FoA 322: Commodity Crops to Value Added CPG with Claire Smith and Jennifer Barney

Visit our quarterly presenting sponsor: www.calgaryagbusiness.com

Teffola: https://www.eatteffola.com/

The Business of Food Newsletter: https://jenniferbarney.substack.com/

FoA 221: Bringing Commercial Quinoa Production to Colorado: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/fd94a32f-7554-46b4-9ba5-bfc50a371680

Claire Smith is the founder of the ancient grain granola brand Teffola. She comes from a 7th generation farming family in Michigan where Tenera Farms has been farming wheat, corn, and soy since 1837.  In 2015 Tenera Farms started planting teff, a tiny grain rich in protein and fiber and a key ingredient in the Ethiopian bread injera. Why the farm began growing this obscure grain, how they became processors, and how that lead Claire to start making and marketing granola is the subject of this interview.

Today’s episode is all about ancient grains and building a consumer packaged goods or CPG business on top of an established farm. These are two things I know very little about, so lucky for you and for me, we have a guest co-host joining us on the show today, Jennifer Barney. Several months ago, someone shared a post on LinkedIn called “Ag Companies Launching Food Brands”. Long time listeners of this show will know that is something I’m really fascinated by, so I immediately subscribed to the newsletter that produced the post. It turns out that newsletter called “The Business of Food” was created by Jennifer Barney. After reading several of her newsletters I reached out about collaborating, and here she is co-hosting her first episode.

Jennifer is a consumer-packaged goods (CPG) expert. She lives in the Central Valley of California and got her start in the food industry 16 years ago when she founded the almond butter brand Barney Butter. Jennifer successfully grew the brand to nationwide retail distribution and then sold the company. After exiting Barney Butter, Jennifer has since become an advisor and consultant to startups and ag leaders who want to get closer to the consumer with their own brands and innovations. She writes an email newsletter called The Business of Food where she shares food industry knowledge including business modeling, growth tips, and what to focus on at the early stages of business.