What's behind regenerative food label claims?
by TOS Staff Reporter
Everybody has heard the word ‘regenerative’ applied to agriculture and farming these days. It seems to be on everybody’s lips and all over the media. It’s as if organic has been forgotten and something new has come to take its place. People and organisations have and will continue to have opinions on this, some saying regenerative offers more than organic (social, carbon sequestration?), perhaps others, a pathway to organic, still others, its faux organic. It’s possible all opinions are true.
Friends of the Earth (FOE) USA has just published a review of ten ‘regenerative’ food labels. The 60-page document is aimed at consumers and buyers so is written to be accessible to those communities but is a comprehensive review which focuses on three main pillars of ‘regenerative’; agrochemicals and related practices, soil health practices and what they refer to as ‘standard integrity’. The focus is also on crop production and does not go into depth on livestock. The authors freely admit that such schemes may set standards and offer other benefits such as on social compliance and farmer training which were beyond the scope of the study.
Not all the programs studied use the term ‘regenerative’. Six that do are Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC), Certified Regenerative by A Greener World (AGW), Certified Regenerative by Regeneration International (RI), Regenified, Regenagri and Rainforest Alliance Regenerative. The four that do not, are USDA Organic (NOP), Real Organic Project (ROP), Demeter Biodynamic and Soil & Climate Health Initiative Verified (SCHIV). The authors recognize that ROC and ROP require USDA Organic as a prerequisite, the demands of which is of course legally defined.
How the review was approached
FOE assess each program on standard elements that they define and score them as Yes (fully meets the bar), Partial and No and provide tables to assist comparison. The authors explain their reasoning for each element for each program. The agrochemicals section for example assesses the programs on whether there is a prohibition or restriction on toxic pesticides (only NOP, ROC, ROP, Demeter and RI is scored as fully meeting this requirement) a requirement for reduction in pesticide toxicity load, various aspects of Integrated Pest Management, GMO prohibition (SCHIV, Regenagri and Regenified do not prohibit), prohibition of synthetic nitrogen (AGW, SCHIV, Rainforest, Regenagri, Regenified do not) and synthetic fertilizer reduction over time.
It’s an interesting document and a recommended read.
Pathways and thresholds
The study differentiates between what they term ‘pathway’ and ‘threshold’ programs in terms of standards. The former set standards that require or expect continuous improvement but generally start from a lower base (Regenified, SCHIV and Regenagri). Such schemes often have a tiered approach and might be promoted as a first step to sustainability. Threshold programs (all others) on the other hand, set a single threshold that producers must meet from the start and is generally higher than the entry level pathway approach. They may or may not demand continuous improvement.
In principle, there should be room for all approaches. All producers will find themselves at different stages and have the option to choose what suits them best. The problem is that the same term (regenerative) is applied to all, and this can mean that a regenerative loaf of bread can either fully comply with organic standards at one end of the spectrum or at the other, have been made with ingredients that have been fertilized with synthetic nitrogen, sprayed with glyphosate or be genetically modified. The problem is one of claims and transparency. In the same vein, FOE call out the mass balance approach used by RA which allows that certified and non-certified products can be mixed during storage and processing with certification applied on a bookkeeping basis. Essentially the consumer is paying and supporting the company for their efforts that a proportion of their production meets a standard, but the individual product they have bought may not itself meet the standard.
Credibility
Regarding standard credibility, the FOE report explains the need for impartiality of verification and traceability. Regarding impartiality, FOE score full compliance for where the standard setting body is separate from the auditing body (NOP, ROC, RI, Regenagri, RA, SCHIV), partial compliance for where the standard-setting body conducts the audits according to ISO/IEC 17065 (ROP, AGW) and non-compliance where the standard setting body is the same as the auditing body (Demeter, Regenified).
Unfortunately, FOE do miss the point of ‘proxy accreditation’ to ISO/IEC 17065. Proxy accreditation is where an accreditation to a standard such as ISO/IEC 17065 is required but the scope of that accreditation is not specific to the relevant standard. Apart from NOP and AGW none of the other programs specifically require accreditation to their full standard. In other words, the generic requirements of ISO/IEC 17065 are verified but with respect to another standard. Easy to miss but important to be understood.
We should welcome all initiatives and programs that aim to improve the sustainability of our agricultural production systems and that contribute positively to the environment and social welfare. All programs should however be fully transparent about their standards, their integrity system and their claims. If the word ‘regenerative’ is to remain buzzing in our ears, the programs that nail their colours to the mast need to bring greater transparency and integrity to their work.
In response to this dilemma Organic Insider report an initiative between IFOAM North America and National Grocers in the USA which ‘has started convening stakeholders to build consensus around a minimum regenerative standard for retail food packaging’. They report that the conversation began at Expo West 2026 and continued with the first public workgroup session — focused on synthetic inputs — drawing 100+ attendees from the U.S., Canada, South America, Europe and India.