As we look forward to our upcoming Innovation Series ‘Regenerative Supply at Scale’, we’re reflecting on some highlights from our previous conversations with thought leaders. We’ve had many rich discussions over the last year about the future of our food system, and as we did so it became increasingly apparent that suppliers are front of mind for thought leaders as a critical piece of the regenerative paradigm. For our next series, we are inspired to take a closer look at the relationship between suppliers and the future of a regenerative food system.
4 questions inspired by food system thought leaders to consider as we head into the next innovation series:
Our discussion with Danielle made us think more critically about the relationships between producers, suppliers, and consumers and ultimately led us to our first question going into the Regenerative Supply at Scale series:
How can product developers and suppliers work together more effectively to benefit people, planet, and profit?
As Ali illustrated in our discussion about building sustainable products, the needs of suppliers and product developers don’t always align, even if their values do. So going forward:
How can suppliers best appeal to procurement teams? What are regenerative-focused procurement teams looking for in a supplier?
Sourcing departments are starting to prioritize ingredients with improved environmental and social impacts, and are seeking the means to simplify the process of finding and choosing them:
What role can suppliers play in helping product developers and procurement teams understand and make use of their sustainability information?
During our conversation about designing products with ecosystems in mind, Mike of Alpha Food Labs touched on a roadblock for many a would-be regenerative buyer— regenerative ingredients that become trendy often aren’t scalable, or once they’re scaled up, are no longer regenerative. So that leads us to the question:
How can sourcing teams find ingredients that are regenerative and scalable?
Interested in exploring these topics and questions further? Check out all of our archived Innovation Series sessions here, and join us for our upcoming series Regenerative Supply at Scale starting August 12th, 2021 from 1-2 pm EST!
