The List of Carbon Negative Foods
A Living List of Recommended Foods based on Carbon Footprints
[Update Oct 8 2021: As you might already understand, I don’t mean for the definition of “Negative Foods” in the context of this list and this newsletter to be a certification, but to be instead an aspirational direction. As a society, we are far from having useful standards on regenerative farming, which is a problem that I hope we can solve in the near future.]
The idea for this list is described in the What Foods Should You Buy edition of this newsletter. This list contains Negative Foods that I’ve covered in this newsletter or learned along the way.
How to Use This List. Keep it handy, check it from time to time, and send in your ideas for other items to include on the list. And then stock your fridge, your pantry and your freezer with these items.
This is a living list that we’ll from time to time update. Bookmark this link.
Beverages:
Oatly (Non-Dairy Milk)
Neutral (cow milk in the Pacific Northwest)
Juneshine (from Nick Mindel 7/6: “I would add Juneshine to your list of foods. Carbon neutral, hard kombucha, that is delicious, based out of San Diego and distributed nationwide.”)
Snacks:
Mondelez NoCoé (just Europe for now I think)
Camping Food:
Patagonia Provisions (of course!)
Instant Breakfast Foods:
Bread:
Bread Alone Bakery (metro NYC and Hudson Valley)
Meat & Meat Alternatives:
Coffee:
From the Sea:
Oyster, Clams & Mussels
Dog Food (no cats!):
Hey Paul, love the idea of this list, but with all due respect many of the products on here are not carbon negative, and I don't think the companies would claim they are either. I'm most familiar with the meat space, and while Belcampo and Hickory Nut Gap, etc are great farms, their monogastric proteins (chicken and pork) are most certainly not in a carbon negative space yet, especially when you run a life cycle assessment with processing, packaging, distribution, etc. Not sure how Do Good would make such a claim either (looked on their website and they don't make it there), and Quorn's ingredient list includes non organic potatoes, wheat, peas, onion, sugar (plus a bunch of things I've never heard of). Maple Leaf is factory farming ducks in confinement houses. Furthermore, I don't see ANY of the dog food companies making a carbon negative claim anywhere on their websites, and I believe Patagonia Provisions would be really upset if they knew they were on this list.
In summary, I think you've compiled a really cool list of companies pushing the bar and doing some great things. I'll certainly keep this link handy. However, the NUMBER ONE threat to growing and scaling regenerative agriculture is greenwashing, and giving credit where it is not yet due. Just because we want things to be carbon negative doesn't mean they are. This space has a looooong ways to go before we can make the claims that White Oak Pastures can based on their LCA. I think we should lift up those companies that are truly doing carbon negative production, and be honest about those of us who are pursuing it but not there yet.
Just this farmer's two cents!
Paul @ Pasturebird