Consumer Awareness of Regenerative? It’s Complicated

Consumer Awareness of Regenerative? It’s Complicated

More organizations are investing in consumer research focused on regenerative agriculture.  

These reports showcase unique and insightful statistics, but what can we take away from the research as a whole? 

Our goal at the ReGen Brands Institute is to use the latest data to understand two things:

  1. The current level of consumer awareness and demand for regenerative CPG products 

  2. How to increase that level of consumer awareness and demand

We believe this pursuit can be broken down into trying to understand the available data in three distinct but related categories:

  1. Consumer awareness and understanding of the term regenerative agriculture

  2. Consumer capacity to identify regenerative CPG products

  3. True purchase intent and demand for regenerative CPG products

For this article, we analyzed the findings from the below consumer reports. We continually track and share all research like this via our ReGen Brands’ Research Hub and in our ReGen Brands Weekly Newsletter.


Awareness of Regenerative Is Up, Understanding Is Low

Several studies show that regenerative agriculture is slowly entering the consumer lexicon. IFIC’s 2022 survey found that 19% of consumers had heard of regenerative agriculture, while Regenified’s report is slightly more optimistic, estimating that 26% of “General Consumers” are familiar with the term. Understanding of the term, however, remains low. Kiss the Ground’s research shows 6.8% of U.S. adults claim to understand the significance of regenerative agriculture, up from 4% in 2024. These numbers are improving, but they still point to a niche movement. More importantly, awareness and understanding alone don’t necessarily equate to purchases. 


Product Identification Is A Challenge

At this point, it looks like the suite of on-pack regenerative certifications and claims have not been enough to help shoppers successfully identify regenerative products. Which may be more of a function of entrenched consumer behavior (consumers don’t even look at labels) versus poor marketing execution (the brand’s use of the certification is wrong or not valuable). 

In the ADM survey, 63% of consumers say they rarely check whether products they buy are sustainably sourced. Kiss the Ground data shows 58% of shoppers don’t read food labels, and more than half of those who do read labels leave confused. Their survey also showed that 88% of shoppers prioritize vague, unregulated claims like “fresh” and “natural” over certified terms like “organic,” “local,” or “regenerative.” 

However, we do have qualitative, anecdotal evidence from retailers like Whole Foods Market that the majority of their core customers 1) take time to read and understand labels, and 2) value third-party certifications as a quick proxy for claims. This aligns with Regenified’s findings that 72% of Values-Based Shoppers say certification is "extremely important." 

Today, you can walk just one aisle in a grocery store and see ‘regenerative’ identified and articulated in more than a handful of different ways. On top of that, the term ‘regenerative’ and the subsequent seals, images, and explanations used to identify and explain the term are all relatively new additions to product packaging - meaning our sample size of time they’ve existed in the marketplace is small and limited.

Our belief is that the current, diverse landscape of product-specific certifications and claims presents a major challenge to achieving consumer understanding that changes purchase beahvior. We also believe there has simply not been enough time with these products, certifications, and claims in the marketplace to truly capture or understand their efficacy in terms of identification, especially as it direcrtly relates to affecting purchases. Regenified’s research would align with these beliefs, as they found that 40% of Values-Based Shoppers want in-store displays and clearer product labeling. 


Intent Is Inflated & True Demand Is Unknown

A few of the studies show that consumers, especially once they understand regenerative agriculture, show intent to purchase regenerative products over conventional ones. The ADM study shows 72% of consumers say they would be more likely to purchase from retailers and brands that implement regenerative agriculture programs, and 63% say they would pay more for products produced with regenerative agriculture practices. 

However, are awareness and interest leading to purchases? 

In terms of true purchase demand, we have little to offer outside of the data offered by SPINS tracking Regenerative Organic Certified® products. SPINS conducted both a 12 and 52 week trial in Q2 of 2023 and 2024 showing consumer shopping trends and revenue from ROC™ products. Overall revenue increased by 37% in 2024 when compared to data pulled from the same time period in 2023. This is a great start and a promising result, but does not provide any real clarity on overall purchase demand for regenerative CPG products for the following reasons:

  1. The data only tracks products related to one of many regenerative certification schemes

  2. We do not know that this collection of products are being purchased and growing because they are regenerative (causation). 

  3. We only know that they are increasing in sales and regenerative (correlation). 

When we evaluate this limited quantitative data with our anecotal, qualitative findings regarding retails sales of regenerative products, we believe it is safe to say the reported purchase intent is inflated - with consumers reporting higher intent than what actually materializes in their purchases. 

Without uniform and comprehensive data on in-store sales of regenerative products, we cannot determine the true demand for regenerative CPG products. Right now, this sales data is incomplete (platforms like SPINS / NIQ don’t track all regen claims), unaggregated (you would need to piece together many data sources to have a reasonably comprehensive understanding), and inaccessible (most data is very costly to attain). 


Promising Signs Of Unmet Demand From a Niche Group of Shoppers

The Regenified report offers a glimpse into a more engaged consumer segment that seeks out products with sustainability claims. Among what Regenified labels as “Values-Based Shoppers,” 72% say certifications influence their purchasing decisions and within a subset called the “Emerging Regenerative Market”, 92% place high importance on certification. Both the Values-Based Shoppers and Emerging Regenerative Market group demonstrate unmet demand for regenerative products. For Values-Based Shoppers, 40% cite availability as a barrier to purchasing regenerative products. For the Emerging Regenerative Market, 89% are willing to go out of their way to find regenerative products and 44% cite availability as a key barrier. 


Once In Store, Affordability and Simplicity Win Consumers 

Purdue tested consumer willingness to pay more for regenerative products by splitting survey respondents into two groups. One group was asked a simple yes/no question about whether they’d pay more for a snack made with regenerative practices. Just over half said yes. The other group was given a real-world scenario: choose between a $5.00 conventional snack or a $5.50 regenerative one. In that case, most chose the cheaper, conventional option. Follow-up responses revealed that while people support regenerative values in theory, affordability ultimately drives their decisions.


 

What Does the Research Tell Us About How to Move Forward?

Understanding that awareness of and demand for regenerative products is still nascent, below are three ways in which brands, retailers, certifiers and other industry stakeholders can help grow market share for regenerative products:

  1. Increased Education: ADM’s 2023 report found that when consumers are given a clear definition of regenerative agriculture, most say they’d be more likely to trust and purchase from companies using those practices. The average consumer needs more than a seal; they need visible, in-store education from retailers and continued storytelling from brands to improve their understanding of regenerative agriculture. 

  1. Clearer and Louder Identification: The Regenified report reveals that even the Emerging Regenerative Market shoppers want clearer in-store signage. Brands, retailers, and certifiers need to collaborate to create a clear and cohesive message that promotes regenerative products and makes them more easily identifiable at the point of sale.  

  1. Linking to Health: The Non-GMO Project found that 61% of consumers agree that organic and regenerative farming can improve the nutrient density of our food with 54% of those same people agreeing that nutrient density is an important factor in determining the quality of food we eat. Similarly, IFIC reported that 36% of consumers believe regenerative foods are more nutritious. Regenified’s data reinforces this: nutrient density is a key purchase motivator for 80% of Values-Based Shoppers. Brands must continue to draw the connection between regenerative agriculture and human health and promote the nutritional value of their products.


I’m Katey Finnegan 👋, an independent consultant focused on building regenerative agriculture supply chains. I’ve spent the past decade leading sustainability initiatives and designing programs that improve farmer livelihoods and regenerate farmland in sourcing regions, particularly in the Global South. Let’s work together to restructure our food system to benefit smallholder farmers and reward regenerative production!

And I'm Anthony Corsaro 👋. I'm an entrepreneur, investor, and regenerative agriculture evangelist.