Andi C. Trindle Mersch

Meet Califia Farms… a leader in plant-based dairy alternatives and Seeing Green Solutionist of the Day for November 14. (Check out their new Seeing Green Podcast spotlight episode – link in comments) Califia Farms is a California-born pioneer in plant-based milks, creamers and coffee beverages, built on a simple idea: make dairy-free options taste great and work seamlessly in everyday life. The company has grown into one of the leading plant-based beverage brands in the natural channel, with a product lineup that now spans almond, oat and coconut milks, barista blends, cold brews, creamers and kitchen staples designed to make dairy-free cooking and coffee feel familiar rather than limiting. Califia’s products offer an accessible way for consumers to reduce the environmental footprint of their daily routines, as plant-based dairy uses significantly less land and water and generates far fewer greenhouse gas emissions than traditional dairy. They’re also investing in more circular and sustainable packaging, renewable energy at their Bakersfield facility and partnerships with farmers who are adopting practices that improve soil health and resilience. Combined with simple, nutrient-forward ingredients that support heart health and meet the needs of people with lactose sensitivity, Califia Farms demonstrates how everyday food choices can add up to meaningful benefits for both people and the planet. Thank you to Dave Ritterbush, Suzanne Saltzman Ginestro, Ella Rosenbloom and the entire Califia Farms team for all that you do! To learn more, check out the attached video as well as their moment in the Seeing Green Podcast spotlight – links in comments. 

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State of Agritech -5th February 2026 1/ Is “Two Brothers Organic Farms®” staring a Hamletian “Organic” Identity Crisis? Why does a company with ECOCERT, USDA Organic, and NPOP certifications still feel compelled to prove they're glyphosate-free? Doesn’t it point to something broken in how consumers perceive the organic label itself? 2/ The Rain Shadow of India-EU deal What happens when there are no protections for key agricultural sectors? What if India had allowed New Zealand dairy to enter the Indian dairy sector, much like Sri Lanka did? Can we run a thought experiment to understand the rain shadow-side of India-EU deal ? How does Amul (GCMMF) compare with Fonterra? Can we contextualize these thought experiments with climate realities from Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) survey on Indian Dairy? 3/ Evaluating the Impact of The World Bank's PoCRA (Project on Climate Resilient Agriculture) In 2017, the World Bank approved Maharashtra's Project on Climate Resilient Agriculture (PoCRA)—a $600 million intervention targeting the state's most drought-vulnerable districts. Seven years later, the World Bank’s Implementation Completion Report awarded the project an “overall satisfactory” rating. Pooja Prasad’s Impact Analysis of the project in a peer-reviewed journal specializing in water governance reveals something far more troubling: PoCRA may have actually reduced climate resilience while exacerbating the very inequities it claimed to address. Link to the edition in the first comment. Cover Image: The zen of working with hands. Image Credits: Masahi Mitsui Via X

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The rise of natural colors amid regulatory change was one of three standout themes at the recent Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)’s annual expo, #IFTFIRST. I wrote about the rise of natural colors, a deeper commitment to fat, salt, and sugar reduction; and a growing industry response to the popularity of GLP-1 drugs in my recap for The Food Institute. Today, I will focus on natural colors seen on the expo floor. I'll cover regulations on natural colors, sugar reduction, and GLP-1 drugs later in the week. 𝐑𝐞𝐝-𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐅𝐓 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 I learned about the growing demand for natural colors, technological advancements making natural colors more vibrant and stable as well as the challenges that the food & beverage industry faces in switching from synthetic dyes to natural dyes by talking to multiple experts including Alice Lee, Technical Marketing Manager at GNT Group, Dana Osborn, Marketing Manager at California Natural Color, and FUL Foods CEO and Co-Founder Julia Streuli. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐲𝐞𝐬 The extensive news coverage about synthetic dyes is impacting consumers, with over 75% of U.S. shoppers saying they are concerned or somewhat concerned about consuming food and beverages containing artificial colors, according to a survey of 500 U.S. shoppers conducted in July 2025 by Veylinx for Oterra. 𝐌𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧-𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐝𝐲𝐞𝐬 • FUL Foods showed its BLUwater sparkling spirulina water and FULBLU spirulina syrup. • Givaudan showcased its Amaize Orange Red Non-GM corn derived Anthocyanin grown and extracted in North America as an alternative to Red 40 that can be used in low Ph beverages. • GNT’s booth featured a “Color Your Snack Adventure” interactive snack bar that allowed visitors to top a savory or sweet snack base with their choice of seasoning featuring bold EXBERRY shades. • Lycored introduced three new colors produced from beta-carotene derived from the Blakeslea Trispora fungus - StellarYellow A, StellarYellow C Clear, and OrangeOvation Clear - to serve as nature-based replacements for Yellow 5 and 6 across applications including beverages, UHT dairy and plant-based UHT, gummies, sauces, and fruit preparations. • Oterra served Slushies – Red-y or Not, Purple Reign, Pickle Me Crazy, and Cloudberry Kiss- using its natural colors derived from red sweet potato, turmeric, Jaqua fruit, purple sweet potato; flavors from Bell Flavors & Fragrances, and Twang Foodservice Cucumber Chili Lime Salt (Pickle Me Crazy). • Sensient Food Color showcased its new Marine Blue Capri, a spirulina-based alternative to Blue 1 that provides a light-stable bright blue in low pH beverage applications and can be combined with yellows or reds to create green or purple shades. https://lnkd.in/gp62s67N

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There's been lots of coverage in the media about the challenges California wineries and other wine businesses are facing (helloooooooo, tariffs), but not as much from the perspective of growers. Here's a look at what they're dealing with due to the demand downturn and many other factors.

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The International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) has secured a significant “Advancing Markets for Producers” grant from the USDA to expand its regenerative agriculture pilots, targeting 30 additional specialty crop growers in California and Washington. Vice President of Sustainability Tamara Muruetagoiena emphasized that the initiative is designed to transition “climate-smart” practices into “market competitiveness,” providing technical assistance and incentives for six core methods including alley cropping and advanced water management. https://lnkd.in/ewB7CP3a #twira #food #ag #regenerativeagriculture

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An Interview with Wine Economist, Robin Goldstein Robin is an economist who at the time, was Principal Economic Counselor at the University of California Agricultural Issues Center, but later moved on to cannabis economics. His (along with co-author Alexis Herschkowitsch) book, The Wine Trials, is a practical guide as well as a fascinating look at what different groups value in wine. This interview was conducted in November of 2019. RM: Robin, can you tell me what you're up to these days? “I finished my PhD in Economics recently. I went back to the heart of the original study of wine snobs, studying price and other properties of wine and expanded it to several categories. My thesis is called "The Bullshit Horizon," and it covers wines, beers and restaurants. After I set up a prank on Wine Spectator in which they bestowed an Award of Excellence for a wine list at a nonexistent restaurant (web site and phone only) that featured the Spectator's worst-rated wines, I was interested in these kinds of awards and their impact on the prices that could be charged. Since there seemed to be a lot of them, these awards are what economists call "non-rationed goods." The entry fee to be considered for a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence is $250, and as the example of the fake restaurant shows, they hand them out pretty freely, as in "non-rationed." We wanted to know how good an investment that is. We looked at Zagat as far as pricing and looked for correlation. W-S awarded restaurants had higher food prices, but there was actually a negative correlation between price and ratings at a certain price categories.” RM: You became pretty well known with a book called The Wine Trials, in which various wines were blind tasted by different groups, from expert to rank amateur, and the results bore little resemblance to price. “I've got another study coming out in the Journal of Wine Economists. We did a "half-blind" tasting. We took two identical bottles of white wine, and put one in a brown bag, and left the other one with its label and also a price sticker showing. We tested the same wine at two purported price levels: $5 and $50. When we asked people to rate the wine, the low-price wine was rated lower than the brown-bag (nobody noticed they were the same), while the $50 wine was rated as higher than the anonymous one. I was a wine and food critic and writer before the Wine Trials (Book: The Wine Trials, a cross-country experiment in blind wine tastings), and was trained as a sommelier. I really felt I was not a snob or a bullshit artist. But after the trials, it became apparent to me that there was absolutely no relationship between wine price and drinker preference, except maybe that most people preferred inexpensive wines to expensive ones. So I had to admit to myself that I was one of the people who was full of shit...

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🚨🇺🇸🍑 JUST IN: Del Monte Foods bankruptcy leaves California growers in $550M hole California peach growers have lost $550 million in contracts from food giant Del Monte Foods when the 135-year-old company declared bankruptcy last year. “Nobody wins in a situation like this. We’re all losing,” Sutter County supervisor and peach grower Karm Bains told the Sacramento Bee. “Somebody might be hurting a little bit more than their neighbor, depending on the size and the scale of what you had. But it’s devastating. And we still don’t know what to expect.” The bankruptcy upset a California peach industry reliant on large, long-term contracts with Del Monte Foods. One Yuba County grower told the Bee that he would have to rip up his peach trees because no one bought his cannery, which was under a 20-year contract with Del Monte Foods. The grower, Sarb Johl, said no other companies offered such a sweet deal. Some buyers approached with offered short-term deals that wouldn’t take nearly the same amount of peaches that Del Monte Foods would have. “We were just getting into making some profits out of it, but, unfortunately, it’s gonna have to be removed,” Johl said. The California Canning Peach Association estimated one processor offered deals for 24,000 tons of peaches, a third of what was delivered to Del Monte Foods last year, according to the Bee. Source: New York Post trib.al/YIQKUxM ThePeoplesAdvertiser.com Mic Drop Ministry™

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Why California's SB 54 Creates a Historic Opportunity for Corn Next California's SB 54 is reshaping the future of packaging. Many companies see it as a regulatory challenge, but for Corn Next, it represents one of the biggest market opportunities in decades. SB 54 doesn't just restrict the use of plastic; it accelerates the transition to truly natural materials. And that's exactly what Corn Next was designed for. 1. SB 54 targets plastics, not natural materials The bill requires all single-use packaging to be recyclable or compostable by 2032, putting pressure on the following materials: Non-recyclable plastics Non-compostable plastics “Bioplastics” that release microplastics Multi-layer/hybrid plastic films Plastic-coated paper Corn Next doesn't fall into any of these categories. Corn Next is a natural material; it's neither plastic nor chemically modified bioplastics. It returns to the soil in about 390 days, producing no microplastics and leaving no chemical residues. 2. Corn Next has met the requirements of SB 54. SB 54 accelerated four key transformations: Eliminating microplastics Reducing plastic usage by 25% Lowering Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) fees through safer materials Using non-toxic, low-energy raw materials Corn Next naturally meets all of these requirements: 98% corn-based PLA/PHA-free Unmodified by chemicals No fossil carbon footprint Low-temperature processing We don't need to redesign our materials to meet the requirements—our products meet them from the start. 3. Major brands are actively seeking natural alternatives. Companies across industries, from food and beverage, retail, e-commerce, healthcare to consumer goods, must wean themselves off plastics by 2032. They urgently need: Natural straws Natural spoons Natural staple fibers Natural cutlery Natural packaging materials Corn Next provides these products—and globally. 4. A New Category Emerging in the US SB 54 creates a new regulatory gap between two product categories: ❌ Plastics ❌ Bioplastics ❌ Coated Paper and ✅ Truly Natural, Non-Synthetic Materials Corn Next defines this category. Through enzymatic recombination of corn starch, we produce a material that performs identically to the product but ultimately degrades like food. 5. A Once-in-a-Lifetime Market Opportunity SB 54 is more than just a California law. It's a blueprint that other states are following. For Corn Next, this means: Policy empowering us to build a natural materials ecosystem Growth in global brand demand A clear compliance path to zero microplastic emissions A multi-billion dollar alternative market by 2032 Corn Next isn't passively responding to SB 54—we're fully prepared. California is reshaping packaging rules, and natural materials will lead the next decade. This is our time. Corn Next is committed to leading change.

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🥕🍓 🌱 CDFA’s Nutrition Incentive Program increases food access at Certified Farmers’ Markets As the country continues to recognize this week as National Farmers’ Market Week, CDFA celebrates its California Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP), which helps low-income Californians access nutritious California-grown fresh produce at Certified Farmers’ Markets. CNIP provides increased funding support for shoppers using nutrition benefits for the purchase of fruits and vegetables at participating Certified Farmers’ Markets and retail outlets. For every benefit dollar spent, shoppers receive an additional CNIP dollar via programs like CNIP grantee Ecology Center’s “Market Match”– discussed in the video below -– that can be spent on fruits and vegetables at the market. Market Match incentives are currently available at 253 California Certified Markets. More $44.5 million in incentives were spent on California-grown fruits and vegetables at farmers’ markets and small retailers from 2017 into this year. CNIP is part of CDFA’s Office of Farm to Fork, committed to helping all Californians access healthy and nutritious California-grown food. View CDFA's Planting Seeds blog post and video: https://lnkd.in/gbC-byDP

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"Same field" doesn't mean "same IP." I keep hearing people lump alternative dairy companies together as if they're all doing the same thing. Investors do it. Journalists do it. PR... Even founders do it when sizing up their "competitors." But here's what the patent filings actually reveal: Two companies can both be labelled "precision fermentation dairy" and still have nothing in common at the technical level. One might engineer yeast to express whey proteins, while the other might use an entirely different microorganism to produce caseins. That double difference cascades into everything downstream: Different host organisms. Different expression systems. Different USP. Different DSP. Different formulation challenges (try making cheese without casein, or a protein shake without whey). Different freedom-to-operate landscapes. The result? Two IP portfolios that barely overlap. And you can see it in the claim language itself. Consider what a “Claim 1” might look like for each: - Company A (whey-focused) might claim something like: "A method for producing beta-lactoglobulin comprising: culturing a recombinant Pichia pastoris host cell comprising a nucleic acid encoding bovine beta-lactoglobulin operably linked to an AOX1 promoter, in a methanol-fed fermentation process; and recovering said beta-lactoglobulin from the culture supernatant." - Company B (casein-focused) might claim: "A method for producing a composition comprising recombinant alpha-S1-casein and kappa-casein, the method comprising: expressing said caseins in a filamentous fungal host cell under control of an inducible promoter; and forming casein micelles from the recovered proteins in the presence of calcium phosphate." Read those two claims side by side. Every key element diverges: → The target protein (beta-lactoglobulin vs. alpha-S1-casein + kappa-casein) → The host organism (Pichia yeast vs. filamentous fungi) → The promoter system (AOX1/methanol-inducible vs. a different inducible system) → The downstream processing (simple supernatant recovery vs. micelle reassembly with calcium phosphate). An infringement analysis comparing one against the other would find almost zero overlap. You'd struggle to map a single claim element from one onto the other. This is why "they're in the same space" is never a sufficient competitive analysis. This matters for founders — your competitive moat isn't "precision fermentation." It's the specific biological system, the process parameters, and the downstream application you've built around it. Protect that. And don't waste time worrying about a competitor's patent portfolio if they're engineering a completely different protein in a completely different organism. The lesson: read the specifics, not the headlines. "Alternative" is a market category, not a technology description. The IP landscape underneath it is far more fragmented — and far more interesting — than most people realize.

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An example if integrating AI with automation to speed things up - 10-30% say an average of 20%. Labor you can't get. Time you can't waste. AI is rapidly becoming practical and useful as well as cost-effective.

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Girl Scout Cookies, widely abbreviated as GSC, is one of the most influential cannabis cultivars of the modern era. Emerging from Northern California in the early 2010s, the strain is widely credited to breders associated with the Cookie Family collective, including Bay Area cultivator Jigga and collaborators working within the underground cannabis scene of the San Francisco Bay Area. GSC is generally described as a hybrid created from genetics linked to OG Kush and the South African landrace line Durban Poison. This pairing blended the earthy, fuel influenced character of West Coast kush lines with the sweeter aromatic qualities associated with Durban genetics, producing a cultivar that stood apart from many earlier strains. In cultivation, Girl Scout Cookies typically expresses balanced hybrid traits, although many phentypes show a slightly indica dominant growth structure. Plants tend to produce compact, dense flowers with heavy trichome coverage, giving harvested buds a frosted or sugar coated appearance. Colors commonly range from deep green to darker shades accented by purple hues when grown under cooler finishing conditions. Aromatically, GSC became widely known for its dessert like terpene profile. Growers and consumers frequently describe the scent as sweet and baked goods inspired, sometimes with minty notes layered over earthy and lightly spicy undertones. This complex aroma profile helped distinguish it from older cultivars that were primarily known for sharp skunk, pine, or diesel characteristics. The cultural and breeding impact of Girl Scout Cookies has been enormous. Soon after its appearance in California dispensaries, the cultivar rapidly gained popularity and became a cornerstone of modern cannabis breeding. Its terpene expression helped spark the rise of so called dessert strains, a generation of hybrids selected for sweet, confectionary like aromas combined with strong resin production and visual appeal. GSC effectively shifted breeder attention toward terpene complexity as a defining feature rather than potency alone. The cultivar also became the genetic foundation for many widely recognized modern hybrids. Descendant lines include cultivars such as Gelato, Thin Mint GSC, and Do-Si-Dos, each carrying forward elements of the sweet terpene profile and dense resinous flower structure that made GSC famous. The Thin Mint phenotype in particular became widely circulated among breeders and played a major role in later hybridization projects. More than a decade after its emergence, Girl Scout Cookies remains a landmark cultivar in cannabis history. Its combination of distinctive aroma, strong resin production, and cultural recognition helped define the direction of modern cannabis breeding and cemented its place among the truly legendary cultivars of the contemporary era. #LegendaryCultivars #GSC #Growbigbuds101

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At the Washington State Tree Fruit Association annual meeting, growers shared how they’re navigating labor shortages, rising input costs, and weather volatility. From chemical thinning and refined pruning to expanded IPM programs, the focus is on efficiency-first orchard management — protecting fruit quality while keeping operations viable for the next generation. Growing Produce #WesternFruitGrower #agriculture

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California's regulatory climate has pushed the cost to grow lettuce in Monterey County to over $1,600 per acre. Strawberries remain the county's highest valued crop, but challenges remain as farmers must battle soil borne disease pressure to produce a crop. https://lnkd.in/gvFS2s6w

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The Farmers Market Initiative (FMI)—also known as Get More at the Farmers Market—helps Californians stretch their food dollars while supporting local farmers and increasing access to fresh produce. In partnership with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, FMI promotes Market Match, which allows CalFresh shoppers to double their benefits at participating farmers markets. This makes fruits and vegetables more affordable, strengthens community food systems, and boosts local economies. 👩‍🌾 With the support of our Food Navigators, families learn how Market Match works, discover additional nutrition programs like WIC, and gain confidence in accessing and preparing healthy foods. 📖 Read more about FMI’s impact in our most recent newsletter: https://lnkd.in/g8V3nmVG #HealthEquity #Nutrition #FarmersMarkets #FoodAccess #CommunityWellness #LocalFoodSystems #Go4Wellness

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Jimbo's in San Diego is an incredible organic market. Not only does it label all organic produce that is hydroponically grown, but it has taken a strong stance against Apeel. This is a market that puts its customers first and prioritizes transparency. The photo and text below is taken from Jimbo's Instagram post: "As we previously communicated in June of 2023, we chose to take a cautious approach by removing any produce that may have had Apeel applied (we found only 1 grower in our offerings) and suspending further shipments of such items. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 WE HAVE RECONFIRMED OUR DECISION: 𝗝𝗜𝗠𝗕𝗢’𝗦 𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗬 𝗔𝗡𝗬 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗦 𝗛𝗔𝗗 𝗔𝗣𝗘𝗘𝗟 𝗢𝗥 𝗢𝗥𝗚𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗣𝗘𝗘𝗟 𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗜𝗧. We have also taken the additional step of reconfirming this policy with all our produce vendors. They have assured us that they have not and will not send us any products treated with Apeel or Organipeel. Our commitment to clean, transparent, and high-integrity food remains as strong as ever. We understand that many of you rely on Jimbo’s to uphold the highest standards, and we are grateful for the responsibility to do so. As always, thank you for your continued support! Ryan Peterson, Director of Produce and Floral" Thanks to Haughey, Stephanie for flagging this for me. For my full Organic Insider report on the Apeel controversy, you can find it ==> https://lnkd.in/eMmUgyks

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