Patagonia Takes Lead in Focus on Regenerative Agriculture, Climate Change

Photo: Pexels

Originally Appeared in Presence Marketing News, February 2020
By Steven Hoffman

“We’re losing the planet. We really are,” Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard recently told Emily Stifler Wolfe, a reporter at Explore Big Sky. “And I’m not going to let it go without fighting, so we have to try harder.” Patagonia in 2012 launched its Provisions division that sells organic grains, responsibly caught salmon and other items to help create a market for climate-friendly products. In 2018, it became a charter member of the Regenerative Organic Alliance, and in 2020 the company is introducing its Road to Regenerative line of organic cotton clothing. Made of “100% Regenerative Organic Certification Pilot Cotton from farms working to rehabilitate soil, respect animal welfare and improve the lives of farmers” the new tee shirts also are Fair Trade Certified sewn, says the company. Patagonia, with a new mission statement, “We’re in business to save our home planet,” intends to go “carbon neutral and non-extractive by 2025,” reports Explore Big Sky, and it plans to boost support for environmental conservation and go deeper into politics. The company in December 2017 sued the Trump administration for rescinding a million acres of Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument, and it backed Montana’s Democratic Senator Jon Tester – an organic farmer – in his 2018 reelection. To learn more about regenerative organic agriculture and food and climate, attend Climate Day at Natural Products Expo West, Tuesday, March 5, 2020, and an update from the Regenerative Organic Alliance at Expo West on Friday, March 8.