Marketing for Regenerative & Plant-based Agriculture
As more and more people ask questions and investigate the sources of their meat, vegetables, and other sources of food, the desire to see and hear from farmers and other agricultural workers is growing at scale. The same kind of shift that occurred for craft breweries looking to compete against corporate conglomerates is also happening for no-till and other types of regenerative farmers. The power to market food products and various consumer packaged goods (CPGs) as farm-to-table has opened up a segment of conscious shoppers willing to pay a premium to support local food systems.
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Brands that choose to centre themselves around regenerative farming and/or plant-based are both celebrated and scrutinized on how they communicate their efforts and impact. To earn the consumer’s trust, food and beverage companies typically need to point their marketing towards accomplishing the following three things:
Peeling back the curtain on who are the people growing the ingredients, what processes they use, how they finish and how they package the final product.
Nutritional value and specialty knowledge about the benefits of consuming the food or beverage.
Certifications and other systems that “prove” the ingredients are following internationally recognized best practices.
At Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing, we understand the agricultural and nutritional nuances of marketing for regenerative and plant-based agriculture. Allow us to handle your social, email and other digital marketing channels, so you can focus on producing the best foods and beverages on this planet.
Marketing for Regenerative Farms
Documentaries like The Biggest Little Farm and Kiss the Ground are opening up consumer’s eyes to the interconnectivity between nature and agriculture. Regenerative farming practices are just one of the many ways that food and beverage brands are differentiating themselves as the “best” option.
Others include:
Single-origin sourcing for quality control
Fair and accountable trading and labour management practices
Renewable energy and water usage such solar, wind, and rain
Carbon sequestering efforts such as soil preservation
Generating fertiliser from waste or byproducts
Each one of the points above is a desirable feature that sustainability-minded consumers would be interested in learning more about. In a scenario where a consumer is comparing the same product from two different brands, the opportunity to demonstrate the most mindful method of agricultural practices could be the reason your brand wins that purchase.
Exciting Companies in This Space
Even food and beverage products that don’t tick off all the boxes for regenerative agriculture can still position themselves as leaders of one specific practice. JusTea has focused on their direct relationship to purple tea farmers in Kenya. Al Mokha is leading the narrative on resilient Yemeni coffee farming in the face of war and economic hardship.
Farms of all sizes are also discovering ways to bypass middlemen and create direct relationships with the people who eat their food. For example, Island Harvest is able to offer one, if not the only, macadamia nut product on the market that is 100% rain-fed, sun-grown, single-origin, and organic.
Finally, the relationship between climate change and food production has also inspired investments into new sources of nutrition and ecological farming practices. The GreenWave network supports ocean farmers who deal with kelp, fish, and other foods from the ocean with the research and expertise for carbon and nitrogen removal and habitat restoration. Altogether, we at Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing are excited for the new and emerging opportunities for marketing a healthier, greener world through regenerative farming.
Marketing for Plant-based Food
New and innovative approaches to eating plants and alternatives to eating meat are popping up all over the world. Consumers these days are not just interested in brands they know and hear about, like Beyond Meat, but also in discovering new tastes and nutritional value that they may not have been exposed to previously.
Exciting Companies in This Space
Plant-based food can cover a variety of different product types, ranging from sauces to dips to snacks and full meals. Some brands draw from long traditions of plant-based diets that belong to a specific ethnic culture. Kula Kitchen is a great example of promoting both African ingredients, dishes, and tastes as well as vegan culture, combining into what they call “Afro-vegan cuisine”. Other brands take a “first to market” approach and fill the need for a niche type of food product that is catered to a small but vocal community. This is the case for Off The Path Provisions and their camp-ready meals, perfect for hikers and outdoor enthusiasts alike.
The Key to Understanding Your Customer
The root of all marketing efforts for plant-based, food and beverage companies is in the shared sense of understanding between the end-consumer and the brand’s founding team. Clear communication between problem and solution allows for brand association, the ability to think of one brand when a particular need arises (ex. What Band-aid is for scrapes and small cuts). By using social media, search engine optimization, email marketing, as well as by gaining earned media attention, plant-based companies have the potential to position themselves as the best choice when it comes to a “better for you” product.
As we like to say at Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing, fish where the fishes are!
Marketing for Agritourism
The future of food and beverage sales and marketing isn’t just limited to finished products and online media. Many people are interested in escaping the hustle and bustle of city life and spending time and money on agriculture property like farms, homesteads, and orchards.
By diversifying your revenue streams beyond simply wholesale food production, agricultural companies of the future are developing niche communities of appreciation around a specific crop. This has opened up new and exciting revenue channels such as:
Tours and activities
Workshops and education
Camping and accommodations
Festivals and celebrations
Marketing for the Future of Farms
What makes the advent of agritourism so interesting for farm operators is the access to selling high-margin products and services with minimal additional investments in infrastructure and labour. Much of the demand has come from young people seeking weekend adventures, which they can share on social media. Fortunately, there are many other marketing channels primed and ready for agritourism businesses including SEO and earned media, poised to answer the question “what to do in X city”.
At Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing, we are excited for the future of agritourism. We’re eager to help support farms navigate all the nuanced work that goes into expanding their operations into a place where people will visit their land and learn from their knowledge.
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