Soil Builders, checking in with Zach Weiss on water cycles and a biodynamic baby food startup

Zach Weiss and Keith Rowe are the first guests of the new Soil Builders series. In the series we welcome back previous friends of the podcast to understand their progress and we discover new companies, startups, farmers, investors engaged in building soil all over the world.

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Discover the previous interview with Zach Weiss of Elemental Ecosystems:
https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/2019/02/03/zach-weiss/

Keith is the co-founder of White Leaf Provisions:
https://www.whiteleafprovision.com/

More about this episode and the Soil Builders series on https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/2020/09/22/soil-builders-1/

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RFSI Europe 2026

Chapters

• 1:03 Update from Zach Weiss
• 6:19 Introducing bio dynamic baby food brand

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Welcome to Soil Builders, a series where we follow who is building soils at scale. This is an experiment, so please share any feedback. Today, we check in with Zach Weiss, who argued why climate change is a symbol of water cycle disturbance. And we have a founder of 100% regenerative farm, Demeter certified, biodynamic, organic baby food company, which we obviously asked, why all these certifications? Enjoy. Why this show, Soil Builders? I believe that most change in regenerative agriculture and food will come from, and is coming from, entrepreneurs' ways to regenerate soil at scale. I call these soil builders. Soil builders are entrepreneurial farmers, ag tech companies, investment funds, food startups, new seed cooperatives, teams within food companies, robot startups, investment vehicles, etc, etc, etc. All regenerating soil beyond their own farm gate and with more than their own money. This series allows the community of the podcast, which is you, full of funders, investors and fellow soil builders to follow their progress, their challenges and their breakthroughs. I hope you enjoy it and please reach out with any comments, feedback and ideas. This time we have an update from Zach Weiss who we had on the show in February 2019 where we discussed the importance of the water cycle and that climate change is only, between brackets, a symptom of a disturbed water cycle. Zach shares some updates on how the conversation is changing around disturbed water cycles and how he's growing and scaling his company to work on more and bigger projects. Hi Zach, you mentioned in our interview last year that you were building a platform to franchise your business model. How has that developed?

SPEAKER_00: 1:32

Hey, Cohen. Well, there have been some developments with the franchise model, although it's certainly taken a back burner to implementing projects as that's our main focus. We held last fall a tryout event. We had a total of over 100 people apply to be our next round of trainees. And then through a process of interviews, we whittled that down to 10 people. that actually came to an on-site tryout. This was just a little project. We were all able to work together in classic Montana style. It snowed about two feet and got really cold right before we started. So it was just a really good way to get to know everyone, to live together for a short period of time, to work together on a project and see how people interacted and who we ultimately wanted to bring on board. And I will say everyone who came was really wonderful. I'd be happy with any of them working on a project. And so we've now had five or six of them come on different projects and four of them have turned into quite steady helpers. I will say I've had to temper my own expectations just with the limitations of training so many new people and everyone starting out pretty raw skill wise is what we do is quite specialized. So it's really taken a lot of my time to try and train up these people and just learning that it's going to be a longer timeline than what I had originally envisioned. So still working in that direction and starting to train up the first wave of people. And my hope is that after this season, they'll really be trained up to the point where they can step right into project work next year, start to grow our crew a little bit, and then slowly continue to add more people to train up. Probably once they've worked with us for a couple of years, worked on different projects for a certain type of person, then it might make sense to do this kind of franchising offer. So nothing really concrete in those regards, but just starting along that path and seeing how things develop as it goes.

SPEAKER_01: 3:50

Have you seen the discussion change around carbon and climate change being a symptom of a disturbed water cycle? I've seen it a lot more since our interview, but obviously I'm very biased.

SPEAKER_00: 4:00

To be real with you, I can't say I've really seen the mainstream discussion around carbon and climate change in water really change at all. I think the voices talking about water are getting a little bit louder, but we're not even at the early adopter stage yet. It's really early on and people are starting to become aware of how vital water is for climate. And I see a lot of misinformation and I see the information that is out there being applied to whatever political slant people are aiming for. And so I think the discussion in a mainstream sense is getting worse, if anything. I'll use Australia as an example. I was over working there in January when there was really catastrophic fires ravaging through the whole country, basically burned all of New South Wales, all of the eastern and southeastern coast of Australia. And what are the predominant narratives of what's going on? Well, you have one side of the media saying that it's the greenie policies that are causing these massive scale fires. Then you have the other side saying it's all from carbon emissions that are causing these massive fires when neither of those are true. It's actually from the disturbed water cycle, from the privatization of water, from the manipulation of water and a false scarcity that's created by by how they sell and regulate the water. And they're pulling waters out of the rivers and destroying the climate. And that narrative is not being discussed at all. It's like, it's totally shuffled under the rug. There's too much money and investment behind it. And so you have the media just throwing out these two narratives that don't even begin to address the reality, but that's what everyone's listening to. And people basically can choose from one of those two narratives which they're gonna believe. So I hope to see it change. I hope that these voices for water keep getting louder and I hope more people begin to open up to it. But I can't say by and large, I've seen the mainstream discussion around carbon, climate and water really change much at all.

SPEAKER_01: 6:19

Next up, we have a company introduction by Keith Lowe, co-founder of White Leaf Provisions, a US baby food brand using only biodynamic, the major certified ingredients. We talk about why the focus on biodynamic and what are the connections between regenerative agriculture practices and biodynamic farming? Plus, how is the market in the US responding to these products? Hi Keith, welcome to the show. Could you introduce yourself and what brings you to work in the food space?

SPEAKER_02: 6:46

Hi Colin, thank you so much for taking the time to have this discussion. So yeah, my name is Keith. I am the co-founder of White Leaf Provisions along with my wife, Megan. We are the first to launch a line of regeneratively farmed, biodynamic baby and family foods. I guess the... Our company began, I guess, with the meeting of two minds between Megan and myself. I was born and raised in a small farming community in Ireland. Before I met Megan, she'd also spent many years in Europe with her education. But I had been raised in that small farming community in Ireland. I was becoming aware of organic farming, regenerative farming. I went on to be a classically trained chef where I cooked professionally. professionally throughout Europe, Australia, Asia, and America for many years, most of those years at executive level. Being in the culinary scene in Europe, I was becoming aware of the Demeter certification, kind of what it umbrellaed, and the regenerative farming aspects behind the Demeter certification, which I found fascinating. And as Megan was living in Europe before I met her, she also was just developing a love for Europe's approach to food farming. feeding, kind of lifestyle around food. I moved to the States about 11 years ago where I met Megan for the first time. We fell in love. We got married. And a few years after that, we gave birth to our son, Keegan. And when Keegan was born, I quit cooking professionally, became a stay-at-home dad. And I was raising Keegan in the fashion how I was raised in Ireland. I cooked all of his meals. meals from scratch using the best ingredients. It was a very, very simplistic food and lifestyle and way to raise Keegan, I felt that was very, very important. Like every other parent, I was still looking for a little convenient snack or a food option for on the go between meals, something to take to the park or traveling. So I discovered the baby and toddler food aisles in the US for the first time and looking for products that were comparable to what I could find in Europe in terms of purity, transparency. And I didn't really see that. I saw a lot of organic and GMO-free, which was amazing. It tells me that parents, they do more research. They demand more and more from products and brands, especially when they're feeding their kids. And so it was encouraging to see that, that 90% of that section of the store was all certified organic and GMO-free in the US. But I knew there was a missing piece here. I knew there was a it was a bigger picture. There was no mention of the farming and the effects of the farming that these products were having on the climate change. And there was no mention of soil health. There was no mention of biodiversity and the important role that plays in products. And so we set out to build a trusted family brand that had regenerative or biodynamic farming at the core of all of the products that we launched. Thankfully, we have been growing at a really encouraging pace. And it's been challenging, but it's been amazing to watch parents get introduced to so many of these regenerative farming practices that will play such a key, important role in the health of the planet that our kids will inherit. So it's been an amazing journey to launch Whiteleaf.

SPEAKER_01: 10:45

What is Whiteleaf Provisions?

SPEAKER_02: 10:48

Yeah, what is Whiteleaf? When we set out to build Whiteleaf, I think the goal of our business was to offer parents a line of products that had a level of purity and transparency that we as parents had not seen in the US market before. And I think when you talk about transparency, I think it's a key deciding factor with parents and consumers in general and how they view products, I think it's going to become more of a determining factor. I think a lot of consumers, and it's in particular parents, were very satisfied with, you know, some organic certifications. And, you know, it was the GMO-free certification. They still are very, very trusted certifications. But I find that parents are demanding more and more transparency. You know, they're seeing in their backyards, they're seeing, you know, climate change taken effect. They're hearing more about toxic chemicals being used on crops. Glyphosate is getting a lot of news coverage in the States. They're hearing a little bit more about soil health. They're hearing about loss of biodiversity. They're also hearing the normal good product versus bad product and what's healthy and what's not healthy. They're hearing more about lots of added sugar in products. So I think what parents are demanding They're looking for products that can address all of these issues in a lofty goal. But I think when we set out to build a company, we wanted to offer a level of transparency in all the products that we bring to market from the seeds, the farming, the farming practices, the packaging, how they're grown, the farmer welfare, and how these products affect some of the most pressing issues that parents are facing today or that their kids will have to face in the years to come. So when we set out to build Yleaf, that was probably the biggest goal of the company. Being parents at the time, launching a baby food line was very important for us with this level of transparency. The Demeter certification kind of encompassed everything we wanted from a brand. Everything I, you know, that's where I found, that's where I found as a parent, that level of transparency. So the Demeter certification is kind of front and center in all of our products And we set out that we launched our baby food line. And then we also launched an applesauce line. And then we are also going to be first to market with some regeneratively farmed biodynamic oats and muesli products. They will come to market later this year. So, you know, the goal is to build a family, trusted family brand that has regenerative farming at the core of all of our products.

SPEAKER_01: 14:02

And why did you choose Demeter certified biodynamic ingredients for your products?

SPEAKER_02: 14:06

Yeah, when we set out to source ingredients for our products, we were looking for regeneratively farmed ingredients. And, you know, the Demeter certification has been present for almost 100 years. It's kind of the gold standard for regenerative farming. And it kind of encompassed everything we wanted from, you know, from the ingredients that we were going to use. this unique connection with their farms, these farmers. And we visited many biodynamic farms over the years. And it's always been fascinating to go and actually see the farms and taste the produce and get a deeper insight onto why it's important, what they do and why they have such a passion about what they do. You know, just the foundation belief that, you know, to build a healthy farm and a healthy farming system and grow healthy crops that can all be, sourced and contained from within the farming unit itself, we were always fascinated with. You know, it's the outside impacts that throw the rhythm of a farm off. And the fact that Biodynamic Farmers were working towards building this environment this internal system within the farm was fascinating to us. You know, I loved the approach that biodynamic farmers have when they believe and see the relationship that animals have on the farming system and how much of a key role they play within the farm. We were always fascinated by that. You know, compost for me was always king anyway. And the fact that there was so many of these farms that, you know, this compost was such an important aspect to the arms was always something that was really fascinating. And kind of building out from the Demeter certification, I was fascinated how Demeter oversaw every aspect of the product. Not just the farming, but the manufacturing, the ingredient quantities you use, the lack of additives, preservatives, all this stuff in the ingredient labels was amazing. I love the fact that Demeter were holding themselves accountable for a product from absolute start to finish. That was something that was really important for me. And the fact that organic certifications, as we know them today, had their origins in biodynamic farming, that was huge for us. But it only took a couple of visits to some of these large and smaller farming operations for us to realize that biodynamic was the way forward. That's where we had to source the majority of our ingredients from. you know, what we're seeing in the States now is there's a rise of the conversation around regenerative agriculture, which is amazing and so encouraging to see that. And, you know, we always view biodynamic farming as kind of the gold standard of regenerative agriculture. And so it's been really great to watch parents discover this level of farming. You know, we meet parents every single day who, in most cases, most of them had never even factored soil as playing such an important role in the fruits and vegetables that they're feeding their kids. Nearly all of them never considered the fact that healthy, nutrient-rich soil plays such an active role in even reversing climate change. We educate parents on biodiversity with modern farming techniques destroying biodiversity and how negative that is for the planet. All these little aspects, parents had never really considered that before. Now what we're starting to see is that parents are demanding more and more transparency. And rightfully so. This is what parents do. I'm speaking from experience. I was the same for my son. And they want a deeper look and a deeper insight into products and the farming behind them. And especially when they're feeding such delicate immune systems and such vulnerable taste buds as feeding babies and kids. And it's their first introduction to solid food um it should naturally just be the cleanest and purest food you can find and that again for us that was that was demeter certified fruits and vegetables

SPEAKER_01: 18:35

How has been the response from the US market so far?

SPEAKER_02: 18:38

Yeah, I would say the response to our products or even the level of farming behind our products. When we talk about our products, I always say that the secret ingredient in our products is the farming behind the products. And I guess the response has been, it's been very, very encouraging. We understand what we have. We understand that like anybody else who carries a Demeter certification or who is in the conversation around regenerative agriculture. You're always going to have to offer a little bit more education and clarification on why it is so important and why it is so special. And so when we launched our food brand, that is something we knew we were going to have to address. What we have seen, we've been talking about our products for, I mean, our first products hit store shelves in, late 2018. And we've been talking about this for, you know, from even way before then and even more so now as they're on shelves and parents are starting to interact with them. But what we've also seen is the rise of the conversation around regenerative agriculture. And parents are really starting to make that connection to, you know, our products and the regenerative farming behind them. So the response has been really interesting. And like I said in the last question, it's been amazing to see parents from all demographics, from all areas of the of the states um start to understand how important healthy soil is um i i feel as you know for how damaging covid has been to to the world or how much it's awakened the world to to how vulnerable we are and our food system is um i see that parents um you know what what are you really in control of and it seems to be your own personal health and wellness So what we've seen a lot of is people are starting to have more time to research what they're putting into their bodies. It's now it's so easy to access every single, you know, you can take a really deep dive into all of your purchases now. And I don't think that people have gone as deep before as talking about soil and, and, and, and biodiversity and, and, you know, compost even. And the, the ethical treatment of animals and the key role that animals play within a healthy farming system. People never went that far before, but now I think people are really starting to search beyond just the kind of top-line organic standards and things like that, and they want a deeper insight. And what we have seen a lot of is when parents do open their eyes to this level of farming, they become ambassadors for this level of farming. It's been really Really encouraging to see that. Yes, we have a lot of people that try our products because it's something different and unique, and they will try them. And then 80% of them become hooked, and then they become mini ambassadors for our brand and for the farming behind the brand. So we're seeing a really steady, steady growth. Interest is growing. Retail is showing huge interest in regenerative. As the conversation around regenerative agriculture is growing in the States, Naturally, what comes next is consumers will be like, well, where can I buy this? What does it look like? Where can I buy it? And for us, we're just linking the regenerative and biodynamic piece together that they are kind of, it's the same discussion. And so we're seeing a lot of that through our online sales and through retail. And we're seeing retail being very, very receptive to it. Retail are always, especially the retailers we work with, and we work at four or five national retailers and it's the same you know they even see that consumers are ready to push the boundaries a little bit they're ready for you know something else they've been kind of looking at you know organic and GMO free products for within the specialty you know especially in natural food space but they've been looking at it for about 12 years and they're ready for something new and different and something that addresses you know some of the pressing issues that we're we are all facing and especially that our kids will face and so it's been it's been slow and steady growth but it's really starting to pick up pace recently it's a very very exciting time to be I kind of touted as a market leader in the the regen CPG space but it's been it's been interesting and I think our job has gone more from you know just putting product on shelf and seeing what happens it's we've become educators and And that's been probably one of the highlights of the business. And the fact you can educate parents in particular on this level of farming and open their eyes up to this level of farming and how important it is, that's been probably the highlight of the business. And And parents also gravitate towards this level of purity to their kids. Kids, and a lot of kids, particularly in the US, they are faced with products that are not healthy, that are filled with additives and sugars and sweeteners. So I think parents find our products very welcoming because they're mild and gentle, but yet highly nutritious. It's just a simple and fresh way to look at you know, really nutritious foods for their kids, but with a very meaningful mission behind the products. So that's been, so yeah, it's been great to see the growth.

SPEAKER_01: 24:38

And what has been your biggest challenge?

SPEAKER_02: 24:41

Biggest challenge? For sure, biggest challenge for us is becoming the educator that I just spoke about, is educating parents on this new level of farming. We spent lots of years talking about biodynamic farming and educating parents on the... It's very, very hard to encompass... biodynamic farming in that 15, 20 second pitch. And that's kind of the industry standard. That's what people have done for forever, is to sum up what their product in that quick pitch. And for us, we've never taken that route. It's biodynamic farming. It's very, very hard to, because every aspect of biodynamic farming is important. And so we have, for us, it's an ongoing process. on educating and summing up our products for consumers. But what we have seen, that was kind of in the early years. What we have seen is that task is getting much easier. You know, and I, I, There's a lot of contributing factors. The rise around the discussion of regenerative agriculture and some larger food brands getting on board over here and it being discussed and this Green New Deal that people were discussing, there was definitely some aspects of that in there. So many groups popping up that are funding regenerative agriculture. animal husbandry, um, and, and farming setups across the States has been really interesting. Um, I see a lot of press and media getting behind it and exploring it, um, which has been really encouraging. So that has really grown the conversation. It's led people. It's been the starting point for a lot of people and they kind of work their way back from that. And they look for the products that are touting regeneratively farmed. Um, and that kind of leads them to us. And then the door has been opened and then, um, and then they try the products and then, and then the response from there has been amazing. But, um, What we also see happen, which I touched upon earlier, is there's growing concerns with consumers. I always say parents because all of our products are really focused from babies to toddlers to older kids. But parents are starting to see the effects of climate change. Over in the States, they're starting to see more about soil and farm degradation. They're starting to see in the news over here about how animals are being mistreated. They're starting to see local economies collapse due to big ag and big industry. These are all pressing issues for parents. When you start down the kind of when you find the core and the symptoms of a lot of these issues, um, you know, in the CBG world, it will lead you back to the farming and the policy set for the farming. Um, and what we, what we like to say is that, you know, this regenerative agriculture, it's, it's, it's a starting point, but it's, it can address the most pressing issues today. So the fact that, you know, consumers can go and buy a product and know that, yes, it is, it's very, very healthy for their kids. Um, And it's a very, very clean and transparent product. But there's also what comes to get it on shelf can also really make a huge change in the world. I think that's what people are really gravitating towards. The challenge for us is just that additional education piece. We're not like every other brand or a lot of other brands in the States that you can just blanket every retail store. We we find our core consumers and we kind of grow from there. And thankfully, especially in natural food space in North America is so big that we're really working our way through that. And we are, that's how we're finding our consumers. So getting, educating people, educating people on the farming behind our products is getting easier. But unfortunately what's driving people towards even kind of discovering our products also is, what they see happening in the world today. And so, yeah, I just say the biggest challenge is just the constant educating people on the farming and why our products are kind of special and different.

SPEAKER_01: 29:13

And where do you want to stand in a year?

SPEAKER_02: 29:16

In a year from now, I would like to see Whiteleaf Provisions being that trusted resource for parents that kind of show the transparency and purity of our products, but also open parents' eyes up to this level of farming and the potential that this level of farming has to their kids' future and their kids' planet. a lofty goal for 12 months from now. But I think it's important to kind of set our aim pretty high. We see our brand growing through different channels within the specialty and natural food space in America. And we would hope to build on the success that our baby food line has and bring this level of purity in farming into other areas of the store. But I think the biggest goal for us 12 months from now is to continue to grow and educate parents on the importance of biodynamic and regenerative farming. Some of the most pressing issues that are facing our kids are now starting to become more and more visible. You can see climate change happening in pretty much every backyard in the world. Lots of questions about food security. Lots of questions questions about soil degradation, lots of questions about loss of biodiversity. So we just want to create more and more allies, become a conversation starter, and hopefully grow our business that way.

SPEAKER_01: 31:01

And what is, to you, the biggest barrier for a regenerative food brand to scale?

SPEAKER_02: 31:07

Biggest barrier for a regenerative food brand to scale? I think it is education. Educating consumers, educating farmers, educating store buyers, educating everyone who plays a part in the chain on the benefits of regenerative agriculture, I feel is the biggest barrier. What we're seeing is that, you know, there's a lot of fantastic groups out there who are, you know, kind of boots on the ground in educating farmers and helping farmers adapt to this level of farming. We see growing pressure from parents too. So, you know, especially parents are, you know, they're always looking for the cleanest and purest products on the market. I think more and more we're seeing more and more parents who are also looking for the social accountability of the brands that are bringing these products to market. So there is, we see a shift that's really happening. We see a lot of parents trust the organic certifications and the non-GMO certifications, but they're looking for more. They're looking for more and more transparency. So I think education is the biggest hurdle. When we talk to parents and consumers from every demographic across the states, Most of them had never really factored healthy soil playing such an important part in the products that they purchase. You know, most of them had never even heard about biodiversity and the ripple effect of biodiversity in our food chain. And so educating parents and kind of just bringing parents into the conversation, bringing consumers into the conversation is probably been the the biggest barrier at this time, but we are working actively day by day to change this. And we see more and more parents, consumers, grocery buyers that are really looking to take a kind of a step up from just their organic and non-GMO products and products that are really focused on kind of healing our planet.