A Win-Win-Win: CIVC is a New Paradigm for Clean, Organic Supply Chains

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When it comes to transparency and the testing for purity of organic food products, Colleen Kavanagh is in a league of her own.

Ever since entering the industry fourteen years ago, as founder and CEO of ZEGO Foods, she has been giving her customers an unprecedented look at what exactly they are eating.

However, her vision has always been much larger; more specifically, to clean up the entire food supply chain.

“If ZEGO is out of business because Gerber baby food is just as clean as our products, then I am done and can retire. I have accomplished what I set out to do,” said Colleen Kavanagh.

Thanks to a $3M grant from the USDA’s Organic Market Development Grant program, she is taking a significant step forward in making this goal a reality.

Along with partners Snacktivist and Montana Gluten Free, ZEGO recently formed Collaborative Integrated Value Chain (CIVC), which will use this grant money to build a brand new paradigm to develop and deliver clean-tested organic products to the marketplace.

TESTING IS AT ITS CORE

What separates ZEGO Foods from so many other organic brands is that Colleen tests her products for more than 500 different chemicals, allergens and heavy metals. But she doesn’t just do extensive testing. She provides complete transparency of these results, which are accessible on ZEGO’s website or by scanning the QR code on her products’ packaging.

But doing such heavy testing is time-intensive and can be risky, especially if a supplier tests poorly for contaminants and a new source is needed. This can completely disrupt the entire supply chain and manufacturing workflow. Testing is also expensive. These excess costs eat into ZEGO’s margins, as retailers expect the company to compete on price with other similar organic products, even if the competition does no testing whatsoever.

Realizing that many others also wanted a similarly clean-tested supply chain, Colleen knew that if she could aggregate purchasing power and contract directly with the farmer, the testing costs could be amortized across multiple companies. This would also preclude each brand from having to test on its own, and the farmer would be financially rewarded for delivering a clean product.

With a geographical focus only on the Great Plains, CIVC decided to focus on two commodities: organic, gluten-free oats and proso millet. Not only is millet a very nutritious gluten-free grain that is tremendously beneficial for gut health, but it is a great source of fiber, vitamins and minerals.

From a regenerative farming perspective, millet is an excellent rotational crop and will help improve soil health. Furthermore, if CIVC can drive demand for organic millet, this will create a new and important source of income for farmers that they otherwise wouldn’t have.

Yet, in order to make all of this happen, CIVC needed to address one final piece of the puzzle: processing.

Currently, the only viable processing facility for millet in the region is in Colorado, too long of a distance to make this model economically feasible. Hence, the USDA grant will be used to purchase an organic-approved processing facility for millet in Montana.

“We are so appreciative that the USDA has taken this assertive action to support critical organic infrastructure that not only supports farmers and consumers but also contributes to our national food system security,” said Joni Kindwall-Moore, founder of Snacktivist and co-founder of CIVC.

A WIN-WIN-WIN

CIVC is tackling both the supply side and demand side, giving all participants exactly what they need.

The brands get a clean-tested organic supply of gluten-free oats and proso millet, the farmers can add a new cash crop to their rotation, and the soil benefits from additional, regeneratively-grown oats and millet. Everyone wins, including consumers, who can get complete transparency and assurance that the organic food they are eating is not contaminated.

What also makes this model so compelling is its network effect. The more brands and farmers that CIVC can pull into its network, a greater percentage of the food supply chain will be “cleaned up” and the more soil will be regenerated.

“Our farmers can increase their income four-fold compared to conventional farming, and special diet consumers will have access to more healthy organic products that meet their medical needs,” put forth Colleen Kavanagh. “Everyone’s confidence in organic food will grow with our expanded Purity Verification and traceability.”

For the foreseeable future, CIVC will solely be focusing on oats and millet, but its founders hope this model will be replicated in other areas of the U.S. with crops that are native to or grow well in that specific geographical region.

ORGANIC+

As we wrote about earlier this year in our 2024 trends piece, USDA organic certification, by itself, is no longer good enough. That is because it is largely a paper-based system, and while organic rules prohibit certain substances and methods, it doesn’t mandate that all products be tested for heavy metals and pesticide contamination, nor does it give consumers a clear and transparent picture of exactly what they are putting into their bodies.

With an increasing number of consumers and brands wanting something that is both tested clean and organic, CIVC is a model that is destined for tremendous success because it provides real benefit to every participant.

And most importantly, to the farmer.

(From l. to r., the co-founders of CIVC — Colleen Kavanagh and Joni Kindwall-Moore)

With gratitude, Max Goldberg, Founder