Prepared Foods covers sustainability as one of six ongoing “power trend” topics driving new product development. Here, PF explores the growing and dynamic topic of regenerative agriculture in a discussion with Ryan Slabaugh, founder of Think Regeneration. A former local newspaper editor and publisher, Slabaugh left in 2016 to become the executive director of Acres U.S.A., a 53-year-old mission-driven media and education company focused on soil health protection as a natural resource. In 2022, he founded Think Regeneration, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Colona, Ill.  

Prepared Foods: How do you describe Think Regeneration (TR) and its role?

Ryan Slabaugh: Our role is to work for the leaders in the regenerative movement. We serve them by helping put their visions into action. In the Pacific Northwest, that means working with the Spokane Conservation District and a few dozen entrepreneurs to create a sales, marketing, and education enterprise that opens new markets for large-scale beef, grain, legume, and vegetable growers who do not have local market access.

In the US Southwest, we are exploring how regenerative farms can supply building materials and fabrics that are climate smart and more suitable for a warming, dry, arid desert region. We also want to help connect local food distribution hubs that are still catching up to the rapid population growth of the early 2000s.

In the Great Plains and Midwest, we lead “food-as-medicine” programs that connect farmers who focus on the soil biome with medical providers wanting a path to treat chronic diseases without the need for medication. We will be starting pilot programs in Illinois this year, and holding events in Colorado and Oklahoma this summer and fall for anyone interested.

Elsewhere, we are just starting partnerships with organizations in Texas and Georgia, and exploring programs in Tennessee and North Carolina.

We’re a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. It means we don’t have to charge the farmers and ranchers for their services—in fact, it’s the opposite. We raise money to pay them. We will raise several hundred thousand dollars that will go to hundreds of farmers leading the movement in their communities this year. We help do that through grants, foundation support, corporate donations, and private giving.

PF: You started TR in 2022. Why was the timing right? Where did you see a gap for greater dialogue?

Slabaugh: For me personally, I was ready to start a new venture. I had been on nonprofit boards for several years, had quite a bit of experience starting new ventures for companies, and felt like I was ready to launch this specific concept. We had just come out of the pandemic, and I felt like there was a world waking up and ready to have a real conversation about changing the way we live—especially the way we eat.

That said, the dialogue has always been there, for generations, about the need to change how we live and the way we eat. It’s just a matter of listening and most importantly, acting on it. Often, that’s uncomfortable, sweaty, really lunch pail stuff — it’s not glamorous, and it's actually quite emotional and painful at times.

PF: In what ways might TR interact with finished food and beverage manufacturers? 

Slabaugh: We work with mostly small, start-up companies who can honestly manage their supply chains. The regenerative movement is so young. We see some [finished product] producers really just starting to come online and they are interested and able to measurably demonstrate consistent results across soil biodiversification, nutrient density, and carbon-methane pollution.

As we figure that out—and as consumers become more demanding of responsible food and agriculture practices—we feel these companies will be the ones most ready to prove the desired results. And until the larger food and beverage companies can align their goals beyond carbon and into human health outcomes, we really don’t have a lot of common ground to work toward.

I’m not here to divide the movement. It’s really just about working with those truly committed to building a viable alternative focused on human health and community-based outcomes.

PF: Interestingly, regenerative agriculture appears to be a topic of equal interest to a manufacturer’s head of sustainability, head of R&D and head of ingredient purchasing. Would you agree? 

Slabaugh: What’s missing in the movement today is the CEO, the shareholder, and the board of directors. Those leaders run companies, direct change, and steer the long-term strategies. While we do work with sustainability directors and purchasing directors, we find their goals often at odds with each other, which is a leadership problem.

Here’s a common scenario: The purchasing director gets a goal to decrease annual supply costs by 3%. The sustainability director gets a directive to purchase 30% more regenerative goods that are inherently harder to procure in volume, and therefore are higher priced. Who wins that tug of war? It’s rarely, if ever, the regenerative farmer.

PF: We read the CREO Family Syndicate’s review of top CPG companies and their regenerative agriculture activities. Among those processors identified as leaders were Nestlé, PepsiCo, General Mills and McCain. In one case last July, Nestle announced regenerative agriculture sourcing agreements with two leading wheat suppliers whose products go into DiGiorno frozen pizza. Have you followed these types of announcements?  

Slabaugh: Trust between these types of brands and the regenerative leaders working in communities will take some time. And progress will involve these brands accelerating the move to other outcomes such as human health, farmer pay, and community development.

At the same time, farming with regenerative systems is an all-or-nothing enterprise—it requires a lot of talent and some risk—and requires supply chain partners who are committed at the same level. Operating at a different level of ethics than their producers puts a company at risk of greenwashing, and we need them to recognize that most of the grassroots leaders—and farmers—are trying to change what these companies have built: an over-consolidated food supply that pays farmers the bare minimum and turns their hard work into junk food.

At the same time, it’s not fair to rule them out. The truth is that we need them to change. I might be their biggest critic, but we will be the first to root for those companies to keep moving this direction.

PF: Where do you think food and beverage processors have the biggest misperceptions about regenerative agriculture? 

Slabaugh: The need to scale. Regenerative agriculture requires a producer to understand every animal, every inch of land, and the every-present dynamics evolving in their ecosystem. It’s no longer linear math. Regeneration is non-linear fractals and requires constant adjustments.

More simply put, the biggest long- and short-term threat to the processors that require scale in the supply chain of regenerative goods is to actually require scale. This might be counterintuitive to the purchasers, but it’s a fact that must be understood for this movement to reach mainstream markets.

The 60-year-old mindset of get big or get out actually eliminates growers from the system, at a time when more are desperately needed to manage regenerative systems. To put it one other way—we need more farmers growing regeneratively, not a few regenerative farmers getting bigger and bigger.

PF: What do you most want to convey to food and beverage processors?

Slabaugh: They should come along. It will be fun. There are so many of us who have given up everything to try to make a better world, and we know these large companies have resources beyond our wildest dreams to make this world a healthier place. The need for real change starts at the grassroots level, but as we build a viable alternative for food and agriculture, we don’t want to replace anyone, cancel anyone, or isolate anyone. We just want to create an environment where it’s easy to decide to come along with us, as humans, and create a world where cancer, chronic disease, and nutrition inequalities are not so prevalent.

PF: Have you seen other manufacturers’ in-market regenerative ag decisions / activities that you’d hold up as a good example for others to follow? 

Slabaugh: Trace Femcare is an interesting example. Claire Crunk founded the company to provide a viable, healthy alternative for feminine health products.

She sources regeneratively grown hemp and cotton for her tampons, and manufacturers them to ensure the supply chains are clean. This eliminates microplastic from one part of health care, and we expect her product to disrupt the entire industry. She’s worked incredibly hard, but she found a problem, solved it by sourcing through regenerative farms, and created a ripple effect that will reverberate in countless communities and homes for generations to come.

PF: We see several regenerative agriculture advocates noting that regen ag ingredients are more nutritionally dense than conventional counterparts. How do you address that point in your own discussions with others?

Slabaugh: It’s a nuanced question for now. I believe all indications are pointing toward a direct correlation between the biodiversity of microbiology at the root level in our soil and the nutrient density of the crop. At the same time, all indications are showing that nutrient density is directly related toward our ability to sustain ourselves and prevent disease through our food. Therefore, we believe those who are focusing on the growing practices that build microbiology at the rhizosphere level, and harvesting at peak ripeness, are most likely to be the ones able to contribute to prescription food programs coming online around the country today.

Of course, all this is pretty complicated when you get right down to it, so look for a ton of studies coming out in the next couple years related to this subject. A lot of smart people are working on this.

PF: If a processor wants to make significant strides in regeneratively sourced ingredients in 2025, where should they start? What’s your advice? 

Slabaugh: They can reach out to us, for one. Send me an email or give me a call. Depending on the region, we can connect them to a group of growers or leadership group that is working to build markets for farmers moving toward regenerative systems.

Otherwise, I would suggest attending a regenerative or soil health event. There are hundreds of soil health workshops, and dozens of regenerative conferences popping up around the country, and those often feature the ranchers and farmers who are leading the way in their region.

PF: What’s something you would advise against?

Slabaugh: I would advise against defining a regenerative system on any single metric, such as carbon storage or carbon cycling. Although climate impacts are important side effects to recognize, we have to make sure this movement truly addresses the human health issues that are prevalent today. That’s the biggest, most impactful opportunity we have—to reconnect agriculture to health.

PF: It feels as though topics such as “organic” or “upcycling” are more easily defined for consumers. Do you have thoughts about consumer awareness of regenerative agriculture?

Slabaugh: Like nutrient density, there are people much smarter than me working on this, so I’d deflect to folks like Joni Kindwall-Moore (founder, Snacktivist Inc. baking mixes) and Ben Adolph (co-founder, Merge Impact) on labeling, as they are starting companies to validate supply chains for wholesale regenerative buyers. There are a number of European countries testing out different labeling on climate and nutrition too.

Just to flip this question, another way to look at it is, “Who should be educating consumers?” We’re not sure it’s the farmers, but they are the ones most likely to try today. And that’s why I generally think consumers are in a tough spot. We’ve told them it was normal to be addicted—and I don’t use that word lightly—to the flavor-feedback loop supplied by an over-processed candy bar or snack.

Now we are now expecting them change—to know their farmers, and adjust back to a flavor-feedback loop that isn’t driven by so many short-term empty calories. Rehabilitating our food supply I generally think is an ethical question that should be asked of the food companies and grocery stores, too. How can they use their merchandise space and store space to serve a greater mission than just selling bags of chips and soda pop?

PF: Where do you think we are on the bell curve of people understanding regenerative agriculture? 

Slabaugh: Data would tell us that 3% to 7% of the world recognizes what we’re talking about. So yes, it’s early. Big picture, I’d like to think we are at the tail end of an industrial experiment that had some good intentions, went off the rails, and needed a big correction. Let’s think of this movement as the first scene in Act Three.

PF: Looking ahead, what do you think would represent a meaningful next step in 2025? 

Slabaugh: We have to keep moving, no matter what happens. I just want to see regenerative leaders making a little progress on their goals. I can’t emphasize it enough: this is heartbreaking, challenging work. Big, grandiose goals are fun to talk about, but the work to be done is to grow a tomato, store a tomato, deliver the tomato, and serve the tomato to someone who appreciates the tomato. And then do it again and again.

Learn more about Think Regeneration.
Contact Founder Ryan Slabaugh.