Companies and farmers must connect to improve the food systemCompanies and farmers must connect to improve the food system

Boulder County, Colorado, farmer Marcus McCauley works with neighboring farmers for the produce to make his hot sauces, which Whole Foods Market now stocks. 

The average U.S. farmer is losing money, even as others in the food supply chain profit. Danone, the largest U.S. yogurt maker, contracts with dairy farmers to ensure they make a profit and enjoy long-term stability.

“What we get from them in return is the ability to work … on programs like regenerative agriculture; they can be receptive to this because we’ve taken away that instability,” says Tina Owens, senior director of agriculture at Danone.

“What we discovered a long time ago is that we don’t really have a food system left in this country,” says Alan Lewis, the “supply chain guy” for Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage.

Through education, natural retailers can rally their customers to support regenerative agriculture through their purchases—even if those products cost slightly more, Lewis says.

 Farmers and retailers, working together, can convince lawmakers to enact laws and policies to support regenerative agriculture such as on-site poultry processing, Lewis and farmer Marcus McCauley share.

Danone also reaches out to the farmers who supply feed for the dairy cows, building a profitability model and drawing them toward regenerative agriculture, Tina Owens says.

Not having a system for getting organic goods to market is the biggest challenge to growing the industry in the United States, says Alex Heilman, director of sales at Mercaris. 

The U.S. is a net exporter of all crops and commodities except organic. “It’s the only space where we’re a net importer of everything,” Heilman says. 

“Organic [certification] is certainly under threat by the larger corporations that have gone into it and want to standardize—let’s say dumb down, because I have an opinion about it—and make it all easier,” Natural Grocers’ Alan Lewis says.