In case you haven’t noticed, regenerative is the new marketing buzzword. It started out as a description for agriculture that is very similar to permaculture gardening, but includes a social component and animal welfare. Permaculture espouses mimicking nature and especially building up soil health and improving the soil microbiome. Both are always organic.
But now, corporate marketers have latched onto it and you can find regenerative finance, medicine, travel and whatever else you can think of. Watch out, this is a great opportunity for greenwashing! But there is a legitimate Regenerative Organic Certification that has been created with input from Dr Bronners, Patagonia, Rodale and others. Look for the logo at health food stores. You’ll probably see that those products also have a USDA Organic certification and on some products a fair trade certification. One of my favorite distributors that is a member owned co-op, and has been supporting organic and fair trade for many years, is Frontier Co-op (in business since 1976). Many of the spices they sell that are fair trade certified now have the regenerative certification as well. Look for turmeric, cinnamon, black pepper and ginger. If you can’t find these at your local store, our Media Fair Trade Committee occasionally orders wholesale from Frontier as part of our buying club. Reach out to Ira at mediafairtrade@gmail.com for more information. And check out all of the Frontier offerings, we can include anything in our orders, kitchen products, Maggies socks and way more!
