Visit our quarterly presenting sponsor: www.calgaryagbusiness.com
Teffola: https://www.eatteffola.com/
The Business of Food Newsletter: https://jenniferbarney.substack.com/
FoA 221: Bringing Commercial Quinoa Production to Colorado: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/fd94a32f-7554-46b4-9ba5-bfc50a371680
Claire Smith is the founder of the ancient grain granola brand Teffola. She comes from a 7th generation farming family in Michigan where Tenera Farms has been farming wheat, corn, and soy since 1837. In 2015 Tenera Farms started planting teff, a tiny grain rich in protein and fiber and a key ingredient in the Ethiopian bread injera. Why the farm began growing this obscure grain, how they became processors, and how that lead Claire to start making and marketing granola is the subject of this interview.
Today’s episode is all about ancient grains and building a consumer packaged goods or CPG business on top of an established farm. These are two things I know very little about, so lucky for you and for me, we have a guest co-host joining us on the show today, Jennifer Barney. Several months ago, someone shared a post on LinkedIn called “Ag Companies Launching Food Brands”. Long time listeners of this show will know that is something I’m really fascinated by, so I immediately subscribed to the newsletter that produced the post. It turns out that newsletter called “The Business of Food” was created by Jennifer Barney. After reading several of her newsletters I reached out about collaborating, and here she is co-hosting her first episode.
Jennifer is a consumer-packaged goods (CPG) expert. She lives in the Central Valley of California and got her start in the food industry 16 years ago when she founded the almond butter brand Barney Butter. Jennifer successfully grew the brand to nationwide retail distribution and then sold the company. After exiting Barney Butter, Jennifer has since become an advisor and consultant to startups and ag leaders who want to get closer to the consumer with their own brands and innovations. She writes an email newsletter called The Business of Food where she shares food industry knowledge including business modeling, growth tips, and what to focus on at the early stages of business.
FoA 413: Practical Farm Innovation With Brad Fruth of Beck's Hybrids
FoA 412: 'Biological' Is Not A Category (it's the future of agriculture)
FoA 411: Making Technology Your Unfair Advantage with Lawrence King of Headstorm
FoA 410: The Farm to Fashion Supply Chain With Paul Ensor of Hemprino
FoA 409: Is Agtech Entering A GenAI Era? Conversations From World Agri-Tech
[Field Report] Paul Sullivan of P.T. Sullivan Agro on SWAT MAPS
FoA 408: The Future of Precision Agriculture With Dr. Steve Shirtliffe and Dr. Preston Sorenson
FoA 407: Attracting Top Talent to Solve Agribusiness Problems with Christian Guffy of The Context Network
[Field Report] Corteva Research Associate Brett McArtor on SWAT MAPS
FoA 406: Health Trends Are Agricultural Opportunities...The Story of WonderCow
FoA 405: From Fintech Startup to the Largest Produce Trader in the World With Pablo Borquez Schwarzbeck of ProducePay
FoA 404: Digital Solutions for the Largest Ag Retailer in Latin America With Alex Wimbush
FoA 403: Shrimpin' Ain't Easy with Steve Sutton of TransparentSea
FoA 402: How To Know When An Ag Company Is Ready For Growth With Jim Taylor of Forage Capital Partners
[Field Report] Crop Consultant Tyler Kessler shares his experience with SWAT MAPS
FoA 401: Precision Irrigation With Arthur Chen of Verdi
FoA 400: Deeper Roots For Resilience and Carbon Sequestration with Michael Ott of Cquesta
FoA 399: The Changing Farm Economy with David Widmar of Agricultural Economic Insights
FoA 398: The Evolution of Precision Agriculture with Cory Willness and Derek Massey of Croptimistic Technology
FoA 397: Can These Greenhouse Robots Grow The Best Strawberries in the World?
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