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Regenerative Organic Certified® (ROC) has just signed a partnership with Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly initiative (CPF), and it is the featured certification on the CPF shop’s homepage, coinciding with Climate Week currently taking place in New York City.
Making healthy food available to all consumers has always been a key objective for our industry, and ROC has taken a significant step to accomplish this goal by getting its brands in front of millions of people.
“We couldn’t be more happy that ROC is the featured Amazon Climate Pledge Friendly certification,” said Elizabeth Whitlow, founding executive director of the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA), the organization that oversees the certification. “Unlike ever before, consumers will be able to find, discover and purchase ROC products all in one place, and we will be able to reach an enormous audience.”
Leading brands share in the excitement, and well over 200 ROC products — and growing — can now be found in the CPF shop.
“We’re thrilled that Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly program is acknowledging that ROC is the gold standard in agriculture,” put forth Jen Berliner, head of sales & marketing at Patagonia Provisions. “If we really want to scale regenerative organic in a way that can impact the food system, ROC products need to be available where people are already buying food. And that certainly includes Amazon.”
Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019, committing to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 — 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. The Pledge now has more than 470 signatories, including brands such as Best Buy, IBM, Siemens, Verizon and Visa.
In conjunction with this, it also launched the Climate Pledge Friendly program on its website to help customers identify products with sustainability features.
Products that are part of the CPF program are certified by one (or more) of over 50 sustainability certifications, which include vetted and reputable third-party certifications such as ROC, USDA Organic, EU Organic, Soil Association, Cradle to Cradle, Fair Trade Certified, NATRUE and MADE SAFE.
Getting selected as one of the approved certifications is no easy feat.
“We use a science-based approach that prioritizes the most relevant sustainability and environmental issues related to the entire life cycle of a product,” said Nneka Leiba, Amazon’s global lead for selection science, who helps to identify which certifications should be in the program.
ADDRESSING THE SUPPLY SIDE OF THE EQUATION
While this partnership with Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly program will unquestionably help drive demand, ROC also has to drive supply.
Not only does this mean convincing farmers that there is a market for ROC products but also coming up with the funding to grow these crops.
More entities are appearing to help address this need, such as Mad Capital, but oftentimes, companies have to get creative.
In Canada, Nature’s Path partnered with Canadian Organic Growers and other brands to found a first-of-its kind regenerative organic oats program, which provides important technical outreach and targeted financial assistance to organic oat growers across Canada through a $300,000 investment.
This innovative program, now in its third year, supports 24 regenerative organic oat farmers to farm approximately 10,000 oat acres using regenerative organic practices across the grain-growing prairies. The oats in Nature’s Path just released Regenerative Organic Certified® flavored oatmeal products have been sourced through a farm enrolled in the program.
However, since a large percentage of regenerative organic crops are grown in developing countries, small farmers there need support as well — yet often struggle finding it.
Grow Ahead, a digital crowdfunding platform that helps fund farmer-led climate resiliency projects around the world, is launching a Week of Action from October 7-11, featuring four live webinars that will focus on initiatives in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mexico and Brazil.
“The Week of Action will raise funds for regenerative organic and agroforestry projects that are having positive impacts on the effects of climate change and food insecurity in the Global South,” said Ryan Zinn, president of Grow Ahead.
With regenerative organic agriculture becoming more important with each passing day, achieving scale is a priority.
“Those of us involved in this movement know that we have no choice but to get big quickly and reach as many people as possible, from the farmer to the consumer. We are very grateful for this partnership with Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly program,” said ROA’s Elizabeth Whitlow.
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With gratitude, 
Max Goldberg, Founder |
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