Simple Mills’ Post

Pondering food system change Here’s what I’m working on. If any of these resonate or you can help, get in touch. Co-founder of Wholesome Heroes - helping people to eat more plants, more variety and more often. With long-term potential for bigger system change that I’ll talk more about once we’re up and running and growing. Co-founder of The Cultured Collective - fermented foods and a natural route for those who want to improve their health through diet. Educating myself about regenerative agriculture and supporting regen businesses with retail/communications/funding advice where I can. I’ll be at Groundswell Agriculture for the third year in a row this week and I love it so much. Early-stage investor in Bold Bean Co - an amazing example that inspiration beats lecturing ten times out of ten. Increased bean consumption has numerous positive knock-on effects, but all consumers need to know is that they are delicious and how to use them. Immersing myself in Rewilding through a 9-month training programme with Embercombe (now complete - the best learning experience of my life so far) and now being part of an all-action community. Is Rewilding the enemy of food production? I think not. Early-stage investor in My Emissions - carbon labelling to impact food choices. Also having conversations with entrepreneurs addressing broader environmental impacts (such as biodiversity) and nutrition density as influenced by differing farming practices. Where would you put your money or time? Can you help me accelerate any of the above? #foodsystemchange #eatmoreplants #foodsystems #futureoffood #sustainability #restorenaturenow

Hayley Painter 🌟 Excited to share the amazing insights from my recent interview with Hayley Painter, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Painterland Sisters, an organic Icelandic-style Skyr yogurt brand. We delved into regenerative farming practices, nutritious food, and the journey of building a successful business in the food industry. Here are some key takeaways: 🌱 Connect with Local Farmers: Hayley emphasized the importance of knowing where our food comes from and building a connection with local farmers. Whether it's at the grocery store or through social media, knowing the story behind the food we consume has a significant impact. 🚀 Embrace Challenges and Turn Them into Opportunities: Scaling up a business involves various obstacles, but as Hayley highlighted, every challenge presents an opportunity for growth. By persisting and making informed decisions, one can overcome hurdles and achieve success. 🌍 Lead with Vision and Positivity: Hayley's valuable lesson encourages us to approach our endeavors with a positive mindset and a clear vision. By sharing our vision with enthusiasm, we can inspire others to rally around our cause. Let's continue to support local farmers and prioritize nutrient-dense foods for a healthier future. For more insights on food, agriculture, and entrepreneurship, I highly recommend checking out the Scaling Secrets Podcast featuring Hayley Painter. If you're interested in learning about innovative regenerative agriculture and supporting their mission, visit painterlandsisters.com for more details. https://lnkd.in/dSGW58BY #RegenerativeAgriculture #Entrepreneurship #HealthyEating #ScalingSecrets #FoodIndustry

The Freiburg Team is conducting three interventions to provide necessary support functions for the conversion of small independent food businesses to cooperative models. They are currently supporting the conversion of one organic food retailer to a cooperative business model by providing process facilitation, consulting, and training. In the fall they will run a 10-week capacity building program for a variety of food entrepreneurs interested in launching their own cooperative start-ups or conversions. They are also working with two organic wholesalers in building out their consulting offerings for supply chain partners who convert to cooperatives. Finally, they are partnering with a citizen shareholder company dedicated to sustainable farming and food systems in the Freiburg region to help finance the consulting and training activities necessary for successful conversions. Each intervention will be evaluated in its effectiveness and efficiency in building the capacity necessary for supporting new cooperative food businesses and supply chains in the Freiburg region. The overarching goal is to understand how and to what extent cooperative models can advance sustainability and economic resilience independent food businesses.

Recently, we’ve been covering a range of disruptions in the food industry. 🧩2/3 of the U.S. faces an obesity challenge, and federal subsidies have created an Agri-Business that favors high fructose corn production, processed foods and a broken beef and meat industry. 🧩A number of noteworthy Disruptors are changing the way we produce food across the globe that’s more healthy, sustainably produced and less taxing on our earth’s resources. 🧩In Boston, Rick Vanzura at Freight Farms shared how they are revolutionizing food growing using a fraction of the resources required with their innovative container farming model 🧩In London, Dan Miller at Steward has leveraged fintech to create a financing model for small farms to secure capital to “grow” their businesses 🧩In Israel, Tsipi Shoham, CEO at GreenOnyx will be sharing how a background in oncology equipped her to develop affordable greens that are nutrient dense and critical for maintaining good health. 🧩And, in Helena Montana, Cole Mannix founder of the Old Salt Co-op shares his journey to upend the meat industry to bring it into balance with the earth and create better beef in a healthier food ecosystem. If you can make it to the Old Salt Festival Next Week in Helena, great! If not, listen in and get DisruptED with us.

Of the $3.1B invested in cultivated meat and seafood, 83% of it was invested in the last three years (1). The industry is heating up, companies are maturing, and the possibility of cultivated meat being made available to the masses has never had greater potential. 📈 Branchfood attended and spoke at the 6th Industrializing Cultivated Meat & Seafood Summit in Boston. Our CEO Lauren Abda presented on the future of the cultivated meat industry discussing technical development timelines alongside startup fundraising strategy. The conversation was dynamic and we were joined in the discussion by fellow investors including Andrew D Ive of Big Idea Ventures, Stu Strumwasser and Francesco Lorenzetti of Green Circle Capital Partners, Udaiyan Jatar of Newtree Impact and Steven Gamo, M Eng of McWin Capital Partners. To dive deeper, read Lauren's interview about Branch Venture Group's approach to investing in this dynamic sector in the food industry: https://lnkd.in/eXQD3XkT (1)https://lnkd.in/eHEf-gss Hannah Poole, Branch Venture Group, Seeratt M., Tetsuro Yamazaki, Mihir Pershad, Laine Clark, Andrew Donahue, Soham Sanyal, #foodtech #socialinnovation #foodstartup #agrifoodtech #foodbusinessstartup #foodpreneur #foodentrepeneur #foodstartups #foodscience #foodbrand #foodindustry #foodconsultant #foodbusiness #foodinnovation #foodbranding #foodtechnology #startupcommunity #foodmanagement #foodnews #branchventuregroup

Hey there, FARM&ME community! 😀 How are you doing today? 🌿 We’re excited to connect with you and hear your thoughts 👩💻 What would you like to hear from us next? New product launches, traditional recipes, behind-the-scenes looks, or something else? Let us know in the comments below! 🗨️ ✍ Stay updated with all the latest news, delicious product updates, and exciting stories by following our page. Together, we’re bringing the authentic taste of Indian kitchens to your home. Follow us and join the journey! 🌾 👉 #FMCG #IndianCuisine #TraditionalRecipes #CustomerFeedback #FarmAndMe #StayConnected #FollowUs #fmcg #startup #foodbusiness

This Earth Day 🌎 we’re celebrating UPSIDE Foods CEO and Founder Uma Valeti, MD. There’s no doubt that being a startup founder can bring lots of worries, especially when your vision is as impactful as revolutionizing the global food system. Maybe that’s why Uma likes to crank up Bob Marley & the Wailers’ Three Little Birds (Don’t Worry About A Thing) to navigate the twists and turns of founder life. As Uma knows well, leading a category creator is no easy feat. UPSIDE develops cultivated meat to reduce the animal and environmental impacts of a global food system that demands increasingly larger amounts of meat to feed a growing population. Last year, they received approval from the USDA to produce and sell cell-cultivated chicken in the U.S. 🐔 So turn up the volume on Three Little Birds to inspire your own innovation: https://nvp.co/3WzfdtI Then read about why our team sees cultivated meat as an innovative solution to the complex challenges of climate adaptation and food stability: https://lnkd.in/gG2DwvgA

🏜 Dry, Red, and Barren. This is the current state for much of the Western Australia wheat belt. What was once a diverse and rich landscape has since been decimated by 100+ years of intensive farming practices. 🌏 And this isn’t exclusive to just Australia. Farming regions around the world have seen their soil and ecosystems become degraded as farms consolidated, monocropping became the norm, and yield was valued above all else. 👉 But for the Western Australian wheat belt, all hope is not lost. Back in 2017, the team at Wide Open Agriculture saw an opportunity to use regenerative farming to create enterprises that would improve the value of crops, improve family farmers' lives, and give farmers a fair price for their work. 🌾 Now as “Australia's leading regenerative food and agriculture company,” WOA has created three distinct enterprises to help regenify the Western Australian wheat belt. 1️⃣ Dirty Clean Food is a direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform that sells 300 different regenerative and artisan products directly to wholesale and individual consumers. 2️⃣ Under the Dirty Clean Food brand, they also have a CPG lineup of regenerative oat milk products. 3️⃣ Lastly, Wide Open Agriculture's ingredients is their new B2B business, reimagining Australian sweet lupins by using proprietary technology to create a nutritious, sustainable plant-based protein that is highly functional and versatile (Buntine Protein®). Lupin is a rotational crop in the Western Australian wheat belt, but currently does not have a large profitable market as a human food ingredient. Check out this week's new episode to learn more about WOA’s journey and their big plans for the future! ReGen Brands #61 is LIVE now on all platforms! Viewing and listening links in the comments! #regenerativeagriculture #regenerativefarming #regenerativefoodsystems #cpg #regenbrands #food #beverage #podcast #sustainability #innovation #entrepreneurship #startups #business #inspiration

💡 "Having origins in agriculture there are very few farmers who would recognise their food when it reaches the plate" - Roger Drew, Co-founder of Eighth Day Foods. For those particularly in the realm of plant-based protein, the journey is marked by intricate, expensive, and environmentally demanding processes. 🚀 But fear not! Eighth Day Foods is stepping in as the hero of the narrative! They're boldly addressing these challenges with Rapid Solid-State Fermentation—an innovation redefining the game in plant-based protein. It's not just affordable and sustainable; it's downright delicious! 🌐 Exciting stuff! Series A raise for Eighth Day Foods is live now on VentureCrowd! Learn more or Invest now 👉 https://bit.ly/4ak14XI Always consider the offer document before investing. #Investing #FoodTech #PlantBasedFood

For Sammi & John Collins, the spark of innovation was born of hardship. After the pandemic shuttered schools and restaurants, their milk co-op said it would pay for only 85% of the milk they had been shipping. So they started thinking about what else they could do with unsold milk. They thought of adding a high-protein drink to their lineup of products. A high-protein, not-super-sweet chocolate milk drink with a clean label and local pedigree checked a lot of boxes: A post-workout beverage, something limited-ingredient for locavores seeking a new source of protein, maybe even a better-for-you treat for kids that parents could feel OK about. Her hope, she said, is to formulate a product that allows them to “target consumers who want to know their farmer, value wellness and appreciate whole foods,” but that starts with packaging, and marketing, that is inviting. The dairy industry is New York state’s largest agricultural sector, generating nearly half of the state’s total agricultural receipts. And it’s boom times for dairy, with the world’s demand steadily rising. But it’s not necessarily traditional liquid milk. As countries develop, the demand for milk drops and enthusiasm for cheese and other products skyrockets. The Dairy Runway Program will help the couple overcome logistical challenges [sic] helps participants develop a bigger-picture understanding of the marketplace and supply and demand. Read more at this article👉https://lnkd.in/egDPBV6U #dairyinnovation #agriculture #upstateny #milk #entrepreneurship #innovation #health #wellness #incubator #accelerator #dairyrunway