September 5, 2024 • 48 mins
In this engaging episode of the Regenerative by Design Podcast, host Joni welcomes Ali Cox, founder of Noble West, to discuss the evolving landscape of agriculture and food systems. Ali, a fifth-generation farmer and marketing expert, shares her unique perspective on how farmers are transforming from traditional roles into modern CEOs who are not only responsible for food production but also for driving sustainability and climate-conscious practices.
Key Topics Discussed:
- The Evolving Narrative of Agriculture: Joni and Ali discuss the need to shift the public perception of farmers from mere laborers to sophisticated CEOs and climate-conscious business leaders. They highlight how this new narrative is essential in promoting a more sustainable and regenerative food system.
- From Agriculture to Food System: Ali emphasizes the importance of focusing on the food system rather than just agriculture. She explains how this broader perspective can help consumers make more informed and value-based decisions about the food they purchase and consume.
- Challenges in Marketing Sustainable Food: The conversation dives into the difficulties of marketing sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices. Ali and Joni explore how storytelling, creative campaigns, and influencer partnerships are crucial in bridging the gap between farmers and consumers.
- The Role of Influencers and Micro-Influencers: They explore how both celebrity and micro-influencers can play a significant role in educating the public about sustainable food choices. Ali shares insights into the power of decentralized marketing and how it can make impactful changes at the consumer level.
- Consumer Insights and Agricultural Practices: Ali discusses how Noble West leverages consumer insights to help farmers pivot their practices and align with market demands. She highlights the importance of transparency and communication between growers, packers, shippers, and retailers.
- Future of Regenerative Agriculture: Joni and Ali talk about the future of regenerative agriculture and the critical role of storytelling in educating consumers and influencing their food choices. They also discuss the potential for new business models that prioritize sustainability and high-quality food production.
Key Takeaways:
- Farmers are becoming the heroes of a new narrative that focuses on quality, sustainability, and climate resilience.
- Effective storytelling and marketing are vital in promoting regenerative agriculture and helping consumers make better food choices.
- There is a growing need for collaboration between marketing professionals, farmers, and brands to drive the shift towards more sustainable food systems.
Connect with Ali Cox:
- Website: wearenoblewest.com
- LinkedIn: Ali Cox on LinkedIn
Listener Call to Action:
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your network and help us spread the word about the importance of regenerative agriculture and sustainable food systems. Don't forget to subscribe to the Regenerative by Design Podcast for more inspiring conversations!
Regenerative by design is hosted by Snacktivist. Snacktivist creates baking mixes and finished products that are allergy-friendly, soil, water, and carbon-focused, all while radically impacting human nutrition by transforming staple foods into something more than just empty calories. Visit snacktivistfoods.com to learn more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Joanne, hello everyone. You arelistening to the regenerative by
(00:04):
design podcast where we will begetting to the root of health,
climate, economics and food. Iam your host. Joni quinwell
Moore. Join me on this journeyas we explore the stories of
individuals and organizationswho are working to realign our
food system with both humanhealth and the health of our
planet. Hello everybody, andthank you for joining the
(00:24):
regenerative by design podcast.I am so thrilled to have our
guest here today, Ali Cox ofnoble West, calling in from
California. Welcome Ali,
thanks for having me on. Joni,
yeah, I'm so excited I Ali and Ihave known each other for a
couple of years, and I think,you know, we definitely
pioneered a lot of ourenthusiasm for each other around
(00:47):
our love of making farmers thecenter of the story and
rethinking that farmer narrativeand the American food system,
not just through the lens oflike tractors and overalls, But
through farmers as sophisticatedCEOs that feed the world. He's
going to kick it off with that
exactly because it's really notabout the tractor. It's really
(01:09):
not about in my, my opinion,it's not really about the AG,
it's actually about the food.This is a food system. It's not
an it should not be anagriculture system. So that is a
thing where I feel like, Joni,you and I have always sort of
aligned on, like, how do we givethe people what they need in
order to make decisions that arevalue based? And also, you know,
(01:33):
just climate focused in a lot ofways
and a percent. And, you know,it's interesting, what the power
of words and like justvernacular. Because when you
talk to farmers today who arefrustrated with the current
model, they often mention thatthey don't like just growing
commodities. They actually wantto grow food again. And from
(01:54):
people outside of our work, theyoften don't, don't realize that
that's happening, and I thinkthat contributes to that
separation culturally betweenagriculture and food, when in
reality, that's where our foodsystem starts, is there in the
field. And so I know that youhave an incredible amount of
wisdom when it comes tounpacking this content and this
(02:14):
story, because you work as amarketer, and I would love for
you to share with our audience alittle bit about noble West and
your background, you actuallyhave a really fun and
fascinating story. But how didyou get to where you are today,
where you're you'reintentionally working to tell
those stories about high qualitysupply chains that impact human
health, impact the climate, butalso, you know, still make the
(02:35):
farmer the hero of the story.
Thank you. Um, so noble West isa marketing agency, and we do
quite a few advertisingcampaigns that are all
agriculture or food ingredientbased. So like I started off,
saying we're an agriculturalmarketing agency, and frankly, I
don't actually think that'sperfectly accurate anymore. Now
(02:57):
I think we are a sustainabilityconsultancy. I think that we are
climate focused consultancy, andreally we're just getting more
and more narrow in our approachand but it all kind of goes back
to the food ingredient. We workwith farmers, we work with
processors, we work with Mills,who are looking to create more
(03:18):
value for their food to get abigger ROI. We work in a lot of
ag tech companies who arelooking to sort of stabilize and
like future, like future focusof future minded farming
operations. And it's a real it'sa real honor. And I think I
should probably start off bymentioning I am a fifth
(03:39):
generation farmer on both sidesof my family, so on my mom's
side and my dad's side. So Ihave always grown up in farming.
All of I have, you know, beenraised by all entrepreneurs and
risk takers. Let's be real. Sofor me, it's really about like,
it's really about honoring myhistory in my past, but quite
(04:01):
frankly, understanding that whatGod is here is not going to get
us there, and so we have a lotof work to do. Because I think
the whole crux of the matter is,is that farmers, especially if
they're a contract farmer, andthey don't own their own brand
or they don't own their ownprocessing equipment, they are
(04:22):
effectively just like a cog inthe supply chain, which means
that they're only compensated onyield and nothing else. They're
not compensated on thequalitative measures, on how
they farm, on the investmentsthey make on farm. So for them,
they're trying to be asefficient as possible and create
the most yield, which, as you weall know here, that's the
(04:46):
freaking problem, and that alsodoesn't align with what
consumers want. And it also justdoesn't incentivize like,
really, like, some of thequalitative like, like things
that consumers are looking for,which is. Is, right? And, you
know, if you don't have a brand,you really, it's a whole
different story.
Yeah, it's interesting howyield, and this kind of just
(05:09):
quantity over quality paradigmhas really taken hold across the
food system, the majority of thefood system, and I often like to
say it's like a it's like a tugof war between efficiency and
effectiveness, because we needefficiency. We don't want waste.
Do we want high productivity inwhatever way is reasonable and
(05:32):
holistic, but we really need tomake sure that it's effective,
and if the effectiveness of anyactivity in food and agriculture
comes down to impact on humanhealth and resiliency in
pertaining to the environmentand and climate, etc. So if
we're driving efficiency at thecost of effectiveness and
creating an epidemic, a dietrelated disease and an enormous,
(05:55):
you know, tragedy ofenvironmental destruction, then
it doesn't matter how efficientit is, it will ultimately fail
because it's an unbalancedsystem. You know, I feel like in
some commodities, this has beenway more pronounced than in
others. And I know you're fromCalifornia, which has an
incredibly rich and biodiversefarming sector. What are the
(06:17):
crops that you've historicallyworked with, and what are the
ingredients that you'repassionate about that are more
regionally representative fromyour past, growing up as a as a
farm kid, or even now, the stuffthat you're working with today?
Well, in California, there areover 400 crops that are grown
and marketed through theCalifornia marketing order,
(06:38):
through the CDFA, and for all ofthose, like ag junkies out there
who are listening to thispodcast. If you're like me, I
you'll probably find a lot ofinterest of value in reading the
California the CDF, CaliforniaDepartment of Food and Ag
acreage report. It is absolutelyfascinating. Top exports in from
(07:01):
California being dairy, grapesand almonds in most cases, and
then stone fruits, reallycitrus. Stone fruit are really
close behind. So what I wouldsay is we work in like I think
that we're just really becomespecialty crop experts, and it's
(07:23):
so much so that now, like we'reworking in, you know, with ag
tech companies who do specialour specialty crop ag technology
experts and whatnot. And, youknow, on our family farm, we
grow almonds, we grow walnuts,we have tomatoes, we have beans,
we have apricots, we havecherries. And then in my husband
and my farm management business,we do contract harvesting and
(07:46):
contract management foradditional crops, but very
heavy, especially like we'rebased in Stanislaus County,
which is an enormous almondgrowing region. It's just this,
this perfect climate ecosystemfor almonds. It's not humid,
it's incredibly hot. It's alsowet in the winter,
traditionally. So anyway, sothat's what we grow. So by the
(08:11):
way, yeah, thank you. We like tothink so, yeah. And so we at
Noble West, we really work onthe specialty crops, although we
have done quite a fewregenerative projects, as you
know, and which, andregenerative, frankly, is like
being driven from the Midwest.And I think it's just because,
(08:32):
like, there's less cropdiversity and bio, like
biodiversity. And so it'sactually, I want to just say,
easier to grow regeneratively,because there's less factors. So
if you think about regenerativefarming on an almond orchard
versus like a wheat field, it'sa whole different situation.
(08:53):
Where, in wheat it's reallyabout like how you're telling
how often you're telling thedepth of your tilling and
whatnot. In almonds, it's aboutthe type of livestock that
you're managing. It's about, youknow, because there isn't, it's
how you absolutely change howyou harvest. Are you doing off
ground harvesting versus onground harvesting, dust
(09:14):
creation. So there's so manyfactors. And the same goes for
fresh produce also. So like, astrawberry field, like, you
can't, like, put like, you know,like an almonds you would put,
like, there's a lot of sheepthat are now, like, running
through orchard, like greenpasture orchards, and having
like, the best life ever, like,that is not you cannot do that
in produce. You have all sortsof food safety issues anyway,
(09:39):
but it's part of it. But I mean,I think that Joni, what you have
done, and with this podcast andwith your brand snackivist, is
really, I think, creatingeducation for consumers in a way
that maybe they didn't havebefore, and that's just
something that I am so such. I'msuch a fangirl of yours, and.
(10:00):
And admire your approach, Iknow. So
it's so great because it, youknow, I immediately found and
I'm a nurse. I mean, I'm a nurseand a biologist. I was a
biologist first, and a nursesecond. But in nursing, your job
is, you are the interpreter ofthe medical system, because
you're the person who actuallytalks to the patients like, you
(10:20):
know, in the medical setting,you know, you come in, the
doctor might say a few words,you chances are you don't
understand it. And it's, it'sthe nurses that really do the
heavy lifting when it comes toeducation and implementation of
anything. And so I feel like, ina way, brands are like the
nurses of the food system, inthat way, because they are that
(10:41):
connection point and that pointof humanization between
agriculture and all the bigmoving parts of the food system
and the end consumer. It'sreally where that that touch
point happens, unfortunately, inCPG. I mean, CPG is a consumer
packaged goods that's theconsumer side that is an
expensive and very difficultplace to do business right now
(11:04):
that I think most brands arereally struggling, where their
access to capital and theiraccess to money to pay for
education has been severelycompromised just because of the
economy and the way that thesystem is built, which has been
a struggle. I know that thoughyou know my friends and
colleagues that are in themarketing and branding side you
(11:24):
know, have really felt that, andit's it's unfortunately ill
timed for the regenerativemovement, because I feel like
there's never been a moreimportant time to really that
consumer humanization narrative.It's so critical right now, and
people are aching for it. Peopleare aching for brands that they
can connect with and that theyfeel like are providing that
(11:46):
education and that connectionthat they desperately feel like
they need,
and Joanie that they can afford.Yeah, exactly.
I mean, most of us can't affordto go to Erwan every day, sorry,
airwan, Whole Foods, all ofthose places. I mean, the
reality is, is that the averageAmerican is dependent on Walmart
for a large portion of theircaloric caloric intake every day
(12:08):
because of the reality of theireconomics and discretionary
spending.
Although I do have to say, youmentioned Walmart, yeah, Walmart
gets an incredibly bad rap in alot of ways. But I do need to
say, like, speaking from again,back to produce, because we work
in specialty project gigatronwith Walmart has been, like,
humongously game changing, yeah.And is the drive, frankly, for
(12:37):
more sustainably grown produce.And we just don't see that
following in the middle of thestore, if I'm being honest, like
that's like, it's driving and soproject Giga Tron, what is it?
104 point checkpoint like that,like, grower, grower, packer,
shippers and produce have tocomply with in order to be
(12:58):
eligible for purchase in theproduce section, they're
auditing social responsibilitywith their farmers, water
management, AG, technology,packaging, recyclable, like
recycling, like, I mean, it is,it is on, it is very intense on
farm. It's also super intense inthe packing sheds. So like that
(13:20):
is a driver, and I just, Iwonder and hope, honestly, when
that is going to be the case forCPG, so for that, and that is a
place where I don't know. Idon't know, based on private
label, how is private labelhelping or hurting us? I think,
typically, it's hurting us. Ibelieve in de commoditization. I
(13:43):
think that, like I wantconsumers to have more of an
understanding of the brands thatthey do support. But okay,
you're we're talking a lot aboutbrands. So Joanie, who do you
think is responsible foreducating the public about how
to make food choices that alignwith their values that they
maybe didn't even know about
that's a tough one, because Ithink there's so many people in
(14:06):
so many organizations thatprobably, like, inadvertently
contribute to the knowledge baseof customers, some of them being
big, like, really, like, kind ofoff the radar. You wouldn't even
think it. But like, celebrityinfluencers and whatnot, and
again, those are those thingsthat, like emerging brands,
cannot afford to access. But Ifeel like a lot of the consumer
(14:30):
discovery around new diettrends, new brands that are, you
know, maybe spotlighting supersustainable ingredients. Often
the break comes when there'ssomebody who's big and on stage
and has a lot of natural PRwhole discovers it. And you
know, I've been working foryears to try to get a celebrity
(14:50):
to just even back the plight oflike underutilized crops, like
millet, sorghum, there's a wholeslew of underutilized crops that
would you. Know, really make alot of sense to bring into our
food system in a more major way.But I've yet to find a celebrity
who was interested in backingsomething like that, because it
costs so much to to get theirtime. So, you know, there's
(15:12):
brand. There's definitely beenbrands that have been very
successful at harnessing thatinfluencer pool. And you know,
where we're, where most brandsare at are the micro
influencers, and they pull a lotof weight. I feel like the whole
Snapchat world, the Institute,Instagram and YouTube shorts, is
now kind of leading the chargeon disseminated, decentralized
(15:35):
marketing education at theconsumer level. Because, you
know, even though the bigcelebrities, like, they get a
lot of the attention, like, Ifeel like they make a splash,
and suddenly everyone's talkingabout something. But you know,
these micro influencers can bereally, really powerful. And you
know, they can be you can havean army of small scale
influencers that reach localizedor niche, focused demographics,
(15:56):
and they can really do a lot toeducate consumers and make it
not like a brand educationpiece, because people are
suspicious of brand lededucation sometimes, because
there's an ulterior motive.
Well, we're all trying to stayin business, right? Yeah, yeah,
which I would argue is the samefor the farmers and like, that's
what kills me. Is it like thereare so many? I mean, the average
(16:19):
in California, the average farmsize is 470 acres, okay, nobody,
nobody is getting rich on 470acres, even, unless you're
maybe, like, 10 years agogrowing cannabis illegally.
Like, let's be real. So, yeah, Iknow what I mean. Like you, the
thing is, there there's nosuccession planning. So, like,
(16:40):
that amount of acreage like, ifyou have like, if you have like,
like, that's not enough moneyfor a family to live on. No, I
would imagine
a huge portion of those folksprobably have to have a one of
the adults on the you know inthe household have an outside
job to pull in benefits and astable salary? Well,
(17:02):
absolutely. And also it's reallysad because, like, and this is
something I do want to talk toyou about, because I am super
passionate about this, like, butit's really sad because you have
families that are growing up inthis agriculture, like, culture.
They've, they've probably an FFAor in 4h this is part of their
culture, and it's not reallygoing to be a viable option,
(17:24):
because, like, they will not beable to afford a family, and
there's probably cousins andwhatnot. But I do have to say so
like, that pulls on myheartstrings, because, you know,
I grew up a farm kid, and that'sa lot of that is part of that is
my community, yeah, right,Legacy community, whatnot. And I
love it. It's not all of who Iam, obviously, but it is an
important part of who I am, sobut I just don't this is where I
(17:49):
think over and over and overagain, brands have gotten it
wrong, and marketing has gottenit wrong is they are advertising
the farming lifestyle, like thepicture of like the, you know,
the video of, like the farmerwaking up before sunrise,
getting their coffee, walking intheir truck, like that is not
supposed that is not that is alovely story that is completely
(18:14):
out of touch for basically 98%of like the country, like, let's
just speaking domestically, like98% like, they're only like 2%
of people now are farmers. Itused to be like 50% like 100
years ago, yeah. So, like,that's where, like, we cannot
market that lifestyle. What weneed to market is affordable
(18:35):
food grown by people who arecompensated fairly. And that's
like, that is where I cancontinue to see like, brand just
get it wrong. Like, don't marketthat story. Market like the
value and the integrity of thefood and not the lifestyle,
because that is where I justthink angry farmers are going to
get more and more angry. Andit's not helpful. It's not
(18:57):
helpful. It's not helpful to thefood system. Let's focus on,
like, doing whatever it takes toget, like, to be paid fairly,
either through a call pool,either through like, some sort
of standardization or whatnot,so that you can continue to
actually produce the food. And,I mean, in California, like,
there's, there's a wonderfulvideo that this video from, made
(19:20):
in Fresno, about, like,literally, how, like, 100 like,
90% of them will just say 90% orsome crazy number of like, all
the stone fruit grown in thecountry, all the citrus, is all
grown within 100 miles ofFresno, California. And just
like, be like, because of waterlegislation, like water
legislation and regulation andwhatnot. Just like, if that was
(19:43):
to be compromised, how many lessnutrients would be out in the
food system?
Yeah, it'd be significant.
Not like organically grown,regeneratively grown,
conventionally grown, whatever.It would just be significant.
And that's just where I thinkthere. Just such, like, I cannot
believe the amount of frictionbetween climate activists and
(20:05):
farming activists,
right? But you can't just noteat. I mean, that's the whole
thing.
Consumers are like, Oh, screwit. I'm just gonna get the
cheapest, like, whatever, youknow, and but it's like, Isn't
it sad? It is sad.
And I feel like so many of uslive in that weird divide right
there totally and I agree thatswitching the focus on the
(20:30):
farmer as the hero, but not asan archetype person as much. I
mean, we obviously love ourfarmers and love who they are,
but what are they doing thatactually makes the food better
quality. It's not by them livingthe lifestyle of being a farmer
that just automatically makes itbetter. You know, I mean, like,
like, just because it's farmerconnected doesn't mean it's
(20:50):
better quality. But if yourfarmer can articulate their
philosophy and the things thatthey do to actually create a
better system that's going todeliver more nutrition, that's
going to be more climateresilient. That's going to be
more environmentally sound.That's That's provocative,
because, again, for me, I getvery excited when I think about,
how can we add diversity ofvalue streams to farms, so that
(21:14):
bushels per acre, or whatever,the metric of, you know, timber,
same thing, it's board feet peracre, you know, the metric of
productivity of farmlandsuddenly has a diversity to it
as well. So we've got the actualproductivity, which is yield,
but then we also have like,productivity, which is like,
Hey, are you doing really goodnutrient management? Are you
(21:36):
reducing how much pollution isgoing into the local water, you
know, table in the water system,are you? Are you reducing
topsoil blow off and runoff,which is also big time
environment, environmental thingthat actually can be very
costly, like when you look atthe cost of dredging waterways
to get all of that topsoil outof the waterways, that is
(21:58):
actually a huge externalitiescost. I love thinking of the
farm economy as something morecomplex than just. How many
bushels of wheat Did youproduce? Was it higher quality?
Did it have fewer syntheticchemical residues on it? Does it
have a higher, you know,phytonutrient profile, for
(22:19):
example, like, if you're growingsomething that maybe you know.
And of course, I always defaultto these oddball crops that I'm
obsessed with, like sorghum.But, you know, you look at
sorghum, it's an inexpensivecommodity. It's mostly sold into
animal feed, but it actually hasphytonutrients that contribute
to really great gut health andalso in naturally high in
antioxidants. Some of thespecies are comparable to
(22:42):
pomegranate and blueberries whenit comes to antioxidant
antioxidant concentrations, thatis something that is a point of
differentiation that couldeventually make the farming of
that crop more profitable,because you're not just selling
empty carbohydrates anymore.You're actually selling
something that has more layersof value. And then we love
sorghum, because it doesn't needa lot of irrigation, it needs
(23:03):
very few chemical inputs. It'ssuper climate resilient. So
there's a lot of wins there.Those are the things we don't
hear about. And the farmers thatwe work with that are doing this
kind of innovation at the fieldlevel. They get really excited
about that. And I love what yousaid. It's really about how that
affects food, that affects foodquality, that actually makes for
(23:24):
a healthier population ofAmericans when we're consuming
those foods. Now, how do we makeit more affordable? Back to
Walmart. God bless Walmart. Onsome things I tell you. I know
they get a lot of a lot of flackfrom the regenerative and from
like some of the better for youcommunities. But you know,
during the whole entire UN yearof millets, the United Nations
had a big year where would theytalked about millet, sorghum and
(23:47):
these crops and how importantthey are. The only retailer in
the world who called me to askme how they could participate
and get involved with millet andsorghum and things was Walmart.
Nobody else I tried to. Ichallenged Whole Foods, I
challenged sprouts, I challengedall of them. Nobody would talk
to me about it. Nobody cared.Walmart makes it for and reaches
(24:11):
out and says, we want to, wewant to learn more from
a sustainability person like,who called you from Walmart. I'm
just curious. Like, like,department wise, like, that.
We're in the where in the echochamber is
that, you know, they were, theywere in more of the mid
executive layer of management,and it was a brand, um, I'm
still not 100% clear what theirroles were, which is
(24:33):
interesting. They weren'tbuyers. Okay, so there's a
disconnect. It signals to me,there's a major disconnect
between the narrative at thebuyer level, which are the
gatekeepers of the Americanretail system, and what's
happening up in the executiveand middle management level,
where they're like, Wait, whyaren't we doing this? Why aren't
we working with brands that aredoing, you know, working with
(24:55):
farmers that are growing thesefoods. And again. It just is
reflective of an overlyconsolidated, hierarchical
system that controls our foodsystem that doesn't respond to
consumer pressure andenvironmental pressure and
nutritional pressure as quicklyas it probably should.
Yeah. Well, I think that'sreally interesting.
(25:19):
Isn't that fascinating? I know Iwas like, you know, I, I'd love
to talk to Whole Foods, um,executive leadership about that
someday, because I, you know,not to be rude. I'd like to take
them to task on it, right,
right? Well, I think that. Butwe just like, I always go back
to who's like, again, if farmersare only compensated on yield,
(25:48):
no, but it's also, but it's alsolike, I know, but it's also
like, I think there's so muchfatigue in so many ways because
legislate like, there's so manyregulatory changes that have
happened over the Last 10 to 15so, like, the baby boomer
farmers are exhausted, like,exhausted. They're like, I just
can't like, this is all justbecome like, it feels like,
(26:11):
whack a mole a little bit. I
feel like they've lost hope inchange.
I mean, I'm, I'm like, relatedto a lot of those kind of
people, right? Um, and so, like,I should be careful. Like, how
much I talk about it honestly athome, because, like, I It's
like, you kind of, like, respectthe hard, mean, it's been like,
(26:32):
you know, 50 years of like, thegrind.
Farmers, no food gets that, thatfarming is more like it's like,
in a way, it should be treatedmore like a utility, like health
care or electricity or municipalwater and roads like it is
something that is essential tothe fabric of our national
(26:54):
security and our optimal operaup, you know, operating systems
as a nation in our GDP, but Wetreat it as like just this kind
of extraction pool, andunfortunately, by treating it as
just an extraction pool, we'resetting it up to be undervalued,
demoralized and going extinct,which is exactly what we're
(27:14):
seeing given the fact that thatyou know, average age of farmers
in America is like 58 to 62 withNo succession plan, as you said,
because they're not economicallyviable, and that is a national
security issue, and I cannotbelieve we're not treating it as
such. That's, well,
you know, there's, I reallyfollow closely what Beth Ford,
(27:36):
the CEO of Land O Lakes, the BigCo Op, kind of, some of her
moves, that is often what shethat is her talk main talking.
That's, I mean, her stumpspeech. But like that is, like
food security is national.National security is what she
continues to preach on. And Ithink there's definitely
(27:57):
something there. Maybe I couldhave her on
the show someday. She's amazing.We know her. I
would listen to that. I do notknow her. I have friends that
know her. But no, she is. She'sjust an amazing game changer for
them.
That is cool. It's just there'sso many layers. But honestly,
your work, Allie, and you knowwhere you sit in the position of
(28:20):
brand development, messaging,marketing, advertising is
something that is actuallyincredibly influential right
now, and especially, I think,where we're at right now, just
culturally, there's this shiftin, like, the trust level of
marketing advertising, access toinformation, etc. Like, what do
you think that your role is inthis marketing capacity to help
(28:44):
shape the future you want to seefor the farming community
and the food system?
I think the pivotal role thatNoble's playing, that I'm really
proud of, is providing moreaccess to information about
consumer insights to farmers,particularly farmers who are row
cropping, so they can makechange, they can quickly pivot
(29:07):
based on because there's, it'sopen, it's open, you know, it's
open, like, land versuspermanent crops, like, like
vines and trees and whatnot.Like, obviously, we can't pivot
quickly on that those are like20 to 30 year investments, but I
think that having more insights,and I'm even seeing like how and
(29:31):
that that comes from prettyprogressive grower, packer,
shippers, providing information,working with their retailers
under State, sharing outinformations on commodity
pricing and all like, whateverthat is. I think that's like a
place that we can really play apart in. And I love doing. I do
think also just we champion herofood ingredients. So if, excuse
(29:56):
me, if a, if a food product.Project is three or less, like
food ingredients. They areperfect, noble West potential
customer, because how the foodis grown, how it was processed
by whom, and with what's with,with, with whatever kind of
value system that they'reutilizing. That is a place where
(30:19):
I think that we could reallytell that story. And then also
just really progressive, likecreative, that's the other thing
is, like, really creative,aggressive, audacious, beautiful
artwork, because that issomething that has not typically
been in the ag industry, right?And then really sophisticated
(30:40):
media planning. And I just like,It still blows my mind that
especially seasonal crops, likethe perishables, I just that
there are not better campaignsaround the seasonality, and
literally, like, blows my mind,and that's something I would
just like to see change. Like,there should be no question that
(31:02):
an average consumer who is likegoing to the grocery store that
is like middle like, I just wantto say like middle class, right,
like, just the normal folk,right? They should know when the
start and stop of the Californiachariot season is, and they
should be running to the grocerystore between, like the middle
(31:25):
of the beginning of April tolike the end of May, because
they are getting local, amazingcherries, right? There should be
no question. It's a wholedifferent experience. And if
that was the case, I think sugarconsumption would go down so
(31:45):
many things right? And then it'slike, and then comes like June
and like, the average consumershould know that now it is
Washington cherry season. Andthen once we get through the
middle or beginning of August,cherry season is now over. So
now we need to think about whatfruits and veggies do we eat in
the fall, you know? And that isa thing where I just feel like
(32:08):
it's so critical that that isreally highly and I just think
the assumption that, like peopleknow, is part of it, and that is
where I think, like seasonal andlike creative campaigns around
food, to highlight that is socritical. Let's like, make it
more fun. Like, there's a reasonwhy. Like, sugar cereal is fun.
(32:31):
The advertising is fun. Theymake it fun to eat. I mean, I
mean, you know, we both havekids like, Oh my God. My kids
are like, Can I get a treat? Wewant to treat cereal. Can we get
a treat cereal? And it's like,you know, and now I, like, break
down in the summer. I'm like,Okay, you can have summer cereal
because there's, like, sugarand, like, at least, I know, you
know, crashing in the middle ofthe
(32:51):
school day. But, like, so forparents in that way, but I
it is so and it is Jody. It isso hard, but that's where it's
like, it's not highlighted.There is a brand that I just
everybody should follow, becausehow they're approaching it is in
and it's because they are notlocal grower, packer, shippers.
Frankly, they are. They're usingoutsourced marketing with really
(33:12):
sophisticated agencies. But sumocitrus, it's a very expensive
piece of citrus. It's a six likeJoanie, it's a $6 orange. Let's
be real.
I've been watching that, andit's been trending. It
is trending is because theyreally lean and it is out. The
other thing is, it's outside.It's outside thinkers who are
(33:33):
driving these campaigns. It isnot coming from the inside outs
or from the outside in, which ishow I staff noble West, frankly,
like the majority of my team,not everybody, but the majority
of my team has come from theentertainment industry, because
I want outside thinking, right?Don't like I, I'm, I think I
(33:53):
just know that I am not youraverage gal, right, like most
people. Well, yeah, but I mean,like, you know, I grew up in the
farm, and then I left and wentto New York City for 15 years
and chose to come back because Iwanted to bring all my skills to
this industry. That's notnormal, right? So, but that's
where, like, we've brought somany like, that's where, like,
the creative team is, like,lives in LA and is super
(34:16):
creative. But that takes, it'sgoing to take that outside
thinking in order to makechanges on the inside of the ag
industry. I
totally agree with you, becauseI feel like if you've grown up
in that it you don't see thatsexiness, like it just, it's
like it's part of yourseasonality, or it's part of
your job, or it's, it's and ifyou're really looking to
(34:38):
differentiate and to bring inmore of that sexy I can hear
that typing Allie was superloud. So if you're looking to
like really differentiate andmake something super sexy, it's
it's amazing what bringingsomebody from the outside can
do, because it helps you seewhat's special in it. And I
(34:59):
remember. Like, I grew up inWestern Oregon, we had kind of
a, you know, not a subsistencelifestyle, but, I mean, we
literally lived on salmon wecaught ourselves and venison we
harvested ourselves. We hadcattle. So beef was grown on our
farm. We had chickens, we hadeggs like, you know, like we'd
can our own green beans, we'dfreeze our own corn, like that
(35:20):
was just part of our life, andit was a lot of work. So we
hated it. When we were kids, wewere like, oh my god, this is
like, slave labor. Like, we werelike, This is not cool. Like, we
can't go do the things with theother kids, because we're like,
busy weeding the garden andcanning. But when our friends
would come over and they wouldsit down, and my mom would serve
them, like, green beans, forexample, fresh cut, frozen sweet
(35:44):
corn that we had frozenourselves and it was grown in
our garden, they would like rantand rave about how amazing the
corn was. It's corn. I mean,it's corn, like, there's corn,
is corn, but it was like thatlittle kid, you know, that's
like, that it's got the juice,like, he goes crazy over the
corn. It's amazing how seeingthe response from somebody from
the outside taste something forthe first time, it inspires you
(36:08):
to actually rediscover why it'samazing and special. You know,
like, we would be like, salmonagain. Are you kidding? Like, if
I king salmon again, I'm gonnabe angry. Can we just have
burgers at McDonald's,
like all the other you know whatI mean, when, like, freshpacking
Salmon.
I can't believe we were like,uh, salmon again, you know? But
right? It's kind of funny. Andwhen we lived in Alaska, it was
(36:30):
the same way, when you invitepeople over for dinner in
Alaska, they're like, as long asyou promise you're not serving
salmon or halibut, we'll bethere. Because it's like, you
just get you get used to it. Butagain, I think Alaskan salmon,
there's a lot we can learn fromAlaskan salmon and how it
differentiated itself. And lookat the Copper River fishing
fleet and how theydifferentiated Copper River
salmon against other fisherieslike Bristol Bay, and they have
(36:53):
effectively captured not only apremium, but like a FOMO
phenomenon, where everyone linesup and waits for the very first
Copper River salmon openers tobring in the fish to the Port of
Seattle. And that is effectivemarketing. And when I lived in
Cordova in the early 2000s I gotto spend a lot of time with
people who were developing themarketing around that Copper
(37:14):
River salmon phenomenon. And itreminded me of what I'd heard
growing up on the Oregon coastwith the Tillamook folks. I grew
up with the Tillamook kids andthe Tillamook farmers and
dairymen, and in the 80s, thatwas a very tough time, timber,
fishing and farming collapsed inour communities all in the same
decade. It was a decimated useconomically. And Tillamook was
(37:36):
really smart, because they said,look, we've got a really special
thing going here. We've neverallowed antibiotics in our milk
because we use a special, youknow, culture for our cheese,
and we've always tested forthat, but we never talked about
it. You know, everyone's hadthese quality standards, but we
never talked about it, becauseit was just what we did. And
somebody really smart, and I'dlike to find out who, and shake
(37:56):
their hand, they have turnedTillamook into a Goliath in our
in, you know, regionally, thatit still operates at a unit
economic efficiency. I stillknow a lot of the dairymen. I
mean, they're, you know, myfriends and family, dairy
people, yeah, dairy people. Imean, they're, they call
themselves the dairy men, evenwhen they're women, like, it's
(38:16):
old school Oregon, you know,just like the Dory men are the
dorymen, even though a lot ofthem are Dory women that go out
and fish, um, it's just it's soold school and I, and I love
that old school because I'm fromit. But you know, when I think
about how they successfully madewhat they did sexy, it changed
the whole market. It actuallygave them a competitive
(38:38):
advantage that other peoplecouldn't compete against, and it
saved them from obsolescence.And the amazing thing is, they
grouped together. They likeaggregated. They created a
collaborative experience underthat brand banner. Well, also
that
they they shared resources. Inthis case, you shared, like
commodity marketing, okay, but Ithink that shoni, you bring up
(39:01):
the point of something that I'vebeen really kind of noodling on,
which is, do we give farmers thebenefit of the doubt that they
are doing a good job? Or we do?We just assume that they're not?
I think, I think the consumerassumes that they're not. Yeah,
and it's really an incrediblething to be able to elevate what
they're doing, right? Becausethey're doing so many great
(39:23):
things, it just never gets told.The story never gets told.
And I'm going to tell you why,because real, like legitimate,
like traditional farmers, theyare going into farming because
they are quiet, they arehardworking. They don't, they
don't need, like, they're notlooking for accolades. Like,
(39:45):
that is a traditional under theradar farmer, and there are some
exceptions. And like, Thankgoodness for those exceptions.
Like, you know, like a baninaMontes from Burroughs family
farm. Thank goodness for her.Like, she is championing. I get,
like, but she, but, like,
a banina is like, she'snaturally has that affinity,
(40:07):
like,
working on this almond thismorning.
This is an amazing go to thefarm day, if you ever can, it's
amazing. And then you can juststay at my house So, but, like,
that's like a different that'slike a different experience,
right? Like, you have somebodywho has a natural affinity to
tell a story and it feelscomfortable communicating in
(40:28):
that that is her, but thenthat's not everybody in her
family. That's what they are. Soblessed in that way. Now most,
if not all, farmers are justlike, I just want to grow the
food. I went into farmingbecause I want to work hard. I
want to work the land. I mean,like, my husband, literally, he
could go, he his best week wouldbe if nobody called him on the
(40:51):
phone, and he could just worktotally, yeah. I mean, like,
it's just, I'm just gonna weldand I'm going to grow things,
and I'm going to check thewater, I'm going to get the
indication, and I am just goingto do my thing with you guys,
and we're going to just have agreat week. First, you know, he
doesn't want to talk to areporter,
yeah, take pictures. It's sotrue. And you know that
(41:16):
underpinning of this exact thingyou're talking about is its
culture, and I think it's wherethere's a huge opportunity to
shift the paradigm. And one ofthe things that we've been
working on in the snacktivistcamp is with a business model
that we're partnering with atscale, value chain, you know,
(41:36):
processing people. If wechallenge brands they're doing
really high quality procurement.They're working with farmers and
farm, you know, commodities,crops, ingredients that are
better and we challenge to gettheir marketing departments
involved with procurement. Like,those are the things you have to
(41:57):
be like. They're blind spotsthat could be a major problem.
You know what I mean? Like as wereally work to kind of dig, dig,
dig and find new ways. Like, Idon't like anything that
restricts free markets, to behonest. That's my personal
political belief. I am a fan ofdistributed, accessible free
(42:18):
markets, and I don't see enoughof that in agriculture, you
know, I mean, and especially inthe big row cropping worlds, I
think it's better in specialtycrops, like, there's a lot more
access, but, yeah, like, but,you know, when you're dealing
there's
more it's because you don't needbig meals. That's the other part
of it. You pick the
(42:38):
peaches and you put them in abox and they go to market. You
know?
Well, it's not quite thatsimple. What videos to prove,
videos, videos to prove that
middle they don't have to beclean, they don't have to be
baked,
nope, nope, nope, nope. That'snot all true. If a crop is field
(42:59):
packed, then it can be fieldpacked, and then go straight to
market. So like in my familybusiness now, all of the melons
that are grown are actuallyfield pack boxes. Go to the
field. They are hand packed, andthen they go to and then they're
sold directly. They go to getchilled in the in the in the
cold, in the cold storage, andthen they go to get shipped from
(43:21):
a shipping dunk, but in not, Idon't even want to say the olden
days, because, like, when I wasa child, so like, 25 years even,
like 20 years ago, yeah, 20years ago, the melons were pet,
weren't picked, and they wereloaded in trailers, and then
They went to the package thatthey were washed, they were
(43:43):
bathed, like they were dried, orlike they were tried, and then
they were packed in a package.So because I worked in the bin,
I worked at the package, yeah,15 years of my childhood. So all
the jobs, all the jobs, exceptfor packing. So, yeah, but it
(44:03):
can
be consumed without that wheat.Can't dare, I mean, like, well,
that's what I'm saying.
That's what I'm saying. Youraverage grower does not have
what, $25 million to build likea mill, no, and they're not
gonna, it's just that. Butthat's, again, why Co Op
started. That's why, like,that's why mills are getting
(44:24):
bigger. That's why the littleguys are getting squeezed out.
And that's just how it's going.I
know, isn't it wild? So we'regonna have to do a part two to
keep unpacking this. And I knowyou and I need to just get
together and put our headstogether as we're, you know,
like, like, snack deviceconsiders itself to be an
innovation company. So we'relike, let's try this. Let's,
(44:46):
let's see if this works. We havethe beauty of being smaller, so
we can try things and actuallysay, honestly, we're going to
try this and see if it works.And then have that feedback loop
to the farmers so that we'relike. Farmers. Did this work out
well for you or not Co Op thatwe're that we partner with Co
Op? Did this work well for youguys or not? I can't store
(45:08):
millions of pounds of stuff, butthey can, but they don't
necessarily have access to thebrands that want differentiated,
you know, ingredients. So like,there's some collaborative
models that are coming alongthat I think have great power to
help preserve that into, youknow, IP story, that humanized
story and help us deliver higherquality foods to the market with
(45:32):
story. But we need storytellers.We need the noble Wests of the
world. We need the alleys thatcan help us understand how to
tell a provocative story that'smeaningful to modern consumers.
So I'm so
happy though, there's the story,there's the creative, but
there's also the media planning,there's also the advertising, my
gosh, and that's a science thatis, that's a whole nother thing
(45:55):
we need to talk about. And thatis way, that's where that is,
like, the most absolutelycritical
part of it. Know what? We shouldliterally just do a session just
on that. And honestly, I don'tknow much about that, because
I've never had the budgets toparticipate in those realms,
like the advertising and paidmedia realms, and I would love
(46:16):
to get educated on how I knowit's technical. I know it's
actually a science and an art atthe same time. Yeah, I would
love for you to educate me andour listeners on, like, really
what that represents and howpowerful that is for the food
system,
absolutely.
So we'll do that next time. Ali,absolutely, who want to get in
touch with you and follow yourwork? Where? How do they do
(46:38):
that? Where
do they go? You could go to weare noblewest.com and drop an
email in the comments. You alsocould find me on LinkedIn. I
spent quite a bit of time there,and I'm Allie Cox, a, l, I, C,
O,
X, awesome. We will drop thosein the show notes. And I this is
(46:58):
a fun conversation, because,again, we're just going there.
We're pushing those boundarieswhere we're brainstorming.
Heaven forbid I love that wedon't. We need more of that in
America today. So free thinking,Yeah, and just going for it. And
so to our listeners, if youloved these kind of
conversations, you loved thisconversation, please share with
your network. And that's howpodcasts get out there into the
(47:21):
world, and thank you so much forlistening today, and we'll see
you next time this
episode of the regenerative bydesign podcast is brought to you
by snacktivist nation elevatingclimate smart crops and
regenerative supply chainsthrough innovative products and
transparent market development.
Thank you for joining me on theregenerative by design podcast,
(47:41):
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You.
Joanne, hello everyone. You arelistening to the regenerative by
(00:04):
design podcast where we will begetting to the root of health,
climate, economics and food. Iam your host. Joni quinwell
Moore. Join me on this journeyas we explore the stories of
individuals and organizationswho are working to realign our
food system with both humanhealth and the health of our
planet. Hello everybody, andthank you for joining the
(00:24):
regenerative by design podcast.I am so thrilled to have our
guest here today, Ali Cox ofnoble West, calling in from
California. Welcome Ali,
thanks for having me on. Joni,
yeah, I'm so excited I Ali and Ihave known each other for a
couple of years, and I think,you know, we definitely
pioneered a lot of ourenthusiasm for each other around
(00:47):
our love of making farmers thecenter of the story and
rethinking that farmer narrativeand the American food system,
not just through the lens oflike tractors and overalls, But
through farmers as sophisticatedCEOs that feed the world. He's
going to kick it off with that
exactly because it's really notabout the tractor. It's really
(01:09):
not about in my, my opinion,it's not really about the AG,
it's actually about the food.This is a food system. It's not
an it should not be anagriculture system. So that is a
thing where I feel like, Joni,you and I have always sort of
aligned on, like, how do we givethe people what they need in
order to make decisions that arevalue based? And also, you know,
(01:33):
just climate focused in a lot ofways
and a percent. And, you know,it's interesting, what the power
of words and like justvernacular. Because when you
talk to farmers today who arefrustrated with the current
model, they often mention thatthey don't like just growing
commodities. They actually wantto grow food again. And from
(01:54):
people outside of our work, theyoften don't, don't realize that
that's happening, and I thinkthat contributes to that
separation culturally betweenagriculture and food, when in
reality, that's where our foodsystem starts, is there in the
field. And so I know that youhave an incredible amount of
wisdom when it comes tounpacking this content and this
(02:14):
story, because you work as amarketer, and I would love for
you to share with our audience alittle bit about noble West and
your background, you actuallyhave a really fun and
fascinating story. But how didyou get to where you are today,
where you're you'reintentionally working to tell
those stories about high qualitysupply chains that impact human
health, impact the climate, butalso, you know, still make the
(02:35):
farmer the hero of the story.
Thank you. Um, so noble West isa marketing agency, and we do
quite a few advertisingcampaigns that are all
agriculture or food ingredientbased. So like I started off,
saying we're an agriculturalmarketing agency, and frankly, I
don't actually think that'sperfectly accurate anymore. Now
(02:57):
I think we are a sustainabilityconsultancy. I think that we are
climate focused consultancy, andreally we're just getting more
and more narrow in our approachand but it all kind of goes back
to the food ingredient. We workwith farmers, we work with
processors, we work with Mills,who are looking to create more
(03:18):
value for their food to get abigger ROI. We work in a lot of
ag tech companies who arelooking to sort of stabilize and
like future, like future focusof future minded farming
operations. And it's a real it'sa real honor. And I think I
should probably start off bymentioning I am a fifth
(03:39):
generation farmer on both sidesof my family, so on my mom's
side and my dad's side. So Ihave always grown up in farming.
All of I have, you know, beenraised by all entrepreneurs and
risk takers. Let's be real. Sofor me, it's really about like,
it's really about honoring myhistory in my past, but quite
(04:01):
frankly, understanding that whatGod is here is not going to get
us there, and so we have a lotof work to do. Because I think
the whole crux of the matter is,is that farmers, especially if
they're a contract farmer, andthey don't own their own brand
or they don't own their ownprocessing equipment, they are
(04:22):
effectively just like a cog inthe supply chain, which means
that they're only compensated onyield and nothing else. They're
not compensated on thequalitative measures, on how
they farm, on the investmentsthey make on farm. So for them,
they're trying to be asefficient as possible and create
the most yield, which, as you weall know here, that's the
(04:46):
freaking problem, and that alsodoesn't align with what
consumers want. And it also justdoesn't incentivize like,
really, like, some of thequalitative like, like things
that consumers are looking for,which is. Is, right? And, you
know, if you don't have a brand,you really, it's a whole
different story.
Yeah, it's interesting howyield, and this kind of just
(05:09):
quantity over quality paradigmhas really taken hold across the
food system, the majority of thefood system, and I often like to
say it's like a it's like a tugof war between efficiency and
effectiveness, because we needefficiency. We don't want waste.
Do we want high productivity inwhatever way is reasonable and
(05:32):
holistic, but we really need tomake sure that it's effective,
and if the effectiveness of anyactivity in food and agriculture
comes down to impact on humanhealth and resiliency in
pertaining to the environmentand and climate, etc. So if
we're driving efficiency at thecost of effectiveness and
creating an epidemic, a dietrelated disease and an enormous,
(05:55):
you know, tragedy ofenvironmental destruction, then
it doesn't matter how efficientit is, it will ultimately fail
because it's an unbalancedsystem. You know, I feel like in
some commodities, this has beenway more pronounced than in
others. And I know you're fromCalifornia, which has an
incredibly rich and biodiversefarming sector. What are the
(06:17):
crops that you've historicallyworked with, and what are the
ingredients that you'repassionate about that are more
regionally representative fromyour past, growing up as a as a
farm kid, or even now, the stuffthat you're working with today?
Well, in California, there areover 400 crops that are grown
and marketed through theCalifornia marketing order,
(06:38):
through the CDFA, and for all ofthose, like ag junkies out there
who are listening to thispodcast. If you're like me, I
you'll probably find a lot ofinterest of value in reading the
California the CDF, CaliforniaDepartment of Food and Ag
acreage report. It is absolutelyfascinating. Top exports in from
(07:01):
California being dairy, grapesand almonds in most cases, and
then stone fruits, reallycitrus. Stone fruit are really
close behind. So what I wouldsay is we work in like I think
that we're just really becomespecialty crop experts, and it's
(07:23):
so much so that now, like we'reworking in, you know, with ag
tech companies who do specialour specialty crop ag technology
experts and whatnot. And, youknow, on our family farm, we
grow almonds, we grow walnuts,we have tomatoes, we have beans,
we have apricots, we havecherries. And then in my husband
and my farm management business,we do contract harvesting and
(07:46):
contract management foradditional crops, but very
heavy, especially like we'rebased in Stanislaus County,
which is an enormous almondgrowing region. It's just this,
this perfect climate ecosystemfor almonds. It's not humid,
it's incredibly hot. It's alsowet in the winter,
traditionally. So anyway, sothat's what we grow. So by the
(08:11):
way, yeah, thank you. We like tothink so, yeah. And so we at
Noble West, we really work onthe specialty crops, although we
have done quite a fewregenerative projects, as you
know, and which, andregenerative, frankly, is like
being driven from the Midwest.And I think it's just because,
(08:32):
like, there's less cropdiversity and bio, like
biodiversity. And so it'sactually, I want to just say,
easier to grow regeneratively,because there's less factors. So
if you think about regenerativefarming on an almond orchard
versus like a wheat field, it'sa whole different situation.
(08:53):
Where, in wheat it's reallyabout like how you're telling
how often you're telling thedepth of your tilling and
whatnot. In almonds, it's aboutthe type of livestock that
you're managing. It's about, youknow, because there isn't, it's
how you absolutely change howyou harvest. Are you doing off
ground harvesting versus onground harvesting, dust
(09:14):
creation. So there's so manyfactors. And the same goes for
fresh produce also. So like, astrawberry field, like, you
can't, like, put like, you know,like an almonds you would put,
like, there's a lot of sheepthat are now, like, running
through orchard, like greenpasture orchards, and having
like, the best life ever, like,that is not you cannot do that
in produce. You have all sortsof food safety issues anyway,
(09:39):
but it's part of it. But I mean,I think that Joni, what you have
done, and with this podcast andwith your brand snackivist, is
really, I think, creatingeducation for consumers in a way
that maybe they didn't havebefore, and that's just
something that I am so such. I'msuch a fangirl of yours, and.
(10:00):
And admire your approach, Iknow. So
it's so great because it, youknow, I immediately found and
I'm a nurse. I mean, I'm a nurseand a biologist. I was a
biologist first, and a nursesecond. But in nursing, your job
is, you are the interpreter ofthe medical system, because
you're the person who actuallytalks to the patients like, you
(10:20):
know, in the medical setting,you know, you come in, the
doctor might say a few words,you chances are you don't
understand it. And it's, it'sthe nurses that really do the
heavy lifting when it comes toeducation and implementation of
anything. And so I feel like, ina way, brands are like the
nurses of the food system, inthat way, because they are that
(10:41):
connection point and that pointof humanization between
agriculture and all the bigmoving parts of the food system
and the end consumer. It'sreally where that that touch
point happens, unfortunately, inCPG. I mean, CPG is a consumer
packaged goods that's theconsumer side that is an
expensive and very difficultplace to do business right now
(11:04):
that I think most brands arereally struggling, where their
access to capital and theiraccess to money to pay for
education has been severelycompromised just because of the
economy and the way that thesystem is built, which has been
a struggle. I know that thoughyou know my friends and
colleagues that are in themarketing and branding side you
(11:24):
know, have really felt that, andit's it's unfortunately ill
timed for the regenerativemovement, because I feel like
there's never been a moreimportant time to really that
consumer humanization narrative.It's so critical right now, and
people are aching for it. Peopleare aching for brands that they
can connect with and that theyfeel like are providing that
(11:46):
education and that connectionthat they desperately feel like
they need,
and Joanie that they can afford.Yeah, exactly.
I mean, most of us can't affordto go to Erwan every day, sorry,
airwan, Whole Foods, all ofthose places. I mean, the
reality is, is that the averageAmerican is dependent on Walmart
for a large portion of theircaloric caloric intake every day
(12:08):
because of the reality of theireconomics and discretionary
spending.
Although I do have to say, youmentioned Walmart, yeah, Walmart
gets an incredibly bad rap in alot of ways. But I do need to
say, like, speaking from again,back to produce, because we work
in specialty project gigatronwith Walmart has been, like,
humongously game changing, yeah.And is the drive, frankly, for
(12:37):
more sustainably grown produce.And we just don't see that
following in the middle of thestore, if I'm being honest, like
that's like, it's driving and soproject Giga Tron, what is it?
104 point checkpoint like that,like, grower, grower, packer,
shippers and produce have tocomply with in order to be
(12:58):
eligible for purchase in theproduce section, they're
auditing social responsibilitywith their farmers, water
management, AG, technology,packaging, recyclable, like
recycling, like, I mean, it is,it is on, it is very intense on
farm. It's also super intense inthe packing sheds. So like that
(13:20):
is a driver, and I just, Iwonder and hope, honestly, when
that is going to be the case forCPG, so for that, and that is a
place where I don't know. Idon't know, based on private
label, how is private labelhelping or hurting us? I think,
typically, it's hurting us. Ibelieve in de commoditization. I
(13:43):
think that, like I wantconsumers to have more of an
understanding of the brands thatthey do support. But okay,
you're we're talking a lot aboutbrands. So Joanie, who do you
think is responsible foreducating the public about how
to make food choices that alignwith their values that they
maybe didn't even know about
that's a tough one, because Ithink there's so many people in
(14:06):
so many organizations thatprobably, like, inadvertently
contribute to the knowledge baseof customers, some of them being
big, like, really, like, kind ofoff the radar. You wouldn't even
think it. But like, celebrityinfluencers and whatnot, and
again, those are those thingsthat, like emerging brands,
cannot afford to access. But Ifeel like a lot of the consumer
(14:30):
discovery around new diettrends, new brands that are, you
know, maybe spotlighting supersustainable ingredients. Often
the break comes when there'ssomebody who's big and on stage
and has a lot of natural PRwhole discovers it. And you
know, I've been working foryears to try to get a celebrity
(14:50):
to just even back the plight oflike underutilized crops, like
millet, sorghum, there's a wholeslew of underutilized crops that
would you. Know, really make alot of sense to bring into our
food system in a more major way.But I've yet to find a celebrity
who was interested in backingsomething like that, because it
costs so much to to get theirtime. So, you know, there's
(15:12):
brand. There's definitely beenbrands that have been very
successful at harnessing thatinfluencer pool. And you know,
where we're, where most brandsare at are the micro
influencers, and they pull a lotof weight. I feel like the whole
Snapchat world, the Institute,Instagram and YouTube shorts, is
now kind of leading the chargeon disseminated, decentralized
(15:35):
marketing education at theconsumer level. Because, you
know, even though the bigcelebrities, like, they get a
lot of the attention, like, Ifeel like they make a splash,
and suddenly everyone's talkingabout something. But you know,
these micro influencers can bereally, really powerful. And you
know, they can be you can havean army of small scale
influencers that reach localizedor niche, focused demographics,
(15:56):
and they can really do a lot toeducate consumers and make it
not like a brand educationpiece, because people are
suspicious of brand lededucation sometimes, because
there's an ulterior motive.
Well, we're all trying to stayin business, right? Yeah, yeah,
which I would argue is the samefor the farmers and like, that's
what kills me. Is it like thereare so many? I mean, the average
(16:19):
in California, the average farmsize is 470 acres, okay, nobody,
nobody is getting rich on 470acres, even, unless you're
maybe, like, 10 years agogrowing cannabis illegally.
Like, let's be real. So, yeah, Iknow what I mean. Like you, the
thing is, there there's nosuccession planning. So, like,
(16:40):
that amount of acreage like, ifyou have like, if you have like,
like, that's not enough moneyfor a family to live on. No, I
would imagine
a huge portion of those folksprobably have to have a one of
the adults on the you know inthe household have an outside
job to pull in benefits and astable salary? Well,
(17:02):
absolutely. And also it's reallysad because, like, and this is
something I do want to talk toyou about, because I am super
passionate about this, like, butit's really sad because you have
families that are growing up inthis agriculture, like, culture.
They've, they've probably an FFAor in 4h this is part of their
culture, and it's not reallygoing to be a viable option,
(17:24):
because, like, they will not beable to afford a family, and
there's probably cousins andwhatnot. But I do have to say so
like, that pulls on myheartstrings, because, you know,
I grew up a farm kid, and that'sa lot of that is part of that is
my community, yeah, right,Legacy community, whatnot. And I
love it. It's not all of who Iam, obviously, but it is an
important part of who I am, sobut I just don't this is where I
(17:49):
think over and over and overagain, brands have gotten it
wrong, and marketing has gottenit wrong is they are advertising
the farming lifestyle, like thepicture of like the, you know,
the video of, like the farmerwaking up before sunrise,
getting their coffee, walking intheir truck, like that is not
supposed that is not that is alovely story that is completely
(18:14):
out of touch for basically 98%of like the country, like, let's
just speaking domestically, like98% like, they're only like 2%
of people now are farmers. Itused to be like 50% like 100
years ago, yeah. So, like,that's where, like, we cannot
market that lifestyle. What weneed to market is affordable
(18:35):
food grown by people who arecompensated fairly. And that's
like, that is where I cancontinue to see like, brand just
get it wrong. Like, don't marketthat story. Market like the
value and the integrity of thefood and not the lifestyle,
because that is where I justthink angry farmers are going to
get more and more angry. Andit's not helpful. It's not
(18:57):
helpful. It's not helpful to thefood system. Let's focus on,
like, doing whatever it takes toget, like, to be paid fairly,
either through a call pool,either through like, some sort
of standardization or whatnot,so that you can continue to
actually produce the food. And,I mean, in California, like,
there's, there's a wonderfulvideo that this video from, made
(19:20):
in Fresno, about, like,literally, how, like, 100 like,
90% of them will just say 90% orsome crazy number of like, all
the stone fruit grown in thecountry, all the citrus, is all
grown within 100 miles ofFresno, California. And just
like, be like, because of waterlegislation, like water
legislation and regulation andwhatnot. Just like, if that was
(19:43):
to be compromised, how many lessnutrients would be out in the
food system?
Yeah, it'd be significant.
Not like organically grown,regeneratively grown,
conventionally grown, whatever.It would just be significant.
And that's just where I thinkthere. Just such, like, I cannot
believe the amount of frictionbetween climate activists and
(20:05):
farming activists,
right? But you can't just noteat. I mean, that's the whole
thing.
Consumers are like, Oh, screwit. I'm just gonna get the
cheapest, like, whatever, youknow, and but it's like, Isn't
it sad? It is sad.
And I feel like so many of uslive in that weird divide right
there totally and I agree thatswitching the focus on the
(20:30):
farmer as the hero, but not asan archetype person as much. I
mean, we obviously love ourfarmers and love who they are,
but what are they doing thatactually makes the food better
quality. It's not by them livingthe lifestyle of being a farmer
that just automatically makes itbetter. You know, I mean, like,
like, just because it's farmerconnected doesn't mean it's
(20:50):
better quality. But if yourfarmer can articulate their
philosophy and the things thatthey do to actually create a
better system that's going todeliver more nutrition, that's
going to be more climateresilient. That's going to be
more environmentally sound.That's That's provocative,
because, again, for me, I getvery excited when I think about,
how can we add diversity ofvalue streams to farms, so that
(21:14):
bushels per acre, or whatever,the metric of, you know, timber,
same thing, it's board feet peracre, you know, the metric of
productivity of farmlandsuddenly has a diversity to it
as well. So we've got the actualproductivity, which is yield,
but then we also have like,productivity, which is like,
Hey, are you doing really goodnutrient management? Are you
(21:36):
reducing how much pollution isgoing into the local water, you
know, table in the water system,are you? Are you reducing
topsoil blow off and runoff,which is also big time
environment, environmental thingthat actually can be very
costly, like when you look atthe cost of dredging waterways
to get all of that topsoil outof the waterways, that is
(21:58):
actually a huge externalitiescost. I love thinking of the
farm economy as something morecomplex than just. How many
bushels of wheat Did youproduce? Was it higher quality?
Did it have fewer syntheticchemical residues on it? Does it
have a higher, you know,phytonutrient profile, for
(22:19):
example, like, if you're growingsomething that maybe you know.
And of course, I always defaultto these oddball crops that I'm
obsessed with, like sorghum.But, you know, you look at
sorghum, it's an inexpensivecommodity. It's mostly sold into
animal feed, but it actually hasphytonutrients that contribute
to really great gut health andalso in naturally high in
antioxidants. Some of thespecies are comparable to
(22:42):
pomegranate and blueberries whenit comes to antioxidant
antioxidant concentrations, thatis something that is a point of
differentiation that couldeventually make the farming of
that crop more profitable,because you're not just selling
empty carbohydrates anymore.You're actually selling
something that has more layersof value. And then we love
sorghum, because it doesn't needa lot of irrigation, it needs
(23:03):
very few chemical inputs. It'ssuper climate resilient. So
there's a lot of wins there.Those are the things we don't
hear about. And the farmers thatwe work with that are doing this
kind of innovation at the fieldlevel. They get really excited
about that. And I love what yousaid. It's really about how that
affects food, that affects foodquality, that actually makes for
(23:24):
a healthier population ofAmericans when we're consuming
those foods. Now, how do we makeit more affordable? Back to
Walmart. God bless Walmart. Onsome things I tell you. I know
they get a lot of a lot of flackfrom the regenerative and from
like some of the better for youcommunities. But you know,
during the whole entire UN yearof millets, the United Nations
had a big year where would theytalked about millet, sorghum and
(23:47):
these crops and how importantthey are. The only retailer in
the world who called me to askme how they could participate
and get involved with millet andsorghum and things was Walmart.
Nobody else I tried to. Ichallenged Whole Foods, I
challenged sprouts, I challengedall of them. Nobody would talk
to me about it. Nobody cared.Walmart makes it for and reaches
(24:11):
out and says, we want to, wewant to learn more from
a sustainability person like,who called you from Walmart. I'm
just curious. Like, like,department wise, like, that.
We're in the where in the echochamber is
that, you know, they were, theywere in more of the mid
executive layer of management,and it was a brand, um, I'm
still not 100% clear what theirroles were, which is
(24:33):
interesting. They weren'tbuyers. Okay, so there's a
disconnect. It signals to me,there's a major disconnect
between the narrative at thebuyer level, which are the
gatekeepers of the Americanretail system, and what's
happening up in the executiveand middle management level,
where they're like, Wait, whyaren't we doing this? Why aren't
we working with brands that aredoing, you know, working with
(24:55):
farmers that are growing thesefoods. And again. It just is
reflective of an overlyconsolidated, hierarchical
system that controls our foodsystem that doesn't respond to
consumer pressure andenvironmental pressure and
nutritional pressure as quicklyas it probably should.
Yeah. Well, I think that'sreally interesting.
(25:19):
Isn't that fascinating? I know Iwas like, you know, I, I'd love
to talk to Whole Foods, um,executive leadership about that
someday, because I, you know,not to be rude. I'd like to take
them to task on it, right,
right? Well, I think that. Butwe just like, I always go back
to who's like, again, if farmersare only compensated on yield,
(25:48):
no, but it's also, but it's alsolike, I know, but it's also
like, I think there's so muchfatigue in so many ways because
legislate like, there's so manyregulatory changes that have
happened over the Last 10 to 15so, like, the baby boomer
farmers are exhausted, like,exhausted. They're like, I just
can't like, this is all justbecome like, it feels like,
(26:11):
whack a mole a little bit. I
feel like they've lost hope inchange.
I mean, I'm, I'm like, relatedto a lot of those kind of
people, right? Um, and so, like,I should be careful. Like, how
much I talk about it honestly athome, because, like, I It's
like, you kind of, like, respectthe hard, mean, it's been like,
(26:32):
you know, 50 years of like, thegrind.
Farmers, no food gets that, thatfarming is more like it's like,
in a way, it should be treatedmore like a utility, like health
care or electricity or municipalwater and roads like it is
something that is essential tothe fabric of our national
(26:54):
security and our optimal operaup, you know, operating systems
as a nation in our GDP, but Wetreat it as like just this kind
of extraction pool, andunfortunately, by treating it as
just an extraction pool, we'resetting it up to be undervalued,
demoralized and going extinct,which is exactly what we're
(27:14):
seeing given the fact that thatyou know, average age of farmers
in America is like 58 to 62 withNo succession plan, as you said,
because they're not economicallyviable, and that is a national
security issue, and I cannotbelieve we're not treating it as
such. That's, well,
you know, there's, I reallyfollow closely what Beth Ford,
(27:36):
the CEO of Land O Lakes, the BigCo Op, kind of, some of her
moves, that is often what shethat is her talk main talking.
That's, I mean, her stumpspeech. But like that is, like
food security is national.National security is what she
continues to preach on. And Ithink there's definitely
(27:57):
something there. Maybe I couldhave her on
the show someday. She's amazing.We know her. I
would listen to that. I do notknow her. I have friends that
know her. But no, she is. She'sjust an amazing game changer for
them.
That is cool. It's just there'sso many layers. But honestly,
your work, Allie, and you knowwhere you sit in the position of
(28:20):
brand development, messaging,marketing, advertising is
something that is actuallyincredibly influential right
now, and especially, I think,where we're at right now, just
culturally, there's this shiftin, like, the trust level of
marketing advertising, access toinformation, etc. Like, what do
you think that your role is inthis marketing capacity to help
(28:44):
shape the future you want to seefor the farming community
and the food system?
I think the pivotal role thatNoble's playing, that I'm really
proud of, is providing moreaccess to information about
consumer insights to farmers,particularly farmers who are row
cropping, so they can makechange, they can quickly pivot
(29:07):
based on because there's, it'sopen, it's open, you know, it's
open, like, land versuspermanent crops, like, like
vines and trees and whatnot.Like, obviously, we can't pivot
quickly on that those are like20 to 30 year investments, but I
think that having more insights,and I'm even seeing like how and
(29:31):
that that comes from prettyprogressive grower, packer,
shippers, providing information,working with their retailers
under State, sharing outinformations on commodity
pricing and all like, whateverthat is. I think that's like a
place that we can really play apart in. And I love doing. I do
think also just we champion herofood ingredients. So if, excuse
(29:56):
me, if a, if a food product.Project is three or less, like
food ingredients. They areperfect, noble West potential
customer, because how the foodis grown, how it was processed
by whom, and with what's with,with, with whatever kind of
value system that they'reutilizing. That is a place where
(30:19):
I think that we could reallytell that story. And then also
just really progressive, likecreative, that's the other thing
is, like, really creative,aggressive, audacious, beautiful
artwork, because that issomething that has not typically
been in the ag industry, right?And then really sophisticated
(30:40):
media planning. And I just like,It still blows my mind that
especially seasonal crops, likethe perishables, I just that
there are not better campaignsaround the seasonality, and
literally, like, blows my mind,and that's something I would
just like to see change. Like,there should be no question that
(31:02):
an average consumer who is likegoing to the grocery store that
is like middle like, I just wantto say like middle class, right,
like, just the normal folk,right? They should know when the
start and stop of the Californiachariot season is, and they
should be running to the grocerystore between, like the middle
(31:25):
of the beginning of April tolike the end of May, because
they are getting local, amazingcherries, right? There should be
no question. It's a wholedifferent experience. And if
that was the case, I think sugarconsumption would go down so
(31:45):
many things right? And then it'slike, and then comes like June
and like, the average consumershould know that now it is
Washington cherry season. Andthen once we get through the
middle or beginning of August,cherry season is now over. So
now we need to think about whatfruits and veggies do we eat in
the fall, you know? And that isa thing where I just feel like
(32:08):
it's so critical that that isreally highly and I just think
the assumption that, like peopleknow, is part of it, and that is
where I think, like seasonal andlike creative campaigns around
food, to highlight that is socritical. Let's like, make it
more fun. Like, there's a reasonwhy. Like, sugar cereal is fun.
(32:31):
The advertising is fun. Theymake it fun to eat. I mean, I
mean, you know, we both havekids like, Oh my God. My kids
are like, Can I get a treat? Wewant to treat cereal. Can we get
a treat cereal? And it's like,you know, and now I, like, break
down in the summer. I'm like,Okay, you can have summer cereal
because there's, like, sugarand, like, at least, I know, you
know, crashing in the middle ofthe
(32:51):
school day. But, like, so forparents in that way, but I
it is so and it is Jody. It isso hard, but that's where it's
like, it's not highlighted.There is a brand that I just
everybody should follow, becausehow they're approaching it is in
and it's because they are notlocal grower, packer, shippers.
Frankly, they are. They're usingoutsourced marketing with really
(33:12):
sophisticated agencies. But sumocitrus, it's a very expensive
piece of citrus. It's a six likeJoanie, it's a $6 orange. Let's
be real.
I've been watching that, andit's been trending. It
is trending is because theyreally lean and it is out. The
other thing is, it's outside.It's outside thinkers who are
(33:33):
driving these campaigns. It isnot coming from the inside outs
or from the outside in, which ishow I staff noble West, frankly,
like the majority of my team,not everybody, but the majority
of my team has come from theentertainment industry, because
I want outside thinking, right?Don't like I, I'm, I think I
(33:53):
just know that I am not youraverage gal, right, like most
people. Well, yeah, but I mean,like, you know, I grew up in the
farm, and then I left and wentto New York City for 15 years
and chose to come back because Iwanted to bring all my skills to
this industry. That's notnormal, right? So, but that's
where, like, we've brought somany like, that's where, like,
the creative team is, like,lives in LA and is super
(34:16):
creative. But that takes, it'sgoing to take that outside
thinking in order to makechanges on the inside of the ag
industry. I
totally agree with you, becauseI feel like if you've grown up
in that it you don't see thatsexiness, like it just, it's
like it's part of yourseasonality, or it's part of
your job, or it's, it's and ifyou're really looking to
(34:38):
differentiate and to bring inmore of that sexy I can hear
that typing Allie was superloud. So if you're looking to
like really differentiate andmake something super sexy, it's
it's amazing what bringingsomebody from the outside can
do, because it helps you seewhat's special in it. And I
(34:59):
remember. Like, I grew up inWestern Oregon, we had kind of
a, you know, not a subsistencelifestyle, but, I mean, we
literally lived on salmon wecaught ourselves and venison we
harvested ourselves. We hadcattle. So beef was grown on our
farm. We had chickens, we hadeggs like, you know, like we'd
can our own green beans, we'dfreeze our own corn, like that
(35:20):
was just part of our life, andit was a lot of work. So we
hated it. When we were kids, wewere like, oh my god, this is
like, slave labor. Like, we werelike, This is not cool. Like, we
can't go do the things with theother kids, because we're like,
busy weeding the garden andcanning. But when our friends
would come over and they wouldsit down, and my mom would serve
them, like, green beans, forexample, fresh cut, frozen sweet
(35:44):
corn that we had frozenourselves and it was grown in
our garden, they would like rantand rave about how amazing the
corn was. It's corn. I mean,it's corn, like, there's corn,
is corn, but it was like thatlittle kid, you know, that's
like, that it's got the juice,like, he goes crazy over the
corn. It's amazing how seeingthe response from somebody from
the outside taste something forthe first time, it inspires you
(36:08):
to actually rediscover why it'samazing and special. You know,
like, we would be like, salmonagain. Are you kidding? Like, if
I king salmon again, I'm gonnabe angry. Can we just have
burgers at McDonald's,
like all the other you know whatI mean, when, like, freshpacking
Salmon.
I can't believe we were like,uh, salmon again, you know? But
right? It's kind of funny. Andwhen we lived in Alaska, it was
(36:30):
the same way, when you invitepeople over for dinner in
Alaska, they're like, as long asyou promise you're not serving
salmon or halibut, we'll bethere. Because it's like, you
just get you get used to it. Butagain, I think Alaskan salmon,
there's a lot we can learn fromAlaskan salmon and how it
differentiated itself. And lookat the Copper River fishing
fleet and how theydifferentiated Copper River
salmon against other fisherieslike Bristol Bay, and they have
(36:53):
effectively captured not only apremium, but like a FOMO
phenomenon, where everyone linesup and waits for the very first
Copper River salmon openers tobring in the fish to the Port of
Seattle. And that is effectivemarketing. And when I lived in
Cordova in the early 2000s I gotto spend a lot of time with
people who were developing themarketing around that Copper
(37:14):
River salmon phenomenon. And itreminded me of what I'd heard
growing up on the Oregon coastwith the Tillamook folks. I grew
up with the Tillamook kids andthe Tillamook farmers and
dairymen, and in the 80s, thatwas a very tough time, timber,
fishing and farming collapsed inour communities all in the same
decade. It was a decimated useconomically. And Tillamook was
(37:36):
really smart, because they said,look, we've got a really special
thing going here. We've neverallowed antibiotics in our milk
because we use a special, youknow, culture for our cheese,
and we've always tested forthat, but we never talked about
it. You know, everyone's hadthese quality standards, but we
never talked about it, becauseit was just what we did. And
somebody really smart, and I'dlike to find out who, and shake
(37:56):
their hand, they have turnedTillamook into a Goliath in our
in, you know, regionally, thatit still operates at a unit
economic efficiency. I stillknow a lot of the dairymen. I
mean, they're, you know, myfriends and family, dairy
people, yeah, dairy people. Imean, they're, they call
themselves the dairy men, evenwhen they're women, like, it's
(38:16):
old school Oregon, you know,just like the Dory men are the
dorymen, even though a lot ofthem are Dory women that go out
and fish, um, it's just it's soold school and I, and I love
that old school because I'm fromit. But you know, when I think
about how they successfully madewhat they did sexy, it changed
the whole market. It actuallygave them a competitive
(38:38):
advantage that other peoplecouldn't compete against, and it
saved them from obsolescence.And the amazing thing is, they
grouped together. They likeaggregated. They created a
collaborative experience underthat brand banner. Well, also
that
they they shared resources. Inthis case, you shared, like
commodity marketing, okay, but Ithink that shoni, you bring up
(39:01):
the point of something that I'vebeen really kind of noodling on,
which is, do we give farmers thebenefit of the doubt that they
are doing a good job? Or we do?We just assume that they're not?
I think, I think the consumerassumes that they're not. Yeah,
and it's really an incrediblething to be able to elevate what
they're doing, right? Becausethey're doing so many great
(39:23):
things, it just never gets told.The story never gets told.
And I'm going to tell you why,because real, like legitimate,
like traditional farmers, theyare going into farming because
they are quiet, they arehardworking. They don't, they
don't need, like, they're notlooking for accolades. Like,
(39:45):
that is a traditional under theradar farmer, and there are some
exceptions. And like, Thankgoodness for those exceptions.
Like, you know, like a baninaMontes from Burroughs family
farm. Thank goodness for her.Like, she is championing. I get,
like, but she, but, like,
a banina is like, she'snaturally has that affinity,
(40:07):
like,
working on this almond thismorning.
This is an amazing go to thefarm day, if you ever can, it's
amazing. And then you can juststay at my house So, but, like,
that's like a different that'slike a different experience,
right? Like, you have somebodywho has a natural affinity to
tell a story and it feelscomfortable communicating in
(40:28):
that that is her, but thenthat's not everybody in her
family. That's what they are. Soblessed in that way. Now most,
if not all, farmers are justlike, I just want to grow the
food. I went into farmingbecause I want to work hard. I
want to work the land. I mean,like, my husband, literally, he
could go, he his best week wouldbe if nobody called him on the
(40:51):
phone, and he could just worktotally, yeah. I mean, like,
it's just, I'm just gonna weldand I'm going to grow things,
and I'm going to check thewater, I'm going to get the
indication, and I am just goingto do my thing with you guys,
and we're going to just have agreat week. First, you know, he
doesn't want to talk to areporter,
yeah, take pictures. It's sotrue. And you know that
(41:16):
underpinning of this exact thingyou're talking about is its
culture, and I think it's wherethere's a huge opportunity to
shift the paradigm. And one ofthe things that we've been
working on in the snacktivistcamp is with a business model
that we're partnering with atscale, value chain, you know,
(41:36):
processing people. If wechallenge brands they're doing
really high quality procurement.They're working with farmers and
farm, you know, commodities,crops, ingredients that are
better and we challenge to gettheir marketing departments
involved with procurement. Like,those are the things you have to
(41:57):
be like. They're blind spotsthat could be a major problem.
You know what I mean? Like as wereally work to kind of dig, dig,
dig and find new ways. Like, Idon't like anything that
restricts free markets, to behonest. That's my personal
political belief. I am a fan ofdistributed, accessible free
(42:18):
markets, and I don't see enoughof that in agriculture, you
know, I mean, and especially inthe big row cropping worlds, I
think it's better in specialtycrops, like, there's a lot more
access, but, yeah, like, but,you know, when you're dealing
there's
more it's because you don't needbig meals. That's the other part
of it. You pick the
(42:38):
peaches and you put them in abox and they go to market. You
know?
Well, it's not quite thatsimple. What videos to prove,
videos, videos to prove that
middle they don't have to beclean, they don't have to be
baked,
nope, nope, nope, nope. That'snot all true. If a crop is field
(42:59):
packed, then it can be fieldpacked, and then go straight to
market. So like in my familybusiness now, all of the melons
that are grown are actuallyfield pack boxes. Go to the
field. They are hand packed, andthen they go to and then they're
sold directly. They go to getchilled in the in the in the
cold, in the cold storage, andthen they go to get shipped from
(43:21):
a shipping dunk, but in not, Idon't even want to say the olden
days, because, like, when I wasa child, so like, 25 years even,
like 20 years ago, yeah, 20years ago, the melons were pet,
weren't picked, and they wereloaded in trailers, and then
They went to the package thatthey were washed, they were
(43:43):
bathed, like they were dried, orlike they were tried, and then
they were packed in a package.So because I worked in the bin,
I worked at the package, yeah,15 years of my childhood. So all
the jobs, all the jobs, exceptfor packing. So, yeah, but it
(44:03):
can
be consumed without that wheat.Can't dare, I mean, like, well,
that's what I'm saying.
That's what I'm saying. Youraverage grower does not have
what, $25 million to build likea mill, no, and they're not
gonna, it's just that. Butthat's, again, why Co Op
started. That's why, like,that's why mills are getting
(44:24):
bigger. That's why the littleguys are getting squeezed out.
And that's just how it's going.I
know, isn't it wild? So we'regonna have to do a part two to
keep unpacking this. And I knowyou and I need to just get
together and put our headstogether as we're, you know,
like, like, snack deviceconsiders itself to be an
innovation company. So we'relike, let's try this. Let's,
(44:46):
let's see if this works. We havethe beauty of being smaller, so
we can try things and actuallysay, honestly, we're going to
try this and see if it works.And then have that feedback loop
to the farmers so that we'relike. Farmers. Did this work out
well for you or not Co Op thatwe're that we partner with Co
Op? Did this work well for youguys or not? I can't store
(45:08):
millions of pounds of stuff, butthey can, but they don't
necessarily have access to thebrands that want differentiated,
you know, ingredients. So like,there's some collaborative
models that are coming alongthat I think have great power to
help preserve that into, youknow, IP story, that humanized
story and help us deliver higherquality foods to the market with
(45:32):
story. But we need storytellers.We need the noble Wests of the
world. We need the alleys thatcan help us understand how to
tell a provocative story that'smeaningful to modern consumers.
So I'm so
happy though, there's the story,there's the creative, but
there's also the media planning,there's also the advertising, my
gosh, and that's a science thatis, that's a whole nother thing
(45:55):
we need to talk about. And thatis way, that's where that is,
like, the most absolutelycritical
part of it. Know what? We shouldliterally just do a session just
on that. And honestly, I don'tknow much about that, because
I've never had the budgets toparticipate in those realms,
like the advertising and paidmedia realms, and I would love
(46:16):
to get educated on how I knowit's technical. I know it's
actually a science and an art atthe same time. Yeah, I would
love for you to educate me andour listeners on, like, really
what that represents and howpowerful that is for the food
system,
absolutely.
So we'll do that next time. Ali,absolutely, who want to get in
touch with you and follow yourwork? Where? How do they do
(46:38):
that? Where
do they go? You could go to weare noblewest.com and drop an
email in the comments. You alsocould find me on LinkedIn. I
spent quite a bit of time there,and I'm Allie Cox, a, l, I, C,
O,
X, awesome. We will drop thosein the show notes. And I this is
(46:58):
a fun conversation, because,again, we're just going there.
We're pushing those boundarieswhere we're brainstorming.
Heaven forbid I love that wedon't. We need more of that in
America today. So free thinking,Yeah, and just going for it. And
so to our listeners, if youloved these kind of
conversations, you loved thisconversation, please share with
your network. And that's howpodcasts get out there into the
(47:21):
world, and thank you so much forlistening today, and we'll see
you next time this
episode of the regenerative bydesign podcast is brought to you
by snacktivist nation elevatingclimate smart crops and
regenerative supply chainsthrough innovative products and
transparent market development.
Thank you for joining me on theregenerative by design podcast,
(47:41):
please take a moment to reviewour channel on your favorite
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