#35 - Brita & Bryce Lundberg @ Lundberg Family Farms

Episode Recap:

ReGen Brands Recap #35 - Four Generations of Regenerative Rice - (RECAP LINK)

Episode Transcript:

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated with AI and is not 100% accurate.

Kyle Krull (00:00:15):

Welcome to The ReGen Brands Podcast. This is a place for consumers, operators, and investors to learn about the consumer brands supporting regenerative agriculture and how they're changing the world. This is your host, Kyle, joined by my cohost, AC, who is going to take us into the episode.

Anthony Corsaro (00:00:33):

On this episode, we have Brita and Bryce Lundberg of Lundberg Family Farms. This father and daughter duo is representing the third and fourth generations of their family business. Lundberg Family Farms is supporting regenerative agriculture with their organic and regenerative, organic rice and quinoa products that now includes 107 total SKUs. In this episode, we learn about how the Lundberg's got their start farming rice in California, how market opportunities through brands have guided their pursuit of organic and regenerative organic farming, and the big goals they have to certify all of their rice, regenerative, organic, certified by 2027. Brita and Bryce are a super fun father daughter duo. We had an amazing time chatting with them. You're in store for some cool learnings, great laughs and engaging storytelling. Let's dive in. What's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Regen Brands podcast. Super fired up today to have our first father daughter duo to the podcast. So welcome, Brita and Bryce Lundberg from Lundberg Family Farms.

Bryce Lundberg (00:01:40):

Thank you. It's awesome to be here with you. Thanks for including us. We're

Anthony Corsaro (00:01:44):

Excited to talk with

Kyle Krull (00:01:45):

You. Yeah, we are excited to talk with you. Um, I've worked in this natural food industry for about 10 years now, and one of the first things I had to sell was quinoa into the grain set. And I vividly remember 10 years ago trying to take space from Lu and talking to grocery members. <laugh>, you can't, you can't, you can't touch lumber. You know that everything moves, everything sells. They're gold. You know, and I quickly realized the reputation that lumber has in the natural category, uh, became a consumer of the products. My favorite skew is the wild blend. Absolutely love it. Oh, thank you. Yeah. Especially when I cook it with bone broth. It's an absolute win. Um, but for those who are not familiar with the brand, who, I mean, I, those must be people who don't buy rice, uh, give people a lay of the land, you know, like what do you produce? How many skews do you have? Where can people buy your products? Walk us through the, the, the product portfolio.

Bryce Lundberg (00:02:40):

Well, I think first and foremost, um, you know, we produce a lot of different types, different varieties of packaged rice. We grow 17 varieties of rice. Wow. And, uh, and so we, we hope to have a, a rice variety that everybody loves from, you know, short grains to medium grains, long grains, our bore types, basmati, jasmines. Then we produce some, uh, different color rice varieties, red and black and, and wild, wild rice. So, um, we produce a lot of different variety and, and then we try to produce that into all sorts of products that people would love and, and find delight. And, um, what, what are some of your favorites in, uh, what we produce Brita?

Brita Lundberg (00:03:27):

So we make rice cakes. We've got kind of our thick and classic rice cakes that have a nice crunch on 'em. But then we've also got our thin stackers, which are kind of like a lighter crispier, square shaped rice cake. We also cover those in chocolate, have our chocolate thin stackers. Um, and then we've also got our fairly new rice cake minis, which are kind of more munch. I love those. Um, we've got rice chips. And then outside of the snack category, we've got, um, some boxed side dishes like risottos that you can make in 20 minutes. Um, they're kind of foolproof, um mm-hmm. <affirmative> and then some other sort of rice peel off, um, rice and seasoning mixes as well. And a few ready to heat microwavable rice varieties and rice syrup up as well. Am I missing anything?

Bryce Lundberg (00:04:14):

Those are, those are awesome <laugh>. Yep. And we know

Anthony Corsaro (00:04:18):

The skew count is triple digits now, right?

Brita Lundberg (00:04:21):

Yep. I think total SKU count is 107, so just over a hundred. Wow.

Anthony Corsaro (00:04:25):

Wow.

Kyle Krull (00:04:26):

Incredible.

Anthony Corsaro (00:04:26):

Wow. That's,

Kyle Krull (00:04:28):

Wow. I just also mentioned I eat the thin stackers on a regular basis. When I'm feeling incredibly into my fitness routine, I count my macros and those thin stackers are the easiest way to just like, if I just need a carbohydrate and a snackable form really quick. Yeah. It is the best way to just get a clean, you know, carb in into my diet on a regular basis. So really appreciate that product.

Brita Lundberg (00:04:51):

Oh, thank you.

Bryce Lundberg (00:04:52):

Thanks, Kyle. We I'ma Yeah, I like all those, uh, all four types of, um, of rice cakes, especially the ones with the dark chocolate.

Brita Lundberg (00:05:01):

Yeah, those are pretty good.

Anthony Corsaro (00:05:04):

I'm a historical rice cake guy, just the good old fashioned thick circles with some, with some peanut butter on 'em. That's my go-to product of y'all's. Um, but I think this is a really exciting episode for us for a lot of reasons. Y'all, y'all have been around for a long time. Y'all have really shown what, uh, you know, organic and regener of organic business can do with, with time and, and having some success. And it's a true kind of family run deal as, as shown by y'all both kind of being here with us. So, Bryce, maybe you kick us off with just some of the ordinance story and how we got to this point that we're at here in 2023.

Bryce Lundberg (00:05:39):

Thank you. You know, I am third generation here, here on the farm and, and Britas fourth. Wow. My grandparents moved to, uh, California in 1937 from, uh, south central Nebraska. They had gone through the Dust Bowl, they had gone through the depression, and, um, they'd seen how farming practices can really strip the land of topsoil and, and cause really climate change. They experienced climate change, um, in, in the thirties, seeing, uh, just, um, that they didn't have rain and then, and, uh, the land just was, um, well just really degraded. And when they came to California, they, um, grandpa said, we are, we are gonna do things differently. We're gonna farm in partnership with nature, and, um, we're gonna leave the way visionary better than we found it. Um, grandpa, I think he was a, a visionary. Um, they had my grandparents, Albert and Francis, they had four boys.

(00:06:41):

Uh, they, when they came here, um, the youngest Homer was two, I think the oldest, uh, Eldon was 10. And, um, my dad, Harlan was four, and they came here to start over. My grandpa Albert, was 50 years old, really came here with just, um, dream and promise and, um, and, um, and started over. And, uh, I sure am thankful that he did. Not that there's anything wrong with, uh, south central Nebraska, but, um, but they, they came to an area that had, um, good land, uh, abundant water and, uh, and a and a great climate. And, uh, rice had been established here at that time. Rachel, what would you add to the, um, to that story? When we started, when did we start milling rice and, and producing the, um, the rice products that we have

Brita Lundberg (00:07:37):

In the sixties really is when they started planting the seeds of the company that would become Lundberg family farms. But I think, um, it, it's easy to forget that, you know, when great grandpa Albert and Grandma Francis moved here, they really were starting over. Um, and I, as an intern in high school, I would interview my uncle Wendell. Um, my favorite things to do. And I, I remember him telling me that, you know, when Grandpa Albert started buying land in the area, everyone told him, Albert, that land's no good, you're gonna go broke on that land. And he would take his boys out there and, uh, you know, pick up a scoop up a, a shovel full of dirt and say, you know what? This is, this is good ground. Um, you see that weed there that's gonna add a lot of fertility to, to this field. Um, and just point out different, different things about the field that he thought, you know, made it have potential. And, and he said, you know, this is good ground. It just needs a good farmer.

Anthony Corsaro (00:08:43):

Did he know, like did he know at that time rice was the thing? Or was that kind of experimented into becoming the thing?

Bryce Lundberg (00:08:51):

Well, where we are in Northern California, we're about a hundred miles of Sacramento. Uh, rice got started here around 1910. Um, the first settlers came here about that time, and they thought they were gonna grow the crops of the Midwest corn and wheat. Uh, and, uh, the, the grains from the Midwest and the soil we have here is heavy clay. It is not, does not accommodate, um,

Brita Lundberg (00:09:21):

No. Like, if we ever decided to stop farming rice, we could go into pottery like it is that <laugh>.

Bryce Lundberg (00:09:33):

And, and then about three feet down is hard pan mm-hmm. <affirmative> compressed sand and clay. And it just, our fields are like bathtubs. Yep. They just don't, um, allow, uh, uh, water to, to percolate or penetrate. And so it's great for rice mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's not very good for very other mm-hmm. <affirmative> very many other crops. But, you know, grandpa knew he was coming here to farm rice, um, and, um, and, and got,

Anthony Corsaro (00:10:01):

And he was organic from the start. Right. And that was rather contrarian at the time or what was his, what was his journey in terms of organic, regenerative, et cetera?

Bryce Lundberg (00:10:09):

Well, um, he came, uh, with the idea that he's gonna improve the soil. Most people were burning rice straw at the time, and he said, no, that rice straw, it's a building block for healthy soil. And he said, we're, we're not gonna burn straw. We're gonna put that straw right back. The soil produced that straw. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's going back

Kyle Krull (00:10:31):

Into you educate me real quick. Hold on. What is rice straw and why do people burn it?

Bryce Lundberg (00:10:37):

Well, rice, rice grows in water, you know, in Patty, but the mm-hmm. <affirmative> structure of the rice plant is a lot like wheat or, or oats. You have a, a, a main stock, and then at the top of that stock you have the grains, uh, of rice. You could might call it a rice head or a pinnacle. There's about a hundred kernels Yeah. On that, um, on that rice stock. And so when you harvest the rice, you're just bringing in the rice grains, the straw, and all the stalks. They remain in the field and they, they really need to be put back into the soil and, and return to the soil. And when you have a living soil full of microbes and, and life that, that straw will over the winter will decompose and, and it'll go, um, it'll go right back into the soil increasing organic matter, you know, increasing the, uh, tilt of the soil or improving the tilt of the soil. Right.

Kyle Krull (00:11:39):

So this does, almost using the, the rice straw is a cover crop in a way,

Bryce Lundberg (00:11:44):

Protecting the soil. It, um, it's in the cover, or it becomes, it could be a cover grandpa though. Okay. He would plant, uh, oats and vets after harvest, he would plant Mm. To grow in the wintertime. If it was a dry winter, it, it would do pretty well. If it was a wet winter, it would drown. Uh, but, um, yeah. Gotta put drains out in your field cuz the fields, uh, are not gonna, uh, percolate the, the water, you gotta surface strain it off. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we had a super wet winner this year, and, um, and some of our cover crops made it, a lot of our cover crops drowned. But grandpa would put the, the straw back in the thing, why people would burn it is mm-hmm. <affirmative>, one match could burn off, you know, a whole field of straw mm-hmm.

(00:12:32):

<affirmative>, and, and then you, you wouldn't have to, to put that back in. Right. So putting the straw back into the soil, it took, takes effort. It takes work, but over the long term, it's improving your soil. Um, and so he was a visionary in that he never stopped growing cover crops. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, growing, uh, cover crops or, uh, core, uh, core value to him and to our family. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, resting the ground periodically mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, and letting that cover crop come to full, full production. So most of the cover crops we grow are, are just a, um, a form of fertility. Right. Uh, you wanna mix up that diet for this, for the soil, and it's a little bit like a, um, putting some green juice Right. When you, um, when you, um, juice, when you put that green plant back into the soil, it helps the soil receive the, the straw and the, um, the green, the green the plant mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then when you have a legume like ave, it's the vet takes nutrients from the air like nitrogen and puts them right back into the soil as the, um, the first, uh, uh, the first form of, uh, of plant food or, uh, fertility for the, the, the coming rice crop. And so those were things that he started Yeah. That we continue to do. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

Anthony Corsaro (00:14:01):

And I can, I can see Kyle's brain turning. I know my man's got 27 questions about the agronomic practices that y'all implement. But before we go there and we want to go there next, bring us home on the origin story around Brita. You mentioned in the sixties mm-hmm. <affirmative>, the kind of, the commercialization and the branding ramped up. Just take us through that journey of like, were you, were y'all selling to other people, then you kind of brought that in house, like is this fully vertically integrated like that more that commercialization brand side of the origin story, then we'd love to talk more about the agronomy.

Brita Lundberg (00:14:30):

Sure. So in the 1960s, Albert's sons, Eldon, Wendell, Harlan and Homer, and Yes. Those are their real names mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, started planting the <laugh>, the company that would become Lindbergh Family Farms. In 1969, a company called Chico San came knocking and they were looking for someone to grow organic rice for them. Um, I think they asked something like 150 farmers in the region. Um, they all said no. Um, wow. Until they found Wow. The lumber brothers, um, the principles of organic farming kind of seemed to align with their dad's advice to leave the land better than they found it. And I think they were most of the way there. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but, you know, it was early days, it was the sixties, so they didn't even really know what organic meant. I think they called up the rodeos because of organic gardening magazine and said, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna figure this out from the ground up.

(00:15:24):

So they planted their first crop of organic rice in 1969. It wasn't a lot, it was like 76 acres. Um, but it was enough to convince them to make a go of it. Soon they bought an old bread truck, filled the back with bags of rice dental with the Lundberg name, and hired a driver to stop at health food stores along the coast from California to Washington, my uncle. Wow. Um, that's so cool. Yeah. And in my Uncle Wendell's words, they also started receiving orders from long-haired hippies who filled the nice, his words, not mine, uh, filled the back of their VW buses with rice and then went on to start natural foods companies. Um, one of those long-haired hippies, uh, was Michael Funk <laugh>, uh, the founder of U N F I.

Bryce Lundberg (00:16:16):

Um, yep. He, he, um, he had, um, mountain People's Warehouse on the West Coast and, uh, and cornucopia was on the East Coast. And those two companies, they met in the middle and then they merged mm-hmm. <affirmative> and Michael Funk was one of those, um, those visionaries I would That's right. Say yeah, exactly. That, um, yeah. That wanted to bring natural and organic food, you know, to the, um mm-hmm. <affirmative> to America mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and I think at Mountain People's, it was, um, was, um, distributing where no one has ever gone before mm-hmm. <affirmative> or something like that. But, um, the other one that came here just regularly was, um, Terry and, and Brian Fowler from the Fowler Brothers, one of the early, uh, natural food distribution companies from the Bay Area. Um, and, but, you know, just so blessed that, that, that there was a, um, uh, community of consumers interested in, in organic food, in food that was grown a, uh, new and different way.

(00:17:21):

Yeah. So, you know, my dad and uncles, they were part of a co-op mm-hmm. <affirmative> called Rice Growers Association, a huge co-op mm-hmm. <affirmative> just growing cow rows mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, medium grain, and pretty much exporting it, uh, all abroad. And my dad and uncles asked that co-op, Hey, we are proud of the rice we grow. Why don't you market in the US and brown rice is so much more nutritious for us than white rice. Why don't you come out with a brown rice? And pretty much the co-op leaders got tired of them and said, you know what? You wanna do it, why don't you do it yourself? And, um, I think that was part of them saying yes to Chico son and saying yes to, um, we will build a little mill and start, um, growing organic rice and, uh, and milling it ourselves. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, eventually they got kicked out of the co-op. They said, you know, you can't do that yourself and then stay in the co-op you got, they kicked us out. And, um, that was a tough decision as well to say, we'll completely leave. But it's been a great, it's been a great decision and not always that easy, but, um, certainly as you grow, there's some growing pains, but, uh mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but we're, um, we're really thankful that they had that vision mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

Kyle Krull (00:18:40):

Yeah. Based on

Bryce Lundberg (00:18:43):

When I was in high school, my dad went to a, a, um, um, um, a equipment, uh, or food, uh, food equipment comp show in, I don't know where it was. I think it was like Las Vegas. And he came home with a rice cake machine. He said they were, they were popping rice cake right on the floor. I think we can do it here, uh, at the farm. Yeah. And he brought a rice cake machine home, and I think his brother said, you're crazy, Harlan <laugh>. But you know what, today we have Yeah, I think probably 300 of those. Uh, that's great. Uh, little rice cake machines, we make 'em ourselves mm-hmm. <affirmative> and we produce, um, uh, rice cakes, uh, every day. And I'm sure thankful that, that you guys know about 'em and, and, um, and choose them as part of your, um, yeah. Daily or, or weekly, um, uh, food, food choices.

Kyle Krull (00:19:33):

Yeah. They're great. Um, you know, one thing that strikes me as very interesting, you know, we've done a lot of these podcasts and, um, when you're talking about agriculture in the thirties, you know, a part of me was originally blown away, like, how did they know not to use this stuff, but it's pre post World War ii. Right. So Right. A lot of those practices that have really depleted the soil in quote modern industrial ag hadn't really been implemented at scale the same way that they were in like fifties, sixties mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I think that's really interesting, and I'd love to try to understand how lumber maintained those good agricultural practices as the quote Green Revolution and those other, like industrial farming techniques were starting to ramp up.

Bryce Lundberg (00:20:22):

Well, when they first started farming organically, uh, in, well, those, it's a really good question, Kyle, that, you know, I think in the fifties and sixties, conventional or, or chemical fertilizer and, um, uh, pesticides started be being used in our area. And, um,

Kyle Krull (00:20:43):

Yeah.

Bryce Lundberg (00:20:45):

And, and I would say my dad and uncles, they continued to put their straw in and grow cover crops and rotate. But I think they did use, I mean, they were just selling into a co-op. Uh, everybody's rights went into the same bins. Um, right. But, um, yeah, they, I think they saw the, uh, impact, um, and, um mm-hmm. <affirmative> and decided to, to go a different direction. But when they started farming organically, like Brie has said, they, they didn't really know what they were doing. <laugh>. Um, they, um, they didn't know how to control weeds with, um, you know, how, how do you control weeds. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, the only tools we knew we had were water. Yeah. And we continued to manage Yep. Weeds with water mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but the, um, they knew that that keeping the plants covered at right after planting would suppress weed growth or at least certain types of weeds.

(00:21:47):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, uh, and they started doing that. But I can remember as a kid going out and looking at organic fields with my dad and thinking, man, those are awesome <laugh>. And, and I couldn't tell the difference between Yeah. What was rice and what was, um, was weed. And my dad could, he would say, well, it looks green, it looks beautiful, but most of what you're seeing are weeds, <laugh>. And, um, wow. It took them, um, a long time. They had probably more failures, uh, on, uh, on organic rice. It just seemed, I think in the early days, uh, a little bit of a luck of the draw mm-hmm. <affirmative>, were you gonna get a heavy weed, uh, pressure or were you gonna get, um, uh, yeah, rice, and I'm just thankful for their foresight. They said, we're gonna figure this out.

(00:22:37):

And, um, and we have systems and, and or processes or a farming plan to farm organic rice that, um, that we have today because they were insistent that they were gonna figure it out. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Now, do we have weeds? Absolutely. We have weeds. Uh, yeah. But we're fortunate here in California that it doesn't rain here in the summer. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's not humid. Uh, a climate with humidity comes mm-hmm. <affirmative> disease and insects, and we're, our big issues are weeds. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> grass, weeds. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> that look like rice. They grow like rice physi, uh, or you know, they, they're structurally very much like rice. They drown about 48 hours before the rice will drown. That's our, that's our weed. Ah, underwater. And the weeds underwater until the fourth leaf. And, and you gotta go out there and, and, and you gotta be out there.

(00:23:37):

Yep. You can't just do it. Um, yeah, you gotta get out in the fields. The first leaf comes second leaf, third leaf, the fourth leaf of the rice has to break through the water in order to live. Same with the grass. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And for most of the 17 varieties we have that, that fourth leaf of the rice will emerge through the water before the grass will, and then the grass will drown and the rice will continue to push a fifth leaf. But all the while. Yeah. You've got bull rush, small flour, umbrella, plant lilies, duck, duck salad, duck salad. Yeah. All growing. Those are aquatic weeds that you're not gonna drown.

Brita Lundberg (00:24:15):

So while you're trying to drown the grass weeds, the aquatics are just loving it and thriving. Mm-hmm.

Anthony Corsaro (00:24:21):

As

Brita Lundberg (00:24:22):

Soon as you drown the draft.

Anthony Corsaro (00:24:23):

So I have, you

Brita Lundberg (00:24:24):

Know, time to dry up the aquatics.

Anthony Corsaro (00:24:28):

Okay. Comment and two, two follow up questions. Comment is, one thing that I pulled out of what Bryce just said was, you had somebody come with an offtake in a market to change your agronomic practices of two organic, basically, because you were no longer just selling into a commodity co-op. Right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I wanna highlight that because that's the whole point of this podcast, is we're trying to bring a voice to basically the brands in return of agriculture that are creating markets to change these agronomic practices. And we don't think that's talked about enough. So that's what I heard in there was, look, we had a, we had a, we had an offtake that could create a market for these things to change, and then we sustained them because we kept that market. Right. Two follow up questions on the agronomics are, you know, I know nothing about rice farming. So like, when I think of water control here, are we talking about the area gets this much rainfall and it just floods naturally? Are we talking about it's irrigated and you have like, you know, guards that you then like let out to drain the fields? Like how, how does the water fluctuation like work and how is it controlled?

Bryce Lundberg (00:25:27):

Well, our farm is about 10 miles from where the Feather River comes out of the Sierra Nevada mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And it, it is a robust, uh, river. There's, um, well, and, and the Sacramento is, uh, Sacramento River is on the, uh, west side of us about 20 miles. That watershed has more water that runs through it than the Colorado. Um, it is a robust watershed. Uh, wow. Yeah. You could think about the Colorado, um, the, the Sacramento River is a robust, uh, watershed. And, and so there is an abundant water source. Our, our aquifer then is also largely untapped. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, but we rely primarily on surface water, but in a drought like we had the last couple years. Um, we also then view some, uh, groundwater. The, the rice is patty rice mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So we grow in, um mm-hmm. <affirmative> in Patty. We have a system of levees. Right. So, uh, you say you have a hundred acre field, there might be, um, five or six different checks. And, and here in the, and this is probably getting too much outta the weeds, but for

Kyle Krull (00:26:42):

Intended

Bryce Lundberg (00:26:43):

Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro (00:26:45):

Every intended <laugh>

Bryce Lundberg (00:26:50):

For every hundred feet, there's one inch of fall. Uh, right. And so, um, if you have a hundred foot check, then you know, you're gonna, you're gonna have a full, and, and you, you want your patties to be pretty much flat. And, um, and that's,

Anthony Corsaro (00:27:06):

So Bryce, are you saying that the field has a slant then? So basically every a hundred feet, it's kind of slanted an inch down. And so that's how you would drain them. And, you know, after you flood them, or I don't know what the proper permit

Bryce Lundberg (00:27:17):

Is, but, but you're gonna put up some levees about every, um, every a hundred foot, you're gonna put a levy up and, and you're gonna have little gates Wow. On each end of that levy, um, to let water go from one check to the next check. And, and you've seen pictures of, um, terrace farming in, um mm-hmm. <affirmative>, other parts of the world or terrace rice, this, this is a form of terrace farming only the terraces are, are generally very flat. You hardly see the, um, but mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but there's a drop. Water will go from one, um, from one patty to the next mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, um, and that's how we manage the water.

Kyle Krull (00:27:54):

I'm struck by the specificity. I mean, counting leaves on individual plants one inch over 100 feet. Like I, when I think about growing rice, I think about these massive fields, and the level of specificity that you're detailing here is kind of blowing my mind and think about it takes that level of precision to grow. Rice is just insane to me. I, I'm, I feel like I've taken rice for granted my whole life. Um, <laugh>. So just, just wanna comment on that. That's extraordinary. Um, yeah. I also want, you know, kind of back to the origin story. Like, you know, the lumber family has been growing with these principles from the get-go. You know, like, like you mentioned 1937. Um, when did Regeneratives start to become part of that conversation and how did, because it feels like a lot of the practices has have always sort of been at least partially regenerative and, you know, given the, the new hot button term it is in the industry and wanting to like, align with that consumer group. What did that look like, both from a agronomic standpoint, what new principles did you have to implement? And then from a total company like marketing perspective, how did you start to tell that story to those consumers?

Bryce Lundberg (00:29:04):

Good question. Well, you know, we became aware of regenerative, the term regenerative. Um, I think several years ago, my cousin Grant Lundberg, at the time, he was our C E O, uh, he was on the, um, rodeo board of directors. And, and I think, you know, a lot of the origin of, of, of, of mu, much of the, of the regenerative, um, movement might come from the rodeo group, um, or, or rodeo, um mm-hmm. <affirmative> Institute. And, and we did, I think, have a, a question to ourselves mm-hmm. <affirmative> is organic. Is organic good enough? Isn't organic the term that we wanna support and, and what we've been supporting from the GetGo? And, um, and so it took a while for us to say, Nope, we, uh, we believe that reg, that organic is a continuum, that you have the, the base or the lowest, uh, form of organic that the, um, U S D A will will accept or approve.

(00:30:13):

You have organic forms of, of farming that, that go way beyond that, that are, uh, practiced by incredible farmers, uh, across the country, across the world. And, and I think for us, regenerative organic is about recognizing those practices, the farming techniques that have been honed for, for decades mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, or for generations. Yeah. And, and we've embraced regenerative organic, uh, I would say in, in, in that, um, in that way mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that it recognizes farming practices that have, uh, that are, that are elevated above what might be considered the minimum requirements for organic mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, and we believe we've been practicing those regenerative, organic, um, farming techniques and, and putting that into, into practice for, well, even though Grandpa Albert didn't know he was, um, was farming organically in the thirties, um, many of the practices of regenerative agriculture were practiced by my, my grandfather and I might just mention you guys that, um, my grandpa was, I think, a visionary. He, um, he was a great farmer. He would come, come and tell us sometimes, you know, when one door closes, another one opens. And, and I would just remind you that that means, uh, to me that he was a great farmer, not such a great cabinet maker

Anthony Corsaro (00:31:48):

<laugh>. Well, one, one thing I think that we've, that we've tried to do is like, how do we, how do we distill it? It's super complex, it's super nuanced. How do we distill it down into like easy, digestible frameworks for the consumer, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so maybe one thing that y'all could do for us is if, if we're looking at a, if we're looking at a, um, an image and we have conventional, we have kind of like regular organic, then regenerative, organic, what are just some of the major differences in those three buckets? Um, like how, how would you articulate maybe some of the practices or just the different, like, approaches in that three-prong framework?

Bryce Lundberg (00:32:23):

Right. So we, we do, uh, recognize that there are, are at least three elements that need to be considered and practiced in, uh, in regenerative. It's about the soil. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's about the, um, the animals that are either brought onto the farm or, or are there in the wild mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, and the people who, um, who participate, uh, in farming, um, and, and do that commitment or have that commitment to work with us. Um, and so in the soil, um, I would say it is about improving the soil mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, and, um, and having a mind treating it like a living thing. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I think is what we would like to, to, to remind that live. So soil isn't an inert, um, an an inert, uh, material. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, my, my dad has to remind me that most farmers think of it just as a place to put seed. Right. And, and, and, and for the roots to hold mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, but

Kyle Krull (00:33:29):

Just as a medium. Right.

Bryce Lundberg (00:33:32):

And we would say, no, the, the soil is, it's all about the soil. You care for the soil and have a healthy soil. You'll produce a healthy plant, which will produce healthy food, which will sustain healthy people. And, uh, and it's all about the soil and the things you can see in the soil. And, and you can, we can gather a lot of data about the health of the soil mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but there's so much about the soil, I would say that it's just so complex. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, there's, there's things still I think, don't know about the soil and, and the interaction, right. Of the things you can see and Nazi mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, there's, what do they say? More life in, uh, in just kind of a, a, a, a shovel full of soil than there are people on the, uh, on the earth.

Kyle Krull (00:34:21):

Uh, right. Well, healthy soil's. I've also heard another sta that we, we know more about the dust on the moon than we do the soil beneath our feet, which is kind of mind blowing to think about getting to the moon and getting that dust and the investment required, um, versus what, you know, basically keeps life on our planet sustaining. Um, but I think that trend is changing. People are getting more interested in soil, in part because of brands like you who are prioritizing it and telling that story. So we appreciate that effort.

Bryce Lundberg (00:34:49):

But then when it comes to the, the animals mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we don't have, um, we don't tend animals. We don't own animals, uh, here on the farm. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I'm not, not saying we will never have animals here, but one of the things my grandpa did used to say to his, his sons is it's a pretty good decision to leave the animals in Nebraska <laugh>. But, um, but we do have, we have herds, we have flocks of, uh, of animals that come th and use our fields and live on our fields. Um,

Brita Lundberg (00:35:21):

Yeah, our farm is part of the Pacific Flyway, which is one of the most important and threatened waterfowl habitats on the continent. And so each, um, each winter we flood a portion of our fields to provide habitat for thousands, if not millions of migratory birds, ducks, geese, swans, sand hill cranes. Wow. Um, just, you know, you, you think after harvest, the season is over, but, but our work isn't done, you know, cuz we really believe and we know that our, our farm is part of an elaborate ecosystem and, and we're committed to supporting, um, supporting that system. And, and so we, like I said, we flood the fields to provide habitat, replicate California's once abundant wetlands, um, provide vital habitat and nutrition for, for those waterfowl. Um, and then our cover crops also provide nesting habitat for ducks. They've lost a lot of breeding habitat.

(00:36:20):

Um, you know, California has lost more than 90% of its historic wetlands. Um, but, you know, rice fields with, with our heavy clay soil that holds water like a bathtub, um, really replicates, uh, that landscape and which is, you know, sort of regenerative in and of itself to, to replicate the, the native landscape. Um, and so we're really proud, you know, to, to share our, our fields with, with, you know, more than 200 species, um, that have been documented to use California rice fields. Um, you know, so much so that, you know, each spring before we start our tractors to prep the fields for planting, we check to see if ducks have started nesting in our, in our fields of cover crops. If so, we partner with our friends at California waterfowl and, and other like-minded organizations to sweep the fields and rescue the eggs by hand and transfer them to a local hash Wow. To be integrated, hatched, raised and released. Um, yeah, it's one of my favorite parts of the gig. You know, over the years we've rescued more than 30,000 duck eggs. Wow.

Anthony Corsaro (00:37:27):

That's, wow. So

Brita Lundberg (00:37:28):

It's, you know, just some people, uh, and by some people I mostly mean me, but, uh, call us Quist. <laugh>.

Bryce Lundberg (00:37:35):

Nicely done.

Brita Lundberg (00:37:38):

<laugh>. Well y'all, but really, you know, we just think of it as part of that partnership with nature that my grandpa talked about. So,

Anthony Corsaro (00:37:45):

And y'all just put out a really cool like, marketing PR campaign around this, um, which I found really interesting and really cool. Right. Because obviously I think part of regen is we're doing a lot of these things not in a way to, to to make more money, right. To drive a profit. We're doing them cuz they're the right thing to do or like, whatever, whatever the motivation may be. But I also think we have to use them to try and drive like some profitability or like some viability into the business. So curious just to like, hear about why y'all chose to focus on that. I think it was like a full page New York Times ad, like I, I saw a bunch of stuff about it. It was very like, playful and I think the, the, the word ducking was used in, in replacement of, of another word that my mom says I used too much. Um, but just like, what was the, like what was the consumer angle or like what did the data tell you that that was the right thing to maybe lead with instead of like soil health or something else in from this regenerative approach that y'all take?

Brita Lundberg (00:38:41):

Yeah. So when we were thinking about kind of how to, how to convey the value proposition of regenerative farming practices mm-hmm. <affirmative> for folks who may not be familiar with even the word itself. You know, we thought about, you know, talking about soil health and, and all these other sort of concepts that, that are largely unfamiliar to consumers. I think there's growing interest there, but by and large, you know, that's a pretty opaque concept I think to, to consumers and for so sure. Um, we were trying to kind of figure out, um, how to distill the sort of year round 365 days a year care that is part of our regenerative organic approach, um, in a way that, that would make sense to consumers, um, and serve as kind of like a point of entry to have a conversation about what regenerative and regenerative organic means to us. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, and so, um, you know, consumers may not understand soil health, um, but everybody loves ducks, especially baby ducks. <laugh>. Yeah. And so we sort of developed this, uh, campaign called Ducking Good Rice. Um, yeah,

Bryce Lundberg (00:39:50):

Let's go. I love it.

Brita Lundberg (00:39:51):

And, uh, we say, you know, not all rice saves baby ducks, but ours ducking does. Um, and we think that the, the foul language, uh, if you'll forgive foul the pun,

Bryce Lundberg (00:40:02):

<laugh>, another

Brita Lundberg (00:40:03):

Is, uh, just kind of a lighthearted way to, to start that conversation with consumers. Yeah. Um, to kind of help them understand that regenerative organic is really a holistic like systems approach, um, to farming that, you know, not just sustains, uh, but improves the environment, um, and the world around us, which is, you know, really where we started. Right. My great grandpa Albert's promised to leave the land better than he found it.

Bryce Lundberg (00:40:32):

I think it's, um, um, gives a, um, a measure of care mm-hmm. <affirmative>

Brita Lundberg (00:40:38):

That's

Bryce Lundberg (00:40:38):

Right. That we don't have to do that mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but you know, if it isn't, is an an indicator of care and how and how do you show how you care for the soil and make an engagement with that. But if Yeah. If you're saving Right. Saving ducks or, or, um, protecting duck eggs, um, it does I think give, um, uh, illustration or a, or a indication of, of level of care and we weren Yeah, sure. That's right. That's what we were hoping to kinda,

Brita Lundberg (00:41:09):

Yeah. It, it leads with humor, but I think at the heart of the campaign is, is really, um, really that care, you know, that we, we care so ducking much about, um, about the environment and, and, you know, if we care this much about ducks, imagine how much we care about our rice mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, so it's, you know, you're right. It's, yeah,

Kyle Krull (00:41:33):

It's really about that. I think it's a brilliant strategy and especially because, you know, there's no, I don't think there's any little kid who has a stuffed animal of soil. You know, there's no sports teams that are called soil. Um, you know, people have a natural empathy for animals mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And for some reason as this, this story in this campaign is coming to my, or you're describing this campaign I'm thinking about, I don't know if anybody here saw it, the video of a sea turtle that had a straw in its nostril mm-hmm. <affirmative> that went viral. And, you know, people watch this video of somebody pulling this straw to this sea turtle's nostril, and it's like the amount of empathy you feel and the pain you feel for that turtles, like, I think that was one of the catalysts for the band plastic straws movement.

(00:42:14):

Yeah. Right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And that had a serious impact on the industry. And I feel like what you guys are doing with ducks is not necessarily the same thing. You're not using like a, a video of an animal and pain, but you're utilizing the natural human ability to connect with an animal and say, this is important to us. And I think it's a really good way to communicate, uh, the values of the brand and why regenerative is important without talking about soil, because nobody at this point really cares about soil the same way they do about ducks or other animals. I think it's a really brilliant strategy you put together. Mm-hmm.

Bryce Lundberg (00:42:46):

<affirmative>. Thank you, Kyle. Thank you. Thanks for asking about that. Yeah. Um, you know, one of the things we appreciate about the, um, regenerative Organic Alliance, who is, um, you know, provides the regenerative organic certification to, to us is, um, they recognize the, the migrating birds as part of a rotational grazing mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and, um, you know, that wow, that, um, um, animal element in the regenerative program, uh mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, it, it was one of the concerns we had about, you know, whether or not as we moved into regenerative organic certification, whether or not we could check all the boxes that the, uh, the regenerative movement was, uh, was looking for. And, and we are really thankful that they, in some ways looking outside of the traditional box mm-hmm. <affirmative> of mm-hmm. <affirmative>, do you have cows? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and how many cows do you have? Uh, we have goats. How many goats do you have? But there are hundreds of thousands, not millions of, uh, of birds that are, that are utilizing our fields mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and they said, yeah, we, we really appreciate that and know how important that is. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,

Anthony Corsaro (00:44:01):

It's,

Kyle Krull (00:44:01):

I mean, it's a super cool, it's almost

Anthony Corsaro (00:44:03):

Better biodiversity story. Yeah. It's a, it, I mean, two things stand out to me. One, we've created a false binary narrative in agriculture that you can't do production scale agriculture and have a biodiverse environment. Right. Like, we've created that, that's not true. So we need more examples of, of people like Yeah. That are, that are proving that to be false and two mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, coming from like the impact investing world where a lot of the capital that's gonna need it to be raised in this space, we're gonna have, have quantifiable metrics that we can track to say, we sequestered this much carbon, we clean waterways, we protected biodiversity. Biodiversity is very hard to quantify as are all the other ones, but having a hard number to say, Hey, on this much acreage, we save this many ducks. Like, that is a game-changing thing I think for, uh, a lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds to understand why this works so important and show like a real tangible impact it's having on something that people care about.

Bryce Lundberg (00:44:58):

Thankful, uh, Thor thankful for that AC mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Uh, and, and I think it, it is part of what reminds us that no two farms are the same, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, no two regions are the same mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And as we, as we move into regenerative and, and want to, um, in, in many ways define regenerative, that it needs to have a, some flexibility mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>

Kyle Krull (00:45:25):

That Right.

Bryce Lundberg (00:45:26):

It won't look the same in, in, in every region. And, and, uh, and, and rice production in California will look different. Regenerative organic will look different in California than it does in Thailand mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative> or in India. And, but it will have many of the same elements mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but not, not a, a, uh, an imprint of, of each other. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>

Kyle Krull (00:45:48):

For sure. Right. I'm curious, you know, and one of the things I've learned in my, my time in cpg, there's a lot you can and can't say on a package. And I wanna give you the opportunity to tell the consumer, you know, help them understand something about regenerative organic rice that they can't find on a package from either a growing principle or how it impacts their health. You know, why it's important. Give us kind of a, like a behind the scenes, like why should consumers, aside from the duck story, which is fantastic, why should they want purchase and consume regenerative organic rice? Hmm.

Bryce Lundberg (00:46:27):

Well, I think it's, it's caring for the, um, the soil mm-hmm. <affirmative> and the grain from beginning to end, from the very seed that's planted mm-hmm. <affirmative> to the very seed then that comes to the consumer mm-hmm. <affirmative> and everything that it touches. Some people will say, well, regenerative organic is really just for the, um, for the region where it's grown that the, that the food isn't any better. And I think, oh golly, that's such so, so, so shortsighted that Yeah. Isn't healthy soil gonna produce healthier food? And that's one of the things he can't say right. Is, you know, really soil that's robust and has crop rotation and, and natural fertility is gonna produce a better food, but our country doesn't allow that. You know, you can't really say that. Right. Have y'all

Anthony Corsaro (00:47:25):

Done studies, Bryce have, have y'all invested in any, like, data or lab or like, is that a worthwhile thing for y'all to do? Like you can't say it unpack.

Bryce Lundberg (00:47:33):

Well, I think it is ac but so far we haven't done a lot of testing on, uh, yeah. The nutritional component, the little nutritional components we've done is there is variability mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, and it from the base that, that, uh, FDA would put out, uh, or not food and food and drug to mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but, you know, you wanna get in trouble start saying how much better, uh, it it is for you <laugh>. Uh, so, um, that, that is, um, and I think the, the more visibility you, you have as a, um, as a farmer, as a brand, um, in the marketplace, the bigger target you have on you, things that we know intuitively. Um, I think as we, we move forward, just knowing it intuitively is not enough. Right. But dang, we know so much intuitively, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you can see it mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you can feel it, you can smell it, you can touch it. And, um, and those things, uh, often aren't, aren't measured or measurable. That's right. But the things, you know, uh, I think consumers know too. Yeah.

Brita Lundberg (00:48:40):

I think, you know, a lot of people say, or some people say that you can't manage what you, you can't measure. Yeah.

Bryce Lundberg (00:48:47):

Yeah. Right,

Brita Lundberg (00:48:47):

Right, right. But, but then we think of, you know, great Grandpa Albert, and my grandpa Harlan and his brothers, and they were managing healthy soil and healthy fields and a healthy environment long before we could measure any of these things. Right. Um, and I think there's no substitute for being out there and, and present in your fields. And I think that's one of the huge differences in the way that we, that we operate. You know, we're not flying on an, an herbicide, uh, for grass weeds and then a herbicide for the aquatics. Yeah. So we're out there, uh, you know, every morning and every evening and, and reading the rice, you know, we were out there last night and, and checking all the fields and, um, and, and getting out there

Bryce Lundberg (00:49:37):

Yep. In

Brita Lundberg (00:49:38):

Our I waders and

Bryce Lundberg (00:49:40):

We have one crop a year. Yep. Right. The, uh, we plant in the spring, we harvest in the fall. And, um, that, that is this, this is the time of year we are planting, we're planting, and we have rice that's anywhere from four or five days old to, what was that? Uh, I think 20, 24, 7 24 days. Uh, and that 24 day rice needs to come through. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we made some changes last night. Best part of my day is, um, the morning when I irrigate in the evening when I go home, but in the middle of the day, it's, uh, here, usually be in the office. But yeah. Brita, we'll come, uh, this times we, we spend the together irrigating in the evening, our, uh, our wonderful times. Yep.

Brita Lundberg (00:50:22):

Best part of the

Bryce Lundberg (00:50:22):

Day. Best part of the day. <laugh>,

Anthony Corsaro (00:50:25):

I'm, I'm curious, Brito, maybe to get your take on this, like y'all have, y'all are the first US grown regenerative, organic rice, so just kudos there and congrats. Amazing to see y'all have committed to basically the whole portfolio being r o C by 2027, which I think is amazing. Like what, what consumer trends like back out of the macro of, Hey, we need to get certified. Like how, how is this affecting your business? How are you thinking about product development from here? Or certification from here, or marketing or like channel development? Like how, how has that maybe shifted or how has the regenerative organic piece affected that? I'm just super curious about that.

Brita Lundberg (00:51:01):

Yeah, so as you mentioned, you know, we recently introduced our first, uh, regenerative organic certified skew, which is a white boss, ma Rice mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and we also set a goal to certify all of the organic rice that, that we grow as regenerative organic certified by 2027. Mm-hmm. Um, and so, so really we're looking to introduce a, a lot more regenerative, organic certified skews. Yeah. Um, using that regenerative organic certified rice in the, in the coming years. Um, and I think along with that, we're really looking into how we can tell that story to consumers and, um, and convey that value proposition. Um, because I think that, um, in order for this to be successful, uh, we need consumers to, to, to pull through.

Bryce Lundberg (00:51:51):

Mm bet. Absolutely. We weren't sure exactly how that regenerative organic certification was gonna work. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. We started talking with, um, o a about 18 months ago Yeah. And, uh, saying, you know, we're not, we're not the traditional, you know, farm that has some grain and, and some, uh, some animals and, uh, and, and, and things on it. Um, and so we started meeting with them and, uh, it was, it's been a very productive, um mm-hmm. <affirmative> relationship. We, we took one farm through certification, um, last year, uh, our home farm mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, here close to where our, our headquarters is. And, um, and so that was a, um, that, that was a very positive, successful, uh, uh, relation, uh, beginning of relationship mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so we'll be bringing, um, we'll be bringing all of our families farms into certification this year.

(00:52:52):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but I think part of our story AC and and Kyle is that as we've been farming organically here in California, we've had lots of, of, um, neighboring family farms come to us and say, we wanna farm organically too. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but in order to farm organically, you need to have a, a grainery where you can keep it separate and, and, and organic grain as organic. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and you have to have a mill that you can mill your organic. Mm-hmm. And so we have, um, we have about 25 farms mm-hmm. In our Wow. Within hundred miles of, of our headquarters mm-hmm. <affirmative> that farm. More organic rice for us too, some for over 40 years. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, that started early on in the, um, transition to organic, um, back in the, well this would've been in the seventies mm-hmm. <affirmative> when, when the first farmers came to us and said, we want to do this too. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

Anthony Corsaro (00:53:52):

Yeah.

Bryce Lundberg (00:53:53):

So we, we w we understand that farmers have questions about what's this gonna be like mm-hmm. <affirmative> and will the transition to re re to this regenerative organic certification too. We ask all of our growers that grow for us to be with C C O F and mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we helped, uh, in the beginning of C C O F and continue to be supportive mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, um, try to, to, uh, to be, um, very positive with, uh, California certified organic farmers. But we wanna be that same, that same, that same way with R O c mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so we're showing our growers that all of our families, uh, farms can, can go through R o c mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and um, and that will be this year. And then, um, following that we'll be asking the other growers that grow with us mm-hmm. <affirmative> to also take that step.

Anthony Corsaro (00:54:51):

Yeah. I love so much the things you just mentioned there, Bryce, because I'm gonna say it again and I'm gonna beat this dead horse until people stop listening to me. Right. It's, we, we need to reverse engineer this solution. The brands create the markets that spur the infrastructure and the processing and the ability to change the agronomy. And right now what we're doing, I feel like in the space is we're rushing to the farm gate. We're asking the farmers, how do we change the agronomy? How do we, how do you adopt these practices? Blah, blah, blah. And the farmers are saying, well, give me the, the processing support to actually keep it, um, integrity preserved, I forget the perfect word, the, the term for that. And then give me a market to sell it into and make money. Right. And like, we need to think about it the, the first way. And so I love that you've mentioned a couple things that really validate that. And maybe it's just confirmation bias, cuz that's what I want to believe, but like, I really do believe that that is the case that we need to focus, you know, that order of operations.

Kyle Krull (00:55:44):

Okay. I think Anthony's spot on there and what I'd like you, not only are you leading the way by example, but you're also providing that market. Right. Um, which is super important. But I want to get a sense of scale here. You mentioned right now you've got the one farm that's r o c. From an acreage perspective, if you don't mind sharing, like, what does that look like? And then, and you can ballpark these figures if you'd like, when all 25 family farms are certified. Like what does that look like? Now I'm thinking about the impact for those ducklings and if we expand that to like, to what Max I wanted, like visualize how much lane this actually is,

Anthony Corsaro (00:56:17):

<laugh>.

Bryce Lundberg (00:56:18):

Well, we believe it is one of the best ways to cultivate a healthier world is by farming organic mm-hmm. <affirmative> and even more so, you know, regenerative, organic. That that is a game changer for the world, for the climate, for the unit, for, for our environment. And every acre you can transition to organic and to regenerative, organic, to me is, is a game changer. And so our first farm that we brought through, um, was around 1500 acres. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and, uh, and that was the, the, the ground close in here to our, our, um, yeah. Headquarters. The, this year our plan is for that to, to bump up to 18 Hey, I'm sorry, 8,000 acres. Um, so we'll, um, wow. We'll be able to support, um, several more skews of mm-hmm. <affirmative> of packaged rice and the rice cakes and, and some of the entrees mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, or boxed items, uh, with that. And, and then the next step with all 25, it, it'll be in the, in the range of, um, well close to 20,000 acres. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> that will, um, wow.

(00:57:33):

And, you know, that's amazing. This year is gonna be 8,000, but, you know, that's the, that's in, in growing rice for every, you know, acre that's growing rice, there's still an additional AC acres that that's in a rotation in something else. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> that will be coming into the, the regenerative organic, uh, process at the same time, because that ground's gonna be in next year. Right. So if there's 8,000, if there's likely closer to, um, to 10 or 11 that are coming in, but only eight are growing rice. And when we're growing, when we're growing 15 or 16,000 acres of regenerative organic, there'll be a still another, uh, five, 6,000 acres that are, are rotating out and, and resting and, and other things. But Wow.

Kyle Krull (00:58:24):

Yeah. It is really cool to kind of visualize like the, the growing land. Like if you, you're like looking down at the world from a satellite, you know, just the growing positive impact taking place on those farms in northern California. It's really cool to envision that. Um, so I appreciate you sharing that. You know, we, we sort of talked about the future a little bit in terms of how regenerative organic is gonna change the, the future for lumber. Um, just wanna touch on real quick, like even stepping back from Regen, like as a brand, what is that lumber is trying to achieve in the next, you know, three, five years? Are there new category penetrations you're looking to get into? Are there other ways that you can utilize rice? Is there any potential for lumber to make something other than rice, you know, with these cover crops, these different rotations you have going? Um, if you can talk about any of that, we'd love to, to know.

Bryce Lundberg (00:59:10):

Well, you know, Kyle, a few years ago we had, um, experienced this kind of pressure that quinoa was coming into our, um, and, and, uh, there were trying to take packages of rice off the shelf.

Anthony Corsaro (00:59:23):

Yeah. Cows out there hustling shelf space, <laugh>, it wasn't me, <laugh>.

Bryce Lundberg (00:59:30):

And so, um, we, um, we were asked by, by some of our, uh, closest retailers, when are you guys gonna grow? Quinoa? Quinoa? And he said, well, we could import some quinoa from South America. And they said, no, we want you guys to grow domestic quinoa. Wow. And so we have been on a, excuse me, a, um, about a 10 year, um, trek in figuring out how to grow quinoa here in, uh, northern California. Wow. And, and so you can find, hopefully you can find a, a Lundberg package, uh, with quinoa. I've seen it. And a store near you, but it's all grown in, uh, the near the coast. It is too hot to grow that quinoa here in the valley. When we grow rice, the, um, the plant flowers are too sensitive. They'll sterilize it around 90 degrees. And so we grow them over close to the coast in the, some of it in the, uh, shadow of the redwood, some actually where the spray of the, um, the Pacific Ocean. Um, one of the first fields we, um, we started growing quinoa is on the Eel River, right where it comes out. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, in the Pacific Ocean, in, in Humboldt County. So all of it's, it's grown in Humboldt County and we, we'll grow anywhere from 250 to 500 acres of, uh, of organic quinoa there. Wow. So that has been an area we've branched out into mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but it is quite a bit more expensive than, um, than imported quinoa right now. So we're struggling a bit in that area.

Anthony Corsaro (01:01:07):

Hmm.

Bryce Lundberg (01:01:08):

But we have a, we have I eyes on, uh, on innovation mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, um, some new puffed products, some new, some call 'em snacks, but rice cake type products, some, uh, we, we think that the ready to heat area is an area we need to

Anthony Corsaro (01:01:27):

More

Bryce Lundberg (01:01:27):

Active in and for

Anthony Corsaro (01:01:28):

Sure. Um,

Bryce Lundberg (01:01:29):

You know, so that is, it's all

Anthony Corsaro (01:01:32):

Those lazy millennials and Gen Zs, like Kyle and I, Bryce, that you gotta start making all those products for <laugh> <laugh>.

Bryce Lundberg (01:01:40):

What's

Anthony Corsaro (01:01:40):

That? I'll say it for you. So I said, it's all those lazy millennials and Gen Zs that you gotta make the ready to eat products for. Like, like Kyle and I.

Bryce Lundberg (01:01:48):

Yeah. Okay. Well, um, I'm not gonna say anything about that other than I think everybody wants,

Anthony Corsaro (01:01:53):

Everybody

Bryce Lundberg (01:01:53):

Wants, um, uh, you know, to be able to support the kind of agriculture they're wanting to support mm-hmm. And with for sure they enjoy and, and find delight in mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, that also fits their, um, um, their lifestyle. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, right. And, and, uh, when you wanna have that rice and you, uh, I think everybody has time to cook rice, but when you don't mm-hmm. <affirmative> having that ready heat is red. Is is, and that is one of the lines we are, um, are pursuing regenerative, organic, uh, certification on mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, so it's, we don't have that plant that can, can do that magic, but, but we're working on cuz we think that is an area of, uh, of growth that we wanna participate in.

Anthony Corsaro (01:02:39):

Yeah.

Kyle Krull (01:02:41):

I think it's a great idea kind of getting out of the, uh, the center store and getting towards the perimeter. Um, it's a great place to tell a story. It's a great place to get attention and to be able to bring that regenerative organic story into those areas, I think is a really, really cool, smart idea and could be really impactful. So, uh, like Anthony mentioned, us, us lazy millennials are excited about <laugh> having the opportunity to support the right agriculture in those categories.

Anthony Corsaro (01:03:08):

Yeah, for sure. So y'all, this has been super fun. I'm gonna take us home with the final question and would love both of y'all's thoughts on this. Um, and we ask everyone this, I'm super, super curious what y'all are gonna say. Um, how, how do we get 50% market share for regenerative brands by 2050?

Bryce Lundberg (01:03:27):

Well that's, that's a great goal.

Anthony Corsaro (01:03:30):

It's a loaded question. I know <laugh>

Bryce Lundberg (01:03:32):

It is. Um, but you know, it takes everyone, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it takes everyone being, um, consumer demand is, uh, is key. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, right? And farmers are, um, farmers are, um, are responsive to the, to the customer and, and to, um, to the buyers coming to the farm. And I think it, a lot of it's that, but then also I think, um, it's, I'm really thankful that Governor Newsom and his administration here in California have a goal to increase organic agriculture by, by 2030 to, um, to 30%. And, and what was that 50% by win, uh, AC

Anthony Corsaro (01:04:21):

20, 20, 50

Bryce Lundberg (01:04:23):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. So, um, I think we gotta set goals. We gotta have our leaders setting goals and then having tools, uh, right. And getting the customers to say yeah. To that mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Uh, but, uh, you know, there's a story I like to tell AC about this guy who was walking on a country road and he came up onto a, um, a flock of sheep and he came, went to the, the, the, the, uh, woman taking care of the sheep and said, I'll bet you a hundred bucks against one of your sheep. I can tell you how many sheep are in your flock. And she said, you're on. And he said, well, you have 789 sheep in your flock. And she said, dang, you're right. Go ahead and, uh, and, and take any sheep you want. And he went over and picked up an animal and started walking away and she said, Hey, double nothing. I can tell you exactly what you do for a living. And, uh, and he said, okay. And she said, you're a economist with a government tank. And she, he said, yeah, you're right. How'd you know <laugh>? And she said, he said, put, she said, put down my dog and I'll tell you. And you know,

Anthony Corsaro (01:05:27):

<laugh>, the

Bryce Lundberg (01:05:29):

Idea is

Anthony Corsaro (01:05:30):

That

Bryce Lundberg (01:05:33):

Both those people have incredible skills. Everybody has different skills. <laugh>, we need everybody working together. Neither one of those people were right or wrong. They're both right. And we need everybody with skills and relationship to food and marketing and, you know, climate change and, and, and, um, and just, uh, distribution, everyone engaged to get there to 2050. If it all depended on just farmers, we wouldn't get there. And if it was just consumers, we probably wouldn't get there. Takes everybody agree with different skills every time.

Kyle Krull (01:06:10):

Even the funniest answer, the funniest answer, we've heard <laugh> outta everybody we've asked without a doubt,

Anthony Corsaro (01:06:18):

<laugh>.

Kyle Krull (01:06:19):

But I, I think there

Anthony Corsaro (01:06:20):

Anything I would add

Kyle Krull (01:06:21):

Oh yeah, sorry.

Brita Lundberg (01:06:22):

I mean, how do you add to that? Right. I guess I'll just say that, uh, I don't know if you knew when you book to father daughter do that, you'd be having the dad jokes. Huh? <laugh>

Anthony Corsaro (01:06:33):

Yeah. We, we, we expected a little bit of that, you know, but that's always, we like that, we like that, we enjoy that.

Kyle Krull (01:06:40):

But yeah, I think, I think you're right. I think that combination of, you know, we need the, for every step of the supply chain, starting with the producer to the consumer and everything in between, we need all of those individuals who care about this and to really push it forward. Because if we don't get those vested parties from the distributors, from the brokers, from the retail buyers, from, you know, the producers to the farming infrastructure, to the grain silos, like everybody has to be involved in these things really gonna scale. So I think your answer is spot on. Um mm-hmm. <affirmative> and yeah, just really appreciate the conversation we've had today and you all sharing some of these hilarious stories, um, and jokes with us. Um, it's been a blast to, to spend some time with you too.

Anthony Corsaro (01:07:23):

Yeah.

Bryce Lundberg (01:07:24):

Thank you so much, Kyle. Thank you. Ac thank you for caring and, and I would love to hear your origin story about how you guys said we're gonna do this and,

Anthony Corsaro (01:07:34):

Uh, <laugh>

Bryce Lundberg (01:07:35):

And we're gonna promote this, and, and you are, you know, you're right in there with us, you know? Yeah. You're right in there at, uh, part of making the change. Yeah. I love that. Thank you. Yeah,

Anthony Corsaro (01:07:48):

We, we appreciate that. Uh, the, the super concise version of the origin story is both Kyle and I have had, you know, we've both worked in food for a long time and have, you know, personal and family histories and food, and we also have had some large healthcare challenges that have really led us to regen. And so I think we were personally motivated by human health, right. And then we found regenerative and it exposed us to all these other amazing co-benefits that it brings. And so we want to, we also felt like this narrative around brands creating markets that could shape the incentives for the agronomy was not being told. And so, um, Kyle was living in Bend. I was back for my second or third stint there, and I was just a crazy guy that asked him to start a podcast with me. And he was nice enough to, to oblige and it's been a fun ride ever since.

Bryce Lundberg (01:08:36):

Well, awesome.

Kyle Krull (01:08:38):

And not really much I can add to that. It's, uh, <laugh>, it's been a blast. And, and the, the best part is like, you know, I think that Anthony and I were both having these conversations with brands on a regular basis anyways. Yeah. It's just understanding who they were, how we could help, how we can support, and now we just get to do it in this public forum and really mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we get to be the, the megaphone and help the brands tell these stories and share the impact that they're providing. So that's been the most fun part for me, is just being able to help that storytelling aspect for, for all the brands doing the great work. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So it's been super fun, super fulfilling, and I'm very grateful that Anthony had this wild idea to start a podcast. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>

Bryce Lundberg (01:09:13):

<laugh>. Well that's really cool.

Anthony Corsaro (01:09:15):

It's been super fun. Y'all, thanks so much for joining us. We'll do it again sometime.

Brita Lundberg (01:09:19):

Thank you. It's been really fun. Thank you for telling the stories and, and letting us tell ours.

Anthony Corsaro (01:09:24):

Exactly. Absolutely. Thanks y'all.

(01:09:30):

For show notes, episode transcripts, and more information on our guests and what we discussed on the show, check out our website regen-brands.com. That is regen-brands.com. You can also find our Regen Recaps on the website. Regen Recaps take less than 5 minutes to read and cover all the key points of the full hour long conversations. You can check out our YouTube channel, Regen Brands Podcast for all of our episodes with both video and audio. The best way to support our work is to give us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast platform. Subscribe to future episodes and share the show with your friends. Thanks for tuning into The ReGen Brands Podcast, brought to you by the Regen Coalition and Outlaw Ventures. We hope you learned something new in this episode and it empowers you to use your voice, your time, and your dollars to help us build a better and more regenerative food system. Love you guys.