Transforming Food Systems Through Regenerative Agriculture Initiatives

Zero Foodprint empowers individuals to transform the food system through collective action for regenerative agriculture.

### Transforming Food Systems: The Journey from Cooking to Climate Action
* 👨 The journey began with a desire to **avoid social interactions**, leading to a career that blends **culinary arts with advocacy for a sustainable food system**.
* 🌱 Starting as a line cook, the author questioned why a Chinese takeout couldn't serve **diverse food**, which eventually led to the creation of **Mission Chinese Food** and **139 pop-up events**.
* 📅 In 2008, the author transitioned to a permanent restaurant, which garnered accolades, including being named **Restaurant of the Year** by the **New York Times**.
* 🌍 As a father, he became increasingly concerned about the food system's impact on climate, prompting the formation of **Zero Foodprint**, which conducted **80 assessments** revealing that most food-related emissions stemmed from **ingredient sourcing**.
* 🔄 The realization dawned that while reducing waste and choosing better ingredients is beneficial, true change requires a **shift in farming practices towards regenerative agriculture**.
* 💡 The author and his wife aimed to inspire chefs to support this movement but learned that **changing consumer behavior alone** wouldn't sufficiently alter farming practices.
* 🤝 In 2019, Zero Foodprint initiated a collaboration with California's government to create a pilot program that **funds farmers to adopt regenerative practices**, drawing parallels to **renewable energy initiatives**.
* 💰 By collecting small contributions from food purchases, Zero Foodprint has already awarded **over $3 million to 120 farm projects**, showing that **collective action can lead to significant environmental impact and a healthier food system**.

I started cooking to not talk to people. At this point, I'm almost like a cross between a salesperson and a preacher for a whole new industry and movement that could maybe reconnect every business and chef to farming, but not in the way you'd think. I was a line cook who eventually became a chef when I asked, Why doesn't someone just use this hole-in-the-wall Chinese takeout restaurant to serve different food? That kind of hypothetical question, asking Why doesn't somebody just XYZ? has kind of defined my whole career. I mean that and then diving in and putting in the work. And so, in this case, I roped my wife into trying something that journalists would later call a popup. We had different menus and charities and themes for each event, a bunch of stuff that appealed to food. This was 2008, by the way. Cara joked that it was like planning a wedding twice a week, but somehow we made it through 139 events. And then it turned into a permanent popup called Mission Chinese Food with my friend Danny B and his chef.

our second location was named restaurant of the Year by the New York Times. Around that time, I became a father, and I just started to think a lot about the future and the food system. I asked WHYY, Aren't restaurants part of the climate solution? So, I roped some friends into starting a nonprofit with me called Zero Foodprint. Together, we conducted 80 life cycle assessments of food service operations and restaurants, and the main lesson was that the vast majority of every operation's food print was the food. And I mean really, it was the embodied agricultural scope 3 emissions from the ingredients. And so, that means that the usual best practices—less food waste, better ingredient choices—they were good, they were reducing, but they weren't really getting to the root cause. Because in order for society to make real progress on climate, the food system needed a way to change farming. And this began my obsession with regenerative agriculture and the idea that we could restore the climate while growing more nutritious ingredients. And I think it's the answer to the dilemma.

of how we save the world while feeding the world. If we could just shift from a focus on extracting short-term yields and profits through soil chemistry to a focus on restoring the long-term health of the people on the planet through soil biology, we can improve biodiversity, resilience, hydrology, and the prosperity of communities. I mean, basically, that shift from farming against nature to farming with nature is probably society's biggest and most optimistic win-win. And so, once again, I roped my wife into starting a restaurant with me, but this time the question was, why doesn't somebody just inspire thousands of chefs to support regenerative agriculture? And so we tried to do it ourselves, but the change in farming didn't quite happen because it turns out that we needed a different approach. So let me try to save you 10 years in 5 minutes. See, we went crazy trying to be good. We were showcasing game-changing ingredients like a new perennial wheat grass that replaced 30% of the annual monoculture wheat in our sourdough bread.

we had a Butchery program with carbon-ranched beef, showcasing research from UC Berkeley's biogeochemistry pilot, where they were studying adaptive multi-grazing plus compost application to accelerate the durable soil carbon sequestration and the accumulation of microbial necromass. I mean, the whole thing was a little bit ahead of its time, you know? People didn't even really know the term regenerative agriculture yet. Sometimes customers would get excited and ask, you know, Oh my God, where do I buy these ingredients? And I had to say, Sorry, there's no supply. Journalists would kind of dig in and say, Okay, so I get it, you know, supporting the restaurant seems important, but how does that turn into the change in the field? And I had to admit I didn't really know how. And when we asked farmers and ranchers, what we learned was that while they really appreciated the support, you know, buying their ingredients, it wasn't really enough to economically spur the next regenerative practice on the next acre, and especially not the next

farm. This non-correlation is pretty much undeniable in the case of Organics, where even though there's very clear price signals and definitions, you know, it's on the Shelf at Walmart, still less than 1% of US Farmland Acres after 50 Years. Learning this was a little bit soul-crushing, to be honest, because we had gone all in with our life savings, you know, trying to make this change happen, only to learn that awareness, price premiums, better choices were probably never going to regenerate Acres at scale. Basically, we were trying to change eating instead of changing farming. And I mean, we all kind of know how to change eating, but changing farming is different. You know, you can't just walk into the grocery store and hand the cashier a buck for Farmers to switch from chemical fertilizer to compost. You can't just ask the waiter for a side order of cover crop planting. You know, Society didn't even really have mechanisms to directly change farming. But why not, you know? That's basically the kind of question we

were grappling with as we closed the restaurant and then started our next chapter. And so, in 2019, Zero Food Print roped the state of California into a pilot program for table to farm. It began with the chief economist overseeing California's cap-and-trade program. She brought in the Department of Food and Agriculture. Together, we hosted months of meetings with policymakers, farmers, business owners, scientists—usually over Sichuan food and beers. This time, the question was, Why don't we team up? Why don't we generate a lot of funds and then just share them with farmers to restore the climate? I mean, sure, that was going to involve starting an entirely new industry to directly change farming, but the whole thing seemed totally doable. And so, we started with this idea that the change in farming was necessary and inevitable, kind of like the shift in renewable energy, where collective action programs like a dollar per month on the energy bill are transforming entire grids. Huge cities like Los Angeles and San Diego have committed to 100% renewable energy through these kinds of

action programs, and the best thing is citizens are just kind of going about their daily lives, you know, while the change is happening. And so, Zer foodprint is trailblazing collective regeneration. We're using these same principles and then a few cents from the downstream food economy to make a direct shift in upstream agricultural production. Basically, we're improving the food grid. And so, for an example of how this works, around the corner from Mission Chinese food is an amazing coffee shop, Lanaa Cafe. So, they source from a really high-integrity grass-fed company, Strauss Creamy. So, you go in, you get your coffee, and instead of, say, five bucks, it's $55. So, Zer freint collects the 5 cents, and then we make grants for compost application, cover crop planting, reduced tillage, managed grazing, planting perennials, basically the next practice on the next acre. And so, it's like that 5 cents is decarbonizing the food shed. In the case of the coffee shop, it's actually kind of regenifying the supply.

chain because we've already made over $100,000 in grants to Strauss producers. We're not worrying about a special bottle of milk getting back to the customer, though. It's really just getting that 5 cents to the farm projects. And this kind of table-to-farm work is underway at dozens of businesses: wine companies, Michelin-starred restaurants, catering companies, composters, and even every Subway sandwiches location in Boulder, Colorado. And if this was every Subway location period, sending 1%, that'd be something like $160 million per year from just one corporation. Our goal is that collective regeneration becomes the new normal in hundreds of food sheds, supply chains, counties. We even have model ordinances drafted, so if you're on a city council or board of supervisors and you want to commit to 100% regenerative, just get in touch. But the real key is that it's what customers want. It's amazing marketing because it's real, it's local, direct climate impact that's affordable, but it also adds up quickly. Zero blint has

already awarded over $3 million in grants to 120 farm projects. We really were just getting started, but we've proven the concept on a process that's easy and transparent for farmers, but rigorous enough for government collaboration. Any farmer can request funds to begin or to advance their progress, and then Zero Foodprint analyzes the requests and then selects the most cost-effective projects. Then we act as almost like a general contractor, taking the project from start to finish, working with local experts and boots on the ground to validate and coordinate each one at the systems level. It's almost like being a regional healthcare provider, but for soil instead of insurance and patients. It can be healthy soil funds for each field, and the funds could come from anywhere. It could be a dollar per trash bill, a penny per pound, 1% a grocery store roundup, but the difference is that we can use the funds and then just implement the projects now. So it's not just 2040 goals or whatever. That's really what used to frustrate me with

you know governments and corporations. It seemed like they weren't taking the climate crisis seriously. I mean, I'm still frustrated multiple times a week on Zoom, but I've come to realize that they didn't really have a mechanism to team up and that nobody could do it alone. Governments can't raise taxes because it won't pass a vote. Corporations can't give away tons of profit because shareholders would sue. Farmers didn't have the resources to take on all these risks themselves, and customers didn't even have a way to vote effectively with their dollar. But now at a zero footprint business, you can. You don't have to be that weirdo asking for a side order of compost with your sandwich because you know that a few cents is directly going to regenerate acres. Now, any parent or really anyone who buys or sells food can just directly help create the food system that they want to see. And if every US food business and customer sent 1%, that'd be something like 2 billion dollars per year, like 10 times

the USDA entire annual equip program budget. So, let me be clear. I'm not calling for attacks on food, but I am saying that society needs and actually wants an option and a way to take collective action according to the science. It's not too late to solve the climate crisis and lower global temperatures, but that really big change depends on you. And I don't mean you in general, you know, you the audience. I just mean like actually you. If you will personally just get involved and then almost do the least you could do, then zero foodprint and farmers everywhere are standing by to use the next dollar for the next practice on the next acre. Almost all of us can afford to make this change, and the truth is we can't afford to not make it. Thank you. [Applause]

The Recipe for a Healthy Climate Starts at the Dinner Table | Anthony Myint | TED

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From Line Cook to Advocate for Regenerative Agriculture

The chef's career was defined by asking hypothetical questions and taking action, leading to a successful popup restaurant and a permanent location, Mission Chinese Food.

His nonprofit, Zero Foodprint, revealed that the food industry's carbon footprint was mainly from ingredient sourcing, driving his obsession with regenerative agriculture.

The chef's goal is to inspire a shift in farming practices, focusing on long-term health and sustainability, while also showcasing innovative ingredients to drive change in the food system.

Challenges of Promoting Regenerative Agriculture

The butchery program focused on carbon-ranched beef and innovative farming practices, but struggled to create a significant impact on regenerative agriculture.

Despite customer interest and media attention, the program's support was insufficient to economically drive change on a larger scale.

The difficulty in correlating consumer choices with farming practices highlighted the need for direct mechanisms to promote agricultural change.

Zero Food Print's Impact on Sustainable Farming

Zero Food Print launched a pilot program in California in 2019, aiming to fund and support farmers in restoring the climate.

The initiative draws inspiration from successful collective action programs in renewable energy, seeking to make a direct shift in upstream agricultural production.

By collecting small contributions from the downstream food economy, Zero Food Print is funding sustainable farming practices and decarbonizing the food shed.

Collective Regeneration in Food Supply Chains

The initiative has already granted over $100,000 to Strauss producers, focusing on directing funds to farm projects rather than product distribution.

This model is being replicated by various businesses, with the potential for significant impact, such as $160 million per year from a single corporation like Subway.

Zero Foodprint has awarded over $3 million to 120 farm projects, aiming to make collective regeneration the new normal and offering a transparent process for farmers to request and receive funds.

The Power of Collective Action in the Food System

Governments and corporations have struggled to address the climate crisis due to conflicting interests and lack of resources.

A zero footprint business model offers individuals the opportunity to directly contribute to positive change in the food system.

By collectively sending just 1% of their revenue, US food businesses and customers could generate $2 billion per year, making a significant impact in the fight against climate change.