Sara Newmark, Vice President of Social Impact, MegaFood | April 2019

With a mission to change the world, starting with food, we’ve got big goals to match. This blog focuses on perhaps our biggest yet; to help revolutionize our agricultural system so we can combat climate change by building carbon rich soil and increasing the nutrient density of food.

Farmers are the interface between planet and people. And often, while farmers have the greatest opportunity at their fingertips, they also share most of the burden. I covered this in depth in the last blog on the broken farming system. We want to help change that.

We are excited to launch a new Healthy Farm sourcing standard so we can better understand our farm partners practices and needs. This scorecard is a partnership program to build capacity and help MegaFood and its suppliers meet joint goals.

At the core, this is a scorable supplier survey that gathers information on farmer performance in 3 key areas: Building the Soil, Conserving Resources, and Supporting Thriving Livelihoods.

As mentioned before, we want to make sure this not only works to make our people and planet healthier, but also the people who will help get us there. We want to make sure that we give back to our farm partners as much as they give us. We are offering incentives, workshops, webinars and corrective action related to meeting standard goals.

We are using this launch to get feedback, test it with some of our valued partners, and make sure it works for everyone. We also had a team of experts review our work, and we are very thankful to the following:

• Dr. Mark Easter: Colorado State University (Comet Farm Tool)
• Steven Farrell, Finca Luna Nueva
• Dorn Cox, Tuckaway Farms
• Bruce Linquist: UC Davis
• Walt Delp, Arkansas State Conservation Engineer, Natural Resource Conservation Service
• Cathy Resler, formerly of Ocean Spray
• Matt Mclean, Uncle Matt’s

This standard is one way we are trying to help shift a broken system, while committing to radical transparency. We are also partnering with industry, thought leaders, soil scientists and farmers on a global standard for soil health designed to change how people grow food and fiber—helping our climate, farmers, and even supply chains. Check out this global standard for soil health at soilcarboninitiative.org and submit public comment by May 5th! 

And that’s where you come in. Follow our journey to revolutionize farming on social and tell us your thoughts- let us know what we’ve done well or where we need improvement.

Want to learn more about why soil is the answer? Read my first blog.