New Food Order

Investigating Alternative Business Models in Food & Ag

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Episode notes

The food and agriculture industries are major contributors to today’s social and environmental crises.

Companies across all industries are being forced to rethink the way they do business, and food and agriculture are no exception. Businesses big and small want to do better and become more resilient, but how? In this episode, we take you on a journey through a few existing and emerging alternative business models that companies and farmers are exploring today that decentralize power, distribute value more equitably across all stakeholders, and aim to have a better impact on our planet.

This week we explore:

Different ways of doing business, including cooperatives, B Corps, perpetual purpose trusts, stewardship ownership, DAOs, NFTs, and open source
How these models may work better than the norm for the people working within
Why a better deal for food and agriculture employees can benefit all of us
Barriers to entry to these models and how to break them down
The potential failings of emerging business models and the risk of building the wrong thing with good intentions
The challenge of applying models that have been successful on a small scale, to large food corporations
How Western business tactics have impacted emerging market farming communities
Business model inspiration from emerging markets
How sharing knowledge publicly can remove friction for small businesses
The appetite to fund these kinds of businesses

Our guests include: Katherine Miller, author and founder of Table 81, formerly of the James Beard Foundation; author and regenerative business pioneer Carol Sanford; farmer and activist Jon Jandai; Adrian Rodrigues, co-founder and managing director at Provenance Capital group and formerly of Patagonia; Snaxshot founder Andrea Hernandez; and Nigel Teh, founder of Next Billion Burgers.

*Giveaway Details*

We’ve teamed up with our partners at New Hope Network to offer ALL of our listeners an exclusive 25% off discount for an Expo West 2023 badge and ONE lucky listener will have the opportunity to win a free booth at Expo West 2024 ($8k value).

To enter, do the following by February 17th:

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Make sure you are subscribed
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Show Notes:

Zebras Unite Co-op: https://zebrasunite.coop/

Democracy at Work Institute: https://institute.coop/

ZingTrain: https://www.zingtrain.com/

Purpose (steward ownership & perpetual purpose trusts): https://purpose-economy.org/en/

Billionaire No More: Patagonia Founder Gives Away the Company: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html

What Co-ops and DAOs Can Learn From Each Other: https://www.fwb.help/editorial/what-co-ops-and-daos-can-learn-from-each-other

Flyfish Club: https://www.flyfishclub.com/

FriesDAO: https://fries.fund/

Subscribe to our newsletters that track all of the business, tech, and investment trends in food: https://tinyurl.com/nfonewsletters

This series is sponsored by Foodshot Global & New Hope Network

And a huge thank you to everyone who helped us bring this podcast to life:

Production: Cam Gray, Cofruition, Anna de Wolff Evans

Audio Editing: Tevin Sudi

Original Music: Rodrigo Barbera