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:
Force of Nature: 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, 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. 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 incorrect. 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: Why converting a farm from conventional to regenerative practices requires patience, understanding, time, and commitment. How farms that make the transition become wealthier and more resilient with more revenue streams, lower costs, and a healthier land base.
Nutritional Benefits of Regenerative Meat: Meat from pasture-finished animals has significantly more phytochemicals than meat from pen-finished 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.
