Nature’s Path started its organic cereals production back in 1985. What has changed in the industry since then?
The roots of Nature’s Path stem from my grandfather, who pioneered organic techniques in his own farm during the 1940s and ‘50s. He told my father to always leave the soil better than he found it, and we have held this as our core principle ever since. Nature’s Path was founded with the desire to bring organic food and the promise of ‘earth stewardship’ to more people. Since then we have expanded to four manufacturing facilities, invested in targeted acquisitions, and now sell into over 50 countries. Today, the organic movement has significantly expanded and the market is much more competitive. From a consumer perspective, people increasingly see the connection between what we eat and how it impacts our health and the health of the planet.
The word “organic” has indeed gained tremendous popularity nowadays, however what does the word truly mean when it comes to food consumption?
The promise of ‘organic’ essentially means no synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides, no gmo seed and no fossil fuel fertilizers – and promotes the use of cover crops and crop rotations to build up the health and fertility of the soil. In other words, it is a promise that only natural systems have been used to grow this food. That has not changed since when we first started. Our awareness of the wider impacts which arise from growing food, such as human rights and climate impacts and benefits, has increased massively. Therefore, we have moved to integrate the broader notion of sustainability within our definition of ‘organic food’. For instance, all of our packaging is FSC certified, we only purchase fair trade cocoa, and we have started investing in regenerative organic agriculture.
On the latter point, you have recently partnered with the Canadian Organic Growers to launch a Regenerative Organic Oats initiative - what is your goal with this collaboration?
There is a broad range of practices that are qualified within the organic certification standard. For this reason, investing in regenerative organic certification is important to us. This is a new movement - it takes the foundations of traditional organic agriculture, and layers on top new standards for fair labor, animal welfare, as well as quantifying the benefits good organic practices having in which aid soil health and soil carbon sequestration. In general, organic agriculture has 30% less carbon emissions than conventional agriculture. With regenerative organic agriculture, we are hopeful that these reduced carbon emissions and other benefits can be even further quantified.
In order to address our climate impacts we invested in this program because we wanted to do something more relational and less transactional with our carbon offset budget. So, we partnered with the COG, which focuses on education and building a community within the Canadian organic agricultural sector. We are each contributing $100,000 a year for a minimum of three years, the bulk of which goes towards training organic oat farmers in how they can use regenerative organic practices and creating a community of practice. COG will be creating an open source resource to be shared broadly for other oat farmers to adopt some of these organic, regenerative farming practices.
Do you think organic food is affordable enough to address food scarcity at a global scale?
We have consciously not passed on the full premium we pay for organic ingredients to consumers to make our food more accessible, and as a result we do have a lower margin than our conventional competitors.
Albeit, you can rephrase the proposition that organic food is unaffordable and say instead that conventional food is artificially deflated. When one thinks about the externalities of health epidemics or environmental pollution, one realizes that these are also paid for by the consumer, yet indirectly.
We do recognize that our food is still out of reach for some, and that is why we donate at least $2 million worth of organic food to food banks annually. Many families need access to food banks, and what they need is real, wholesome food.
Do you think that there is room for technology to solve that dilemma, by reducing the costs of producing organic food?
There are, indeed, certain types of technology that organic farmers currently embrace. For instance, if we are able to have better planting through the use of precision techniques, or to water crops more effectively, that is a definite and direct benefit to be garnered from technology which makes organic food more affordable. On the other hand however, I do not see organic agriculture ever embracing genetically engineered seeds. Most GMO seeds on the market are designed to be used with chemical herbicides and pesticides and since their introduction, there has been massive increases in glyphosate and herbicide use, all of which is fundamentally misaligned with organic agriculture. So, we are not anti-technology, but we must make sure that new innovations are compatible with what organic stands for if they are to be adopted.
What are your key objectives for Nature’s Path the next couple of years?
Our purpose is to always leave the earth better than we found it. This is never going to change. We see our sustainability journey and earth stewardship mission to be continually evolving. We are never satisfied with the status quo, and so we want to utilize Nature’s Path to benefit our planet and our society. We will continue to adopt new, organic-compatible technologies, and we will continue to invest in regenerative organic practices throughout our supply chain.
