Robby Sansom: Transforming Food Systems with Regenerative Agriculture
Robby Sansom is the co-founder and CEO of Force of Nature Meats, a regeneratively sourced meat company based in Austin, Texas. He has spent the last decade studying regenerative agriculture and building a global supply network with land stewards and ranchers.
This episode covers:
The Force of Nature Vision: Force of Nature aims to champion the positive attributes of meat, demystify misconceptions, and debunk lies surrounding meat production. Their mission is to expand the positive impact of regenerative agriculture from ounces to pounds, reaching more people with a greater opportunity to drive positive change.
Regenerative Farming: Regenerative farming is a system that aims to improve the land by having animals, plants, and pollinators on it, managed in harmony with nature. It is considered the current best practice and encapsulates much of what organic or grass-fed may mean. Regenerative practices improve the land, support the welfare of animals, and benefit communities. It also sequesters carbon.
Myths about Conventional and Plant-Based Meats:
Methane: Methane from cows is a natural part of the environment and is part of a natural cycle where as much methane is going up as is coming down. The largest sources of man-made methane are from rice farming and landfills, not cows.
Water Usage: The claim that beef production uses a lot of water is bogus. The statistics often include natural rainfall as water use for cattle.
Carbon Impact: Studies have shown that regeneratively raised animals have a better carbon impact than plant-based meats. A study demonstrated that you have to eat a regenerative beef burger to offset the carbon impact of a plant-based burger.
Plant-Based Food Systems: Typical industrial plant agriculture systems can be more harmful than animal-based systems because of the use of chemicals, tilling of the land and destruction of ecosystems. A healthy ecosystem includes both plants and animals functioning in harmony, making a planet-based food system more beneficial.
Misleading Terms in the Food Industry: Terms like "natural," "grass-fed," and "organic" can be misleading.
Grass-fed originally meant that animals lived on pasture and ate grass their whole life, but the USDA changed the meaning to include animals that have eaten bladed grass at any point in their life.
Organic means that the worst types of chemicals weren't sprayed directly onto the surface of the food. However, organic practices can still cause damage to the environment, such as tilling and disruption of the soil.
Transitioning to Regenerative Farming: Converting a farm from conventional to regenerative practices is not easy and requires a level of patience, understanding, time, and commitment. It is important to transition slowly and intentionally. Farms that make the transition become wealthier and more resilient with more revenue streams, lower costs, and a healthier land base.
Bill Gates and Farmland: Bill Gates is buying farmland and has investments in plant-based meat companies. This is concerning because it puts control of the food system in the hands of businesses that are profit-driven and not necessarily focused on the well-being of people or the environment.
Importance of Local Farming: Supporting local regenerative farms is important, as they are struggling and need support. Force of Nature is a scaled solution and the third best place to get meat, behind raising food yourself and supporting a local farmer.
The Impact of Hunting: Participating in a hunt, such as a bison harvest, can be a transformative experience that creates a connection with the animal and the land. It also brings an awareness to the fact that all food requires life to be taken.
Nutritional Benefits of Regenerative Meat: Meat from pasture-finished animals has significantly more phyitochemicals than meat from pen-finished animals. Studies have shown that pasture-finished meat has a 2.3 times higher richness of phytochemicals. There are massive and profound benefits on phyitochemicals and other compounds from meat from healthy animals.
The Importance of Connection with Nature: Humans are meant to be connected to the land and the natural world. Disconnecting from nature contributes to declining human health and other negative consequences.
