Our soil is in crisis. Nearly a third of our soil has already been degraded, and the UN estimates we only have 60 years of topsoil left if we continue with current farming practices. With 95% of our food grown in soil, it’s clear that we need a radical change.

Enter Regenerative Agriculture, a farming approach aiming to rebuild soil health and farming communities, while also supporting carbon sequestration and reversing climate change. There is a lot of excitement about the potential for regenerative agriculture to transform our food system, with major industry players like General Mills, Applegate and Patagonia all investing in regenerative agriculture. Yet it is still very much the wild west.

Join us at Regenerative AgTech, in partnership with Applegate's THE NEW FOOD COLLECTIVE™, WeWork Food Labs and AgFunder, to learn about what regenerative agriculture is and how technology and new business models are helping farmers regenerate their soil. The Rodale Institute, Savory Institute, Indigo Ag, PastureMap, OpenTEAM and Applegate will give a deep dive into their business models, technologies and certifications.

PastureMap will share how their cattle analytics software can help reward ranchers who are raising beef more regeneratively, OpenTEAM will explain how their open data platform arms farmers with the best possible knowledge to improve soil health and Indigo Ag will show how they are working to improve grower profitability, environmental sustainability and consumer health through the use of natural microbiology and digital technologies.

You'll also sample innovative food & beverages from YOLÉLÉ FOODS, Plovgh, Ark Foods, Wonderlab's Doozy Pots, Shaka Tea, Union Snacks, AeroFarms and more.

Do you have a food, beverage or technology you’d like to sample at this event? Apply here: https://bit.ly/34394KD

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SCHEDULE:

6 - 7:30pm: Networking, tech demos and food and beverage sampling

7:30 - 9pm: Presentations + Q&A

9 - 9:30pm: Networking

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PRESENTERS:

Alison Etheridge, Manager, Systems Innovation, Indigo Ag

Indigo Ag improves grower profitability, environmental sustainability, and consumer health through the use of natural microbiology and digital technologies. Utilizing beneficial plant microbes and agronomic insights, Indigo works with growers to sustainably produce high quality harvests. The company then connects growers and buyers directly to bring these harvests to market. Working across the supply chain, Indigo is furthering its mission of harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet. The company is headquartered in Boston, MA, with additional offices in Memphis, TN, Research Triangle Park, NC, Sydney, Australia, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and São Paulo, Brazil. Alison Etheridge is a manager within the systems innovation team at Indigo. Her work involves discovering and deploying new technologies, tools, and methods to service a more beneficial agriculture.

Christine Su, CEO & Co-Founder, PastureMap

Christine is the CEO and co-founder of PastureMap, a startup helping farmers and ranchers raise regenerative meat that heals people and the planet. Christine founded PastureMap to empower farmers and ranchers with the information they need to run their operations more profitably and resiliently. PastureMap is ranching software that helps ranchers implement regenerative grazing practices, and tracks soil carbon and biodiversity data so they can get rewarded for climate friendly practices. We are building the information backbone of a regenerative meat industry. At PastureMap, we have invested in statewide partnerships with the USDA, Point Blue Conservation Science, and Zero Foodprint to build soil carbon data into PastureMap's software, to reward farmers for improving soil health.

Dorn Cox PhD, Research Director, Wolfe's Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment and Director of OpenTEAM

Dr. Dorn Cox serves as research director at Wolfe's Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment, a pioneer and leader in regenerative agriculture, a nonprofit research and education center, and a working organic farm on 600 acres of conserved land on the coast of Maine. Dorn also serves as the Director of OpenTEAM, or Open Technology Ecosystem for Agricultural Management, a farmer-driven, interoperable platform to provide farmers around the world with the best possible knowledge to improve soil health. Dorn is also a founder of the FarmOS software platform, the GOAT (Gathering for Open Ag Tech) and Farm Hack community, he is passionate about sharing open source agricultural tools, ideas information and inspiration to accelerate innovation and quantify environmental services from regenerative agriculture.

Jeff Tkach, Chief Growth Officer, Rodale Institute

Rodale Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to pioneering organic farming through research and outreach. For more than seventy years, we’ve been researching the best practices of organic agriculture and sharing our findings with farmers and scientists throughout the world, advocating for policies that support farmers, and educating consumers about how going organic is the healthiest options for people and the planet.

Chris Kerston, Director of Market Engagement and Public Outreach, Savory Institute

Chris Kerston has dedicated his life to helping connect innovative ranchers and farmers with progressive brands in ways that create true synergistic value for both sides. Chris managed ranches and farms full time for nearly 15 years before joining the Savory Institute. In that time, he developed thriving and profitable markets for a number of
different niche products. He has a longstanding passion for regenerative agricultural and a strong desire to contribute to better systems that meet the consumer’s wants and needs. Chris also utilizes innovative media production in concert with traditional marketing techniques to help ranchers share their stories and build long lasting relationships with partners based upon common goals. He now leads the market engagement arm of the Savory Institute’s Land to Market program – the world’s first verified regenerative sourcing solution.

Gina Asoudegan is the Vice President of Mission and Innovation Strategy at Applegate

Gina Asoudegan is the Vice President of Mission and Innovation Strategy at Applegate, the nation’s leading natural and organic meat company. In her role, Asoudegan oversees product innovations that are designed to create a consciously-scaled supply chain. When she joined Applegate in 2006 as director of communications, Asoudegan worked closely with NGOs to raise awareness of food-system issues, including antibiotic resistance and GMOs. Asoudegan is a member of the advisory board at the Sustainable Food Lab, holds a position on the advisory council for The National Young Farmers Coalition and was instrumental in securing Applegate as a founding partner for the Savory Institute’s Land to Market™ Program, the world’s first regenerative sourcing solution for livestock-derived meat, dairy, wool and leather.

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PARTNERS:

Presenting

For over 30 years, Applegate has been producing high-quality natural and organic hot dogs, bacon, sausages, deli meats, cheese and frozen products. Our products are made without GMO ingredients and we source our meat from farms, where animals are treated with care and respect and are allowed to grow at their natural rate, all part of our mission – Changing The Meat We Eat®. Natural can mean many things, but to us natural means that the meat inside our products are: From animals raised humanely without antibiotics, hormones or growth promotants; from animals fed a vegetarian or 100% grass diet; free of added chemical nitrites, nitrates or phosphates; and free of artificial ingredients or preservatives. In February 2019, Applegate launched THE NEW FOOD COLLECTIVE™, a new premium brand that sources pasture-raised meats from farms using regenerative practices to create culinary-inspired food from small batch production methods.

Supporting

WeWork Food Labs is building a community of entrepreneurs, industry experts and investors to fix food, now and for the future. A workspace and global platform, Food Labs is dedicated to startups impacting the future of sustainable food.

AgFunder is an online venture capital firm investing in transformational agri-foodtech entrepreneurs that uses technology, media, and network effects to support its investments. It also publishes AFN (AgFunderNews), a news site reporting from the front lines of the food revolution.

Friends

Edible Manhattan tells the story of how the city eats. Along with otherEdible New York properties, we are part of a national network of Edibles across North America. We chronicle how the region eats. Through editorial and at events where our stories come to life, we celebrate the people who are building the sort of food culture we want—one that’s diverse, accessible, sustainable and delicious.

Like our namesake borough, the Brooklyn Brewery is made up of a rich collection of characters from all over the world. In our Williamsburg home, these characters are dedicated to brewing and selling great beer and enriching the communities we serve. Together, these Brooklyners have assembled the skills needed to transform a home brewing hobby into an independent brewery with a brand that has become an international beacon for good beer.