Fresh Take
Fresh Take is your roundup of all things related to organic and sustainable living. Join Florida Organic Growers staff and guest experts as we discuss everything you need to know about sustainable living, organic agriculture, and how to make the best lifestyle choices that benefit you and the environment. So if you’re an eco-warrior, a dedicated farmer, or just someone looking to make more conscious decisions, tune in to get your Fresh Take.
Fresh Take
Upcycling Agriculture: Transforming Food Waste into Sustainable Opportunities
In this episode, we sit down with Ali Cox, a visionary in agriculture and food ingredient marketing and the founder of Noble West, an award-winning consultancy that serves the entire agricultural ecosystem—from fresh produce to agTech. As a fifth-generation farmer, Ali returned to California’s Central Valley in 2007 with a mission: to provide world-class marketing to farmers and growers in her community.
Ali shares her journey of keeping farming viable for future generations, exploring innovative projects like upcycling imperfect produce into valuable products. Through her work, Ali champions environmental sustainability, consulting on upcycling, regenerative water use, and organic farming practices, all with an eye on the climate crisis. This episode dives into the ways agriculture can adapt to changing consumer demands, while reducing waste and building a more sustainable future.
Key Takeaways:
- Understand how upcycling transforms potential waste into economic opportunities.
- Learn the difference between food loss (unharvested resources) and food waste (uneaten food).
- Discover how upcycling supports biodiversity and sustainable practices.
- Hear Ali’s insights on holding processors accountable and ensuring fair compensation for farmers.
- Explore how consumer education can help build acceptance for upcycled products and reduce food waste.
Learn more about Sierra Agra and their mission here!
Tune in for an eye-opening discussion on creating a sustainable food system and the future of upcycling in agriculture!
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Welcome to Fresh Take, where we at Florida Organic Growers speak to food systems experts about topics related to organic and sustainable agriculture, healthy lifestyles and the environment. To help us continue our programs at FOG, including our podcast, consider becoming a sponsor. For more information on sponsorship, check out our Get Involved page on our website, wwwfoginfoorg.
Speaker 2:Welcome to our latest episode of Fresh Steak. Today, I'm really excited to be talking to Allie Cox, ceo of Noble West. She is a fifth generation farmer based in Central Valley of California, a mother and a wife, and today we're going to be talking about upcycling. Upcycling is sort of a new term for me, so I'm excited to be talking to Allie. Thank you, allie, for joining us today and talking to us about the work that you do.
Speaker 3:Thanks, jc, so happy to be here and obviously love the podcast and although you are probably hailing from Central Florida, it is really. I think some of the issues that we face are universal and especially in specialty crops, so I think there's just a lot of kind of synergies for us to build on for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we typically want to get to know our guests a little bit more. You know I mentioned that you are a fifth generation farmer, so you know you have that farming background. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about what it was that inspired you to you know work in this field.
Speaker 3:Sure, well, I mean just a little bit of background. So, again, hailing from Central California, which is the Central Valley, and obviously rowcropping, and now we have produce from apricots to cherries. We grow almonds, walnuts, we do have beef cattle, tomatoes, beans, so there is quite a variety, but so that is kind of the farming side and that's, I would say, what we live, eat and breathe every day as a family, right, but then professionally, in my marketing agency, noble West, we are tapped by our clients all the time and again we are an agriculture and food ingredient specialty shop, so I'm an ag all day, every day, and oftentimes our clients come to us or businesses find us when they have already made millions of dollars of investments in software or growing practices or on-farm practices or certification compliance. And they come to us and they say, okay, how do we get more value for this? We need a bigger ROI to cover all these awesome things we've just done and all these fantastic certifications we've just heard. How do we do that and can you help us basically improve our value proposition? Because we can in fact prove that our produce or our food is grown better and different, and so that is often that is a very normal phone call for me to receive, and typically from kind of a flustered yet ambitious CEO, is like I just need a better business strategy around all of these crazy million dollars, million million plus dollars of investments that we're doing all the time to remain compliant with USDA or the CDFA here in California. So how do we do that? So that's one that's probably the basis of our business, but now it's getting so much like part in the pun juicier because we're working on projects that are more climate focused, quite frankly, but also help farmers, and so for me, I'm like okay, I'm farmer first in everything we do, I will forever be farmer first. But I'm also pragmatic and a realist and I want my kids to be able to farm in 20 years versus having a housing development where our farm is right. So I know that what God is here is not going to get us there. So, philosophically, we have to change and evolve with consumer demands, with compliance demands and, frankly, take advantage of ESG goals and food supply chains. So that is definitely kind of like the cornerstone of what we do.
Speaker 3:But upcycling has become a super niche project where I would like to say, from a marketing perspective, we have in fact become experts, and I speak about upcycling quite a bit. There is an upcycling association, there are brands that are upcycling forward. It is definitely a very trendy I don't know how to say this. It's trendy and current and relevant. At like food shows, like Expo West. At like food shows like Expo West, it might not be in such in like as dynamic of a conversation, at like an IFPA show or an industry show, because that's more maybe farming focused and, more frankly, established brand focus.
Speaker 3:But this project we're working on with a company called Sierra Agra, a phenomenal organization of industry leaders who are ambitious and rogue and forward thinking and caring and environmentally conscious, but also, again I would argue, they're farmer. First, there's quite a few farmers that are on their board and are investors, basically a huge manufacturing company that take the we call it the unseen harvest or the forgotten harvest or basically whatever is on the ground that is still great produce or imperfect produce, something that's maybe not harvested because it's just not beautiful enough yet it's perfectly edible. Obviously, jc that requires like this is produce that is already the land's already been paid for, the insurance has already been paid for, the labor contractors have already gone through, they've already been, they've already received. You know they've been fertilized all year, whether organic or conventionally. But this is where, like, the investment is already there and it's basically leftover produce.
Speaker 3:So we estimate that about 33% of imperfect food never even reaches consumers or has a chance to reach consumers, whether through a paste, a sauce, a whole fruit, a slurry, a juice, because it's just not harvested.
Speaker 3:And so that's where this company, sierra Agra, is saying okay, farmers, we're going to pay you for your bins of imperfect produce and we are then going to run it through our processes, which are these phenomenal pneumatic equipment, and then we are going to then sell it for juice or an aseptic, or in a slurry, or in a paste or an essence for fragrance or whatnot. So it's an opportunity for farmers to make money where they wouldn't. Oftentimes they're paying to get the crop out of their field so that they can, you know, know, like prevent, like navel orangeworm, and like prevent all different kinds of molds. Obviously, it requires typically running a harvesting crew back through the field, potentially, or sorting differently. So we compensate and it's something that's really exciting. And when I talk about it, at like the Expo West of the world, there are brands that are actively from a climate forward position looking to make these kinds of supply chain connections.
Speaker 2:One of the things, as I'm listening to you describe and this is so important.
Speaker 2:I'm fascinated by the idea that your intention, from what you've described, is to help farmers to reduce in the way that I think you've explained it to reduce some of that food loss basically, which I wanted to get maybe into the idea or maybe the terms food loss and food waste, because I do think that maybe that's important and it's a little bit different.
Speaker 2:But basically you're trying to boost farm revenue basically, and I think you said 33%. Wow, that imperfect food that is, and I think I've heard these figures before, but it is always really crazy how, in our food system the way I see it and think about it is that consumers and we're all consumers we've gotten used to so much that the produce and the food that we buy, whether it's that apple or pear or the strawberries, they have to be perfect and in so many ways, if it's not, if it's got a little bit of a spot here or there, then it's not going to make it to our grocery shelves. So it's really going to make it to our you know grocery shelves. So it's really really interesting. But I did want to maybe get in a little bit into that. So it means I think it's important. Many of our farmers obviously understand this. What is the difference between, you know, food loss and food waste?
Speaker 3:I'm so glad you're putting a pin on this JC. I'm so glad you're putting a pin on this JC because this is really, really critical and this is a terminology that, frankly, I want to make sure everybody here knows. The most savvy investors like grapple with the true intellectual, like environmental intellectuals, grapple with this all the time. Food loss is for us in the way we picture it. It is food that is perfectly edible and perfectly imperfect and it is not harvested. It is actually lost. It is lost revenue, it is lost bio nutrients, it is lost. It is lost on our food supply system. So that is basically the food supply chain saying failing farmers and failing the environment, quite frankly, because it's not just 33 percent of the food, it's 33 percent of the water, I mean like 33 percent of the inputs, of the tree, maintenance of the pruning, I mean of everything.
Speaker 3:And that's where, just like, kind of like, throw my arms and be like, this is exactly why we have to do what we're doing, like I will not quit, because this, this mission, is critical and for me it's about access. It's about access to upcycling. So you know, at this exact moment I don't know who is doing upcycling in central Florida. We will figure it out. But this is where we have to continue to innovate and get more return back to the growers Because, again, if we are putting these crazy, crazy restrictions and crazy requirements on farmers for compliance, crazy requirements on farmers for compliance, we have to make sure that the processors are doing everything they can to give as much opportunity for a grower return, however they might get it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's already a problem, and I do think that, even though and thank you so much for just clarifying all of that but I think I read somewhere and the source, I believe, was feeding Florida where I read that in the United States, you know, we waste about 92 billion pounds of food, you know, annually, and that's the food that actually made it to us.
Speaker 2:You know, when we're talking about food loss, but now that we're talking about food waste as well which is another obviously consideration and thing, as you mentioned, whether it be food waste or food loss, it does have that environmental impact that I think it's so important that all of us involved, whether it be organic, sustainable, local food systems, to really try to address. What I love about the way that you've been explaining is also, you know, obviously, you know taking that step to address the problem and hopefully, in that manner, also provides, you know, economic benefits to the farmers and really, at the end, also consumers. The way I see it, are there any success stories about some of the farmers or some of the people involved in upcycling that perhaps you can share with us?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, it's there One of the things that's so amazing about their equipment it's typically crop agnostic. So from day to day, with after proper sanitation, they're running citrus, they're running stone fruit because they have a destoner, they have a destoner for cherries. They're running they could run pineapple not that we grow pineapples here, but like you could grow pineapples lemon um limes um celery, which is amazing because I mean the celery produced within you know is basically the world's celery comes out of central valley of california, at the moment although I'm sure there are some celery farmers in um there are.
Speaker 3:So I want to make sure and be like, really like, respectful of that yeah but this is, this is just a place where, like a farmer, could, I mean, I think I think the most interesting thing is going to be is like biodiversity of silage. I don't know if, like, we actually start upcycling properly.
Speaker 2:I don't know what the silage is going to look like for cows what are some of the things that you would say as people listening and maybe considering? You know, getting into upcycling or at least you know, just maybe trying to understand. What are some of the things that you know are a no-no in terms of just the industry that our farmers should be aware of?
Speaker 3:A no, no, I think, having a closed mind, can I say that?
Speaker 2:Of course you can, yeah.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean, like not being willing to try new things and take new conversations, and you know you could fight it or you could learn and evolve. And that's where I think that there's a lot of farmers out there who are exhausting themselves by just being angry and fighting. The way things are now and I get it right, and I wish that it was easier on farmers to learn and make mistakes and evolve, but right now margins are so tight and pretty much everything like they don't actually have that luxury. So I would say that'd be the first thing. The second would be to demand more of your processors, frankly, or your co-ops or your you you know wherever you're sending your crop asking for what's happening with their waste, asking to get a take on the waste, because that I think it's their waste, they deserve it. It's the whole crop. So I think those are like kind of two definite things, definite things.
Speaker 3:And then I would say the third and this is me putting my marketing hat on is that if your industry, whether it's your association or if it's your processor, is asking to, like, bring camera crews out to your orchards or to on your property, you need to get compensated for your time Compensated for your time to clean it up, to bring in a video group to host people. That's something where I am always very conscious of that, because we obviously were filming. This is a marketing agency. We're making a video at least once a week somewhere and so like, how can we, how can we make sure our clients are compensating those farmers for that time? And also, if they're providing social media, you know I don't know about you, jc, but every single trade show I go to. The last paragraph is always the same we need to get out there and tell our story more. That is literally the closing sentence on every single speech I've heard in the last 15 years. Right, yeah.
Speaker 3:Whether we're talking about water regulation or we're talking about farmer advocacy, or we're talking about crops, or we're talking about climate or whatever, I think what people are wanting to say is we hope that consumers care about all everything we're doing and I'm like we don't. That's not the point, like you're not going to guilt the consumer into buying anything. What we need to do is we need to give them a valid reason that is like fiscally, like responsible, to actually care about what is happening, because they like the crop and they like the food and they like how it is. So in order to do that, oftentimes you need to be telling a farmer story. They want to hear the origination story. The origination story is the farming story.
Speaker 3:And then I always say compensate the farmer, don't expect them to be posting social media, especially farmers at scale. There's just too much risk involved. I'm not talking about like your 10 or 15 acre guys Like that's great, because there's probably a lot of validity there. If they're in a CSA or they go to farmer's market, sure, like they get, they get, why social media can work Right. But this is especially like with the seasonality. But this is where I think at scale, we need to bring like if we want to tell our story more, we need to make it more financially like viable for farmers to get on board with that make it more financially viable for farmers to get on board with that, right?
Speaker 2:You know, that makes me think. I mean these stories, and who doesn't like a good story? And that's part of why I was curious Sometimes I think about I'm just passionate about learning and teaching, and sometimes how do you get that message across? One of the things that is important and I think that you mentioned about so farmers are now learning about this and maybe they're hearing about it for the first time. How do we get them more interested in this concept of upscaling and then now seeing an opportunity, because I think that's really what we want people to listening. Maybe consider is that's really what we want people to listening? Maybe consider is here's an opportunity? If you had never thought about it, but I doubt that they hadn't is how I can reduce that food loss. Here's a way that maybe, that perhaps can be done and then innovate.
Speaker 2:I think all of those things are very, very important to me, through whether it's teaching, educating or, you know, sharing stories. One of the things that has to happen, hopefully, is to really change that behavior, whether you know the farmers who are used to doing things a certain way, the consumers who are used to maybe seeing their fruits and you know their produce look a certain way. Or eating certain things fruits and their produce look a certain way or eating certain things. That's very, very, very hard, but I think that we're all sort of involved and passionate about food so much that I think it is possible to change people's behaviors. But it does take people like you and the people that you work with to start maybe identifying the problem. Why is this happening? Innovating to really start affecting some of that change that I think is so important.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but you know what the thing is JC In the United States like if you go to a grocery store you don't even have the opportunity to see other fruit. That's not perfect.
Speaker 2:That's true.
Speaker 3:So you automatically are conditioned to think it's bad.
Speaker 2:Correct.
Speaker 3:That's where I think folks who are blessed enough to get fresh produce at a farmer's market like you are and I am that's not normal, by the way Year-round, that biodiversity availability is just not there, and that to me is sad, and that to me sad. And then you go to europe and you walk through, just you know, a normal grocery store, like it's a supermarket in europe, and it's in perfect fruit, yeah, yeah that's where, like culturally, we have it's an education.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that's when I say, like the food system is absolutely screwed, I actually mean it like we have done this to ourselves, and roasters are encouraged, and that's why I don't think I think fresh produce is going to be. I just don't even think fresh produce is worth the fight, if I'm being honest. That's where, however, there's like a global orange juice shortage right now. Okay, like that is where an upcycled product in a processed form is absolutely the most sensible thing to do from an environmental standpoint, from a financial standpoint and from just like a like a consumer opportunity, and so that's why, for me, like I am actively looking for clients that are working with upcycled products- to help them their story and to help the market and advertise themselves, because I think that what they're doing is great.
Speaker 3:it is likely not the easiest way to source their product, yeah, but it is the most thoughtful and intentional and it is the way that we can provide the most like climate relief in our industry.
Speaker 2:So for all of our farmers out there listening, how would you say they can one you know, get in touch with you, learn more about upscaling, or give us some, maybe additional strategies that you think could be things that they can start at least now considering, as they're learning about all of this and these opportunities?
Speaker 3:They're more than welcome to email me at ally at wearenoblewestcom, or follow us on social media or reach out on LinkedIn. I'm pretty active on LinkedIn and I'd also suggest following and subscribing to the upcycling association. And, for good measure, I would just say, follow Sierra agra on LinkedIn and go to their website of Sierra dash agracom. And again, not to make this a Sierra ag commercial, I'm just in the thick of it with them and have been for over a year, and so we're working really closely on them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no, we appreciate again. You know talking to guests like yourself, because here at Florida Organic Growers, we're always trying to provide resources, new information to our farmers and consumers as well about healthy living. Of course, we're all about organic, sustainable and regenerative ag. Just listening to new ways of looking at the food system and the things that we can do is very, very important. Just together, I think that we will continue.
Speaker 2:I really hope and that's probably the perpetual optimism in me, you know transform our food system. Do you envision and hopefully this is something that you know upcycling is something that, as more and more people you know, learn about it, hopefully more and more people will really start getting into this. You know, learn about it. Hopefully more and more people will really start getting into this. You know trend and that's not called a trend because again, trends and sometimes I feel come and go away, but if really this is something and I'm all about, you know, reducing food loss and food waste, so hopefully this is something that can work. What do you see happening in 2025, maybe.
Speaker 3:In 2025, I hope that there is more upcycling manufacturers out there so that farmers have more access within their farming communities, you know, within 50 miles or 100 miles. I hope that processors are more dynamically looking for ways to manage their waste and I'm not saying that they're not because they are. Every single processor has to deal with waste. It is the dirty side of the business, right, so I hope that that's happening. And then, secondarily, I want to make sure that there is a continual education to consumers to keep an eye out for upcycled products, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3:And just become more familiarized with that vernacular and then in your own kitchens, all across America and throughout, is really like just managing your own waste. That is something that all of us can do can do better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah for sure. Well, ali, we really thank you for spending some time with us today here at Fresh Steak and letting us know more about upscaling. I think this has been really, for me, a very interesting, fascinating topic. I hope that everybody who tunes in and listens to our episode will try to learn more about upscaling. Maybe even you know contact you if they have any questions. We really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us today.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you so much for having me and appreciate this podcast. It's a favorite of mine and I always look forward to it.
Speaker 2:Well, we certainly appreciate it, and same goes for everybody out there listening to us. Please join us in our next episode at Fresh Steak, and we really appreciate you tuning in. Thank you.
Speaker 1:We hope you enjoyed today's episode Photo. Organic Growers is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, so to keep our content available and free to the public, we need your help. Please subscribe, rate and review wherever you listen, and consider making a tax-deductible donation or become a sponsor. Learn more about our work and how you can become a sponsor from our website, wwwboginfoorg.