On this episode, we have Jared Simon who is the CEO at Manitoba Harvest.

Manitoba Harvest is North America’s leading hemp food brand, and they’re supporting regenerative agriculture with their recently released Regenerative Organic Certified® Hemp Hearts.

In this episode, Jared breaks down how hemp is grown and some of the agronomic differences between conventional, organic, and regenerative organic cultivation. Jared also shares how Manitoba Harvest is developing their commercial strategy around regenerative and what this means for both their branded business and B2B ingredient business.

Jared was super engaging and insightful, and we really enjoyed gleaning his insights on how a legacy, scaled brand like Manitoba Harvest starts prioritizing regen, opportunities he sees in the broader regen movement, and how their work is influencing the larger, publicly traded parent company they sit within.

Episode Highlights:

💥 Their 25-year history pioneering hemp foods

🌱 The differences between hemp and cannabis

💪 Why hemp is a nutrition powerhouse

🔬 Using AI-Powered nutrition research to drive innovation

👉 Investing upstream to add value

💡 How they think about their regen strategy

📈 Scaling ROC™ hemp with B2B & B2C

👀 The future of regenerative marketing claims

🔥 Educating Tilray’s other brands on regen

🎯 Getting to critical mass with retailers and consumers

Links:

Manitoba Harvest

Hemp Oil Canada / Fresh Hemp Foods

Tilray Brands

Brightseed

Regenerative Organic Certified®

Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC™) Hemp Hearts

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On this episode, we have Blaine & Brooks Hitzfield from Seven Sons. Blaine is the CEO while Brooks serves as the COO.

Seven Sons is supporting regenerative agriculture with its direct-to-consumer meat business that sells regeneratively raised beef, bison, pork, and chicken as well as seafood and other snack items.

Seven Sons sources their regeneratively raised meat products from their own 550-acre farm in Roanoke, Indiana, and from other regenerative farmers around the Midwest.

In this episode, we hear how the family farm transitioned from a conventional hog operation to a multi-species pastured livestock operation, plus Blaine and Brooks take us behind the scenes on all things direct-to-consumer e-commerce and how they’ve grown their business to 75,000 orders a year.

This was an absolute masterclass in operating a DTC brand, connecting with consumers authentically, and making regenerative products accessible through convenience.

Episode Highlights:

👏 Growing to 14,000 customers & 75,000 orders a year

😦 Their family journey from conventional pork to regen beef

⁉️ Are there actually seven sons in this business!?

🤯 Scaling to 53 pickup locations then shutting them down

👉 Why education isn’t a winning marketing strategy

😵‍💫 How to avoid “death by diversity” as a farmer

🍗 The challenges of pastured poultry economics

🎯 Winning with Quality, Authenticity, & Convenience

💲 Their winning DTC playbook (acquisition, retention, assortment)

💡 Being your own customer to improve your business

Links:

Seven Sons

Graze Cart

Pasturebird

Byron Center Meats

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On this episode, Kyle and I are flying solo to bring you some updates and thoughts coming out of Expo West.

For those who don’t know, Expo West is “the annual Super Bowl of CPG” with over 67,000 attendees this year and a gathering of anyone and everyone working on CPG brands supporting regenerative agriculture - from certifiers, to investors, to the brands themselves, and many more.

Kyle and I spend some time covering our personal highlights, favorite new products, plus the state of the union for CPG capital investment and regenerative marketing claims.

Episode Highlights:

🖤 The power of human connection

🤤 Our favorite new items from regen brands

🔊 Regenerative dominates Climate Day content

⭐ Regen brands take home 5 NEXTYs

😍 Big sourcing commitments and funding rounds announced

💯 Today’s major operating hurdles for regenerative brands

💰 Current investment landscape and implications for regen brands

👀 California defining “regenerative agriculture”

👉 The fallacy of positive competition in the regenerative movement

🙏 Using hope, empathy, and vulnerability to create harmony in regen CPG

Links:

ReGen Brands

Expo West

Force of Nature Meats

Big Picture Foods

Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed

Sol Simple

Artisan Tropic

Alec’s Ice Cream

Patagonia Provisions

Climate Day

Regenerative Organic Certified®

Regenified™

A Greener World

Soil & Climate Initiative

The Stockdale Paradox

One Step Closer

TIG Brands

Steward

Lil Bucks

California Defining Regenerative Agriculture

Silk

White Oak Patures

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