickly
the products have adopted and
growing in there. Which kind of
we massively underestimated when
we went in? But yeah, I think
the baby sets are really great
into that
that's a really good sign to me
that that those accounts are
getting those velocities because
it's just an indication that
this is something that like,
more and more people can wrap
their arms around and feel
hopeful and say hey, this is
something that is better I'm
going to invest in this product
and I you know, I sometimes get
a little bit funny about you
know, when it's so just the
natural set I mean, I've always
lived in rural areas my whole
life for the most part so I've
like never lived anywhere with a
Whole Foods ever. Like not
permanently so you know, like I
I've been kind of trapped in
rural areas where you have a
Safeway and that's it's the only
store around or an IGA it's the
only store around so you're
either ordering from like Azure
standard or like, you know,
online that's changed everything
but for many, many years that
that wasn't an option. I love to
see the signal that conventional
grocery is listening, because
that's when we're going to
really start impacting, you
know, huge swaths of the
population, that's when we're
going to start seeing like a
bigger transition of farmlands
as our farmers are responding to
that consumer demand. Keep, like
you were saying earlier, like if
the farmers know there's a
demand, they, they will respond.
And I think often people,
there's a big disconnect around
the psychology and thinking of
farmers, they're business
people, they're running a
business, they will respond to
markets. And what I've heard
overwhelmingly from so many
farmers, is that they want to
grow in a different way. They
don't want to just be growing
commodities conventionally, but
they can't afford to take a risk
if that market poll is not
there. And I just think that
that's such an important part of
the conversation. And you know,
the design thinking behind
rowing and regenerative food
system transformation. Yeah,
exactly.
I totally agree. And we hear it.
Again, back to what we said,
let's put a true regenerative
product on shelf let's start a
conversation. What we've seen
over the years, I mean, we feel
that hundreds of emails and
meetings with farmers who want
to get involved. I think I can't
speak for farmers. I definitely
am not an expert, you know, but
the pressures that we're hearing
from a lot of these farmers from
the seed companies and growing
these products, conventionally,
and the cost of inputs into
farming today, it's really
driving these farmers towards,
you know, regenerative farming
in particular, you know, where
it's, it's really touching all
of the bases. And so I mean,
we've we've seen an increase in
farmers coming to us looking to
get involved, which has been
amazing.
Absolutely. The the upwelling of
interest from farmers is
actually overwhelming, you know,
because I get a lot of phone
calls from farmers across the
country, and even around the
world that are like, Hey, we you
know, here's what we're doing.
Here's where we're at in our
either regenerative transition,
or maybe they're like, so far
along that they're in year two
of organic certification. And
they literally got there
naturally, through a
regenerative process, they their
goal wasn't to be organic. But
their goal was to improve their
farm and their soil health and
their plant health. And what's
amazing as you'll be out there
in the field with them, and
hearing this whole story, and
hearing how everybody around
said oh, it's impossible to grow
a garbanzo bean in this region
without using fungicide. Because
it's an endemic fungus, it's
there's no way around it, that
was the group thing. And I've
seen with my own eyes, because
I've literally eaten the green
garbanzos right out of the
field, and there's no fungicide
on them. And they're, it's
because they've repaired the
soil ecology, that they don't
have that in endemic fungus
anymore, they don't need the
fungicide, they literally cured
the patient, which is the crop
of the need of the medicine,
through health and through
regenerative nutrition at the
plant and soil level. And
imagine how that transfers up
through the value chain to the
consumer. Who is eating it?
Well, I guess down through the
value chain. And when I think
about making hummus out of those
garbanzos for my kids, I think
about that whole
transformational process, what
that's done to the genetics of
the plant, like just the fact
that it's that healthy, what
kind of genetics are signaling
on and off, that are making more
phytonutrients that are creating
the immunity to the fungus,
maybe those are medicinal things
for us to we just don't know.
And this is what makes me so
excited about this regenerative
transformation that I'm hearing
about every day and seeing
across the landscape. Like the
farmers are so proud of that.
Because they're like, they're
literally talking about the
health of their system, rather
than like just the yield of the
commodity or whatever. And that
is a paradigm shift. Yes,
for sure that I think when when
our philosophy to was starting,
I mean, we came when we
launched, we were at a 299
retail price for products, but
we always, you know, we always
try to pay our farmers and
growers and extremely beyond
fair wage for their crops. You
know, that's the piece with, I
think that mindset really had to
change for our brand as well to
get more farmers involved, get
more growers involved. Yes, we
have solid dialogue with all of
our growers, even European on US
supply chain and seasons change
and things change on a farm. And
we're at that point where we can
flexibly meet these farmers
where they're at in the journey
and in their season. I think
that's been a huge, huge piece
for us as well. That's amazing
over the years, but I agree to
what you're saying. I think we
hear that story from from all of
our suppliers. We have about 17
ingredients and each ingredient
has about four or five different
farms that supplier.
A lot to manage. It's a lot
yeah,
we hear that story consistently.
You know, they watched the farm
turn and self sustaining thing
and it's just Amazing. And then
their neighbor farms are again
told them this couldn't be done.
Nobody wants it. And it's, but
then they look at their inputs
and their cost and their numbers
at the end of the year. And it's
been a kind of a win win. So
yeah, it's amazing to see
exactly.
That is what I see every day as
well. And it's what drives us
all. I think I'm being somewhere
in the value chain, getting
these goods out into the market,
is that when you see that
magical transformation, and then
you see the momentum of like,
the neighbors wanting to do
whatever they're doing, because
it's working. That's, I think,
part of what makes us whole get
up and Hustle so hard every day.
So, on that note, we're at the
top of the hour. I can't believe
how fast that went. But how can
people learn more about the two
of you and your incredible work?
Like, where's the best place for
them to follow?
Find us on Instagram? That's
where we're, we're pretty active
on there. There we have a very
small team. I think there's
literally four of us. So if you
write to somebody on Instagram,
you're actually talking to one
of us or Mr. Dan is a great spot
for us. Keith is very active on
LinkedIn. We're open books,
honestly. That's
fantastic. So widely provisions.
Is that the handle that they
look up and they'll find that
there? Yes.
At White leaf provisions on
Graham. whitely provisions.com
info at White leaf provisions,
you can email us directly we get
those as well. Fantastic.
Well, that is awesome. You guys,
thank you so much for taking the
time to join and let our
listeners know about your
journey and your amazing
products and and just the
fantastic ethos you have for
life and for making industry and
businesses that really matter.
So thank you for all the hard
work that you do. Awesome.
Thank you. Joanie, have a great
day.
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