Founded in 1937 in the northern Sacramento Valley of California, Lundberg Family Farms has been long committed to leaving the land better than they found it and learning from previous generations. The company has taken many important steps on its journey to be 100% Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) by 2027, and to continue to lead the growing influence in regenerative organic agriculture in the U.S. For instance, they recently announced ROC certification of more than 8,500 acres of rice fields and now offer more than 70 Regenerative Organic Certified products.

As I have written about before, the ROC is an important certification offered by the Regenerative Organic Alliance that was founded by the Rodale Institute, Patagonia, and Dr. Bronner’s. As the name suggests, this certificate not only requires the farming practices to protect the environment, but also to work to rehabilitate it. In addition to its requirements for soil health, ROC also has stringent requirements for animal welfare and the social wellbeing of farmers and workers. ROC farms and products thus must meet holy grail of farm sustainability: soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness.

I recently discussed the Lundberg Family Farms journey with Bryce and Brita Lundberg and they stressed to me that a regenerative food brand starts with stewardship in sustainability practices and that the importance of ROC certification is holding the industry accountable for making meaningful change.

Christopher Marquis: What inspired you to pursue/expand your recent ROC certification? Why is being the leading ROC certified food brand in the U.S. is so important to Lundberg Family Farms?

Bryce Lundberg: When my grandparents moved to California in the wake of the Dust Bowl, they brought with them a new philosophy: Leave the land better than you found it. That’s what led us to start farming organically in the 1960s and become Regenerative Organic Certified® in 2023. We exist to grow the highest quality rice using organic and regenerative farming practices because we believe the health of our bodies and our planet depend on it.

Brita Lundberg: In California, we’re experiencing the impacts of climate change firsthand, from drought to wildfires to atmospheric rivers, and farmers are on the front lines. We have a massive opportunity to positively impact consumers’ plates and the planet by using regenerative organic farming practices that build soil health, support biodiversity, and are more resilient in the face of climate change. Our family is betting the farm on it. By becoming the leading U.S. Regenerative Organic Certified® food brand, we’re proving that it’s possible to implement regenerative organic farming practices at scale.

Marquis: What changes to your previous approach to rice farming did you need to make to become ROC certified? Where there any challenges you needed to overcome?

Bryce: Organic exists on a spectrum, and the USDA National Organic Program sets a floor, but not a ceiling. Our family has always aspired to care for our land and the creatures who call it home. So, while we had to provide additional documentation and data to get Regenerative Organic Certified®, the Regenerative Organic Alliance’s pillars of soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness align with our long-term farming philosophy. We’re grateful that we were able to achieve certification, which validates that our farming practices are consistent with Regenerative Organic Certified standards.

Brita: Usually, when people think about regenerative farming, they imagine cattle, sheep, or chickens. My Great-Grandpa Albert said one of the best things he ever did was leave the livestock in Nebraska. Our family doesn’t own livestock, but we have a relationship with wildlife. Our farms are part of the Pacific Flyway, a major migratory pathway for birds, but the wetlands those birds depend on have been disappearing for decades. So, each winter, we flood a portion of our fields to replicate California’s natural wetlands, providing food and habitat for thousands of ducks, geese, swans, and sandhill cranes who feast on leftover rice, insects, aquatic invertebrates, and weed seeds. Their feet also press rice straw into the soil, which decomposes the rice straw and turns it into mulch for next year’s crop. When the birds fly away, we return water to rivers and streams, where zooplankton from the fields can help nourish salmon.

Marquis: How are farmers, like you, contributing to the debate about industry standards?

Bryce: We believe regenerative starts with organic because we don’t see anything “regenerative” about using harmful chemicals that can be damaging to soil, animals, people, and communities. We also believe definition and third-party certification are essential to build consumer trust and hold the industry accountable for making meaningful change. As an appointee to the State Board of Food and Agriculture, as well as the “Regenerative Agriculture Working Group” formed by California’s Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), I’m participating in the process of defining “regenerative agriculture” in California for policies and programs.

Brita: Regenerative systems are often context-specific, and certification should not be treated as one size fits all. Each region and crop will need to implement different standards based on soil type, weather conditions, ecosystem, and crop needs. Food and farming stakeholders across the nation are watching how California defines regenerative. Yes, I hope we pitch a big tent and get farmers on the journey, but I also hope we make “regenerative” meaningful by building on organic farming practices, so change can be meaningful too.

Marquis: How does Lundberg incorporate social and environmental values into its business practices more generally?

Bryce: For us, environmental stewardship starts with the soil—we nourish it so it can nourish us. During the winter, we grow cover crops, which can help sequester carbon, restore nutrients to the soil, reduce weeds, prevent erosion, and provide habitat. We also drown and dry up weeds instead of dousing our fields with chemical herbicides. But our farming practices are only the beginning. At our granary, we use natural methods—instead of chemical fumigants—to keep our rice cool and fresh until it’s milled to order. We have seven on-site solar arrays and have been generating or offsetting 100% of power used at our headquarters since 2004. We also collect, sort, and divert 99.6% of our waste including byproducts like hulls, bran, and broken rice, which we sell as ingredients for pet food, livestock feed, and more. It’s all part of our ambition to leave the land better than we found it.

Brita: Our winter cover crops also provide nesting habitat for ducks. So, when we find duck nests in our fields, we work with our friends at California Waterfowl Association to rescue the eggs by hand and transfer them to a local hatchery to be incubated, hatched, raised, and released back into the wild. Over the years, we’ve rescued an estimated 30,000 duck eggs!

Marquis: What advice do you have for other brands seeking ROC certification?

Bryce: Get started! Reach out to the Regenerative Organic Alliance, start the conversation, and create a roadmap to certification. It doesn’t happen overnight, but we believe it’s worthwhile. Don’t wait.

Brita: Do it! We’re so proud to be part of the regenerative organic community that farms like the world depends on it. But the world is big, and we can’t change it alone. We need the community to keep growing so our impact can grow as well.

Marquis: What’s next for Lundberg?

Bryce: You’ll have to ask the fourth generation. Ha!

Brita: We’ve set a goal to transition all the organic rice we grow to Regenerative Organic Certified® by 2027. As we continue to transition acres to Regenerative Organic Certified®, we’re working with the regenerative organic community to educate retailers and consumers about what regenerative organic means and why it matters. We can’t do this without them. We need people to understand that the true value of food—and, conversely, it’s true cost—goes far beyond the plate to how it impacts the planet. Our hope is that consumers will not only be the change they want to see in the world but eat the change they want to see in the world by finding out where their food comes from, how it was grown, and choosing food that not only tastes good but is also a force of land-restoring, habitat-preserving, community-building wonder. We need people to eat like the world depends on it. Because we believe it does.

Source: forbes.com