152: From Personal Health to Systemic Change: Anthony Corsaro on Fueling the Regenerative CPG Movement

Description:

In this episode, we sit down with Anthony Corsaro, a passionate advocate and entrepreneur in the regenerative food space. Anthony shares his personal journey from a family background in conventional produce distribution to becoming a key player in the regenerative consumer-packaged goods (CPG) movement. He opens up about how his own health challenges ignited his passion for creating food systems that are not only better for people but also for the planet.

Join us as we explore the intersection of personal well-being and systemic change, the complexities of building a regenerative brand, and the critical need for new funding and support structures to help these vital businesses thrive. This conversation is a must-listen for any "regenpreneur" looking to understand the current landscape and find their place in building a regenerative future.

Highlighted Promotion:

Are you a regenerative entrepreneur feeling like you're working against the current? You're not alone. The journey to build a business that heals our planet and communities can be challenging, but you don't have to do it by yourself. Join the Regenerative Business Economies Ecosystem (RegenBEE), our free and open community for impact entrepreneurs, peers, funders, and supporters. Together, we share resources, support one another, and collectively build the regenerative economies of the future. Let's create the change we want to see, together. Join us at seedsoftao.com and click on Join the Community.

Show Notes:

• [00:02:21] - Emily and Noam introduce the episode, highlighting the connection between land stewardship and personal health.
• [00:08:16] - Anthony Corsaro joins the conversation and shares his morning routine, emphasizing the importance of connecting with nature.
• [00:12:28] - Anthony discusses what energizes him and his role as a "cheerleader" for people and ideas within the regenerative movement.
• [00:15:37] - The origins of Anthony's journey: growing up in a family produce distribution business and the personal health crisis that led him to regenerative agriculture.
• [00:24:30] - Anthony explains why he focused on Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and the lack of resources for entrepreneurs in this specific niche.
• [00:26:01] - An overview of Anthony's three core initiatives: Regen Brands, the Regen Coalition, and Outlaw Ventures.
• [00:30:31] - A deep dive into the investment landscape for regenerative businesses, the challenges entrepreneurs face, and the "upstream disease" of focusing primarily on farmland.
• [00:39:08] - The critical need for entrepreneurs to understand finance and for the development of new, more appropriate funding tools for regenerative enterprises.
• [00:44:48] - Anthony discusses the importance of corporate structure and how entities like Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin's Tree-Range® Farms are creating innovative ecosystem models.
• [00:47:02] - Actionable advice for CPG entrepreneurs, including a key book recommendation.
• [00:48:27] - The importance of a "survive before you can thrive" mindset and taking a "progress over perfection" approach.
• [00:53:21] - How to connect with Anthony and get involved with his work.
• [00:54:31] - Anthony's closing thoughts: "Stay in the fight."

Resources Mentioned:

• Regen Brands: A B2B media platform educating stakeholders on regenerative CPG. Visit regen-brands.com
• The Regen Coalition: A nonprofit trade association for regenerative brands.
• Outlaw Ventures: An investment firm focused on funding regenerative CPG brands.
• Regenerative Food Systems Investment (RFSI): An organization focused on capital allocation in the regenerative food and agriculture space.
• Book Recommendation: Ramping Your Brand: How to Ride the Killer CPG Growth Curve by Dr. James Richardson
• Connect with Anthony Corsaro: Find him on LinkedIn
• regenBEE Community: Join the conversation at the Regenerative Business Economies Ecosystem (RegenBEE) community page.

Fueling the Future: How Anthony Corsaro is Pioneering the Regenerative CPG Landscape

We often say at Seeds of Tao that we are your pioneering partners, designing paths to regenerative entrepreneurship. It’s a statement rooted in our belief that this journey is one of connection, courage, and community. It’s a path that requires us to be both students and teachers, explorers of new territory, and designers of a better future. This ethos was reflected back to us in our recent conversation with Anthony Corsaro, a dynamic force in the world of regenerative food. His story isn't just one of business; it’s a powerful narrative about how personal transformation can fuel systemic change.

We believe in quiet connection and the inherent value of every individual. Anthony’s journey begins with a deeply personal challenge—a health crisis that forced him to re-evaluate everything he knew about food. "I was dealing with an autoimmune disease... and I was also having a lot of success professionally, but just yearning for something a little more," he shared. This is a sentiment we’ve heard time and again from the regenpreneurs in our community. It’s that feeling of being disconnected, of knowing that "business as usual" is not only failing our planet but is also failing us on a deeply personal level.

This is where the explorer in us awakens. Anthony began a quest for answers, a journey of self-discovery that led him to the heart of the regenerative movement. "I watched Kiss the Ground. I watched Biggest Little Farm. I was reading books... I was hooked," he recounted. This is the spark we aim to ignite in others—the moment an individual’s purpose aligns with a greater mission. For Anthony, this wasn't just a fleeting interest; it was a profound realization that his life's work lay in healing our food systems. He declared in early 2021, "I'm going to work on regenerative agriculture," without knowing exactly what that would look like. This is the courage we value, the willingness to step into the unknown armed with faith and diligence.

From Family Roots to a New Frontier

Anthony's story is particularly compelling because of his roots. He grew up in a successful, third-generation family business distributing conventional produce. He understood the supply chain, the logistics, and the market dynamics from the inside out. Yet, his personal health journey revealed the deep disconnect between the food system he was a part of and the nourishment our bodies and ecosystems truly need.

He could have chosen to walk away entirely, to pursue the romantic ideal of becoming a farmer that tempts so many of us. Instead, he embodied our Designer archetype. He looked at the boundaries of our current reality and saw an opportunity to craft something new and meaningful. He recognized that his unique skills and experience were not something to be discarded, but rather tools to be repurposed for a greater good. "I quickly kind of turned to how can I bring my entrepreneurial and more business skills to the space?" he explained.

This is a critical insight for every regenpreneur. Your past experiences, your unique talents—even those forged in the "extractive" economy—are valuable assets. They are the raw materials you can use to design a regenerative path. Anthony didn’t have to learn farming from scratch; he could leverage his understanding of the market to address a crucial gap he identified.

The Missing Link: Supporting Regenerative Brands

Through his investments and work with organizations like Regenerative Food Systems Investment (RFSI), Anthony discovered a glaring problem. While there was growing conversation around regenerative farming practices, there was a profound lack of support for the businesses trying to bring regenerative products to consumers. "If you want to be a regenerative farmer, you can Google how to be a regenerative farmer and thousands and thousands... of resources pop up. But if you Google something like how to sell regenerative products to people, very little to next to nothing come up," he noted.

This is where his work truly began to take shape. He saw that without market access and consumer demand, regenerative agriculture would remain a niche, unable to achieve the scale needed to create widespread change. Farmers can’t transition their land if they have no one to sell their products to. This realization led to the creation of his three interconnected initiatives:

1. Regen Brands: A B2B media platform designed to be the "Harvard Business Review" for regenerative CPG. It's a space for storytelling, education, and creating a resource bank for entrepreneurs. This directly aligns with our value of being teachers and thought leaders, sharing wisdom to empower the entire community.
2. The Regen Coalition: A nonprofit trade association born from the collective challenges faced by regenerative brands. It’s an infrastructure for collaboration, allowing members to pool resources and tackle systemic problems together. This is the embodiment of being community-driven, creating the fertile ground where we can all grow together.
3. Outlaw Ventures: An investment firm with a singular focus: funding regenerative CPG brands. Anthony recognized that this sector was critically underfunded compared to farmland or ag-tech. With Outlaw Ventures, he is designing a new financial pathway, one that understands the unique needs and potential of these pioneering businesses.

Navigating the Uncharted Waters of Regenerative Finance

One of the most powerful parts of our conversation with Anthony was his candid discussion about the financial realities facing regenerative entrepreneurs. This is a space fraught with what he calls "upstream disease"—an intense focus on the farm-level while neglecting the vital mid-stream infrastructure and downstream market creation.

"We weren't really taking a systems approach," he lamented. "It's not just good enough to have regenerative farmland. We have to get that all the way to the end consumer." This is a truth we must all confront. A regenerative economy cannot be built in silos. It requires a holistic, integrated approach that connects every link in the value chain.

Anthony also spoke to a core challenge for many regenpreneurs: a lack of financial literacy in a system that wasn’t built for them. The traditional venture capital model of "exit or fail" doesn't align with the values or goals of many businesses that are building for long-term, multi-faceted returns—social, ecological, and economic.

His call to action is not to simply discard the current system, but to understand it deeply in order to iterate and improve upon it. "You have to really understand the constraints of the current system to iterate and to solve for it," he advised. This is a pragmatic and wise approach. It echoes our belief in being systematic and diligent. We must work with the world as it is, even as we strive to create the world as it could be.

This is why he advocates for a parallel path: continuing to work within existing financial structures where they fit, while simultaneously running "R&D" on new models like redeemable equity or different note structures. It's about creating a portfolio of financial tools that are as diverse and resilient as the ecosystems we seek to emulate.

A Message for the Pioneers: Survive, Then Thrive

So, what can we, as your pioneering partners, take away from Anthony’s journey? His closing advice was both grounding and empowering. He spoke of the need to "survive before you can thrive," a message that may seem counterintuitive to our visionary aspirations, but is born from hard-won experience.

"Don't get over your skis," he urged. "Take a progress over perfection approach." This is not a call to compromise our values, but a recognition that building something enduring takes time. It’s an acknowledgment that, in the beginning, we may have to make difficult choices. We might have to use plastic packaging for a time to get our product to market. We might have to work with distributors who don't fully share our ethos. These are not failures; they are stepping stones. They are the necessary actions we take to keep the momentum going, to stay in the fight.

As Anthony so brilliantly put it, we must choose to "lower the bar and act" rather than "ruminate and wait." Perfectionism can be a form of paralysis. It can keep our brilliant, world-changing ideas locked inside us. By taking small, iterative steps, we build momentum. We learn, we adapt, and we grow stronger. We earn the right to collaborate, to build the bigger systems, because we have proven we can sustain ourselves.

Ultimately, Anthony's story is a powerful reminder of our own identity statement: We are your pioneering partners that design paths to regenerative entrepreneurship. He is a true pioneer, navigating the complex intersection of health, food, and finance. He is a partner to the brands he champions, and he is a designer of the new systems and structures that will allow them to flourish.

His journey reminds us that the path to a regenerative future is not a straight line. It is a winding, challenging, and profoundly rewarding exploration. It begins with a personal spark, is fueled by a deep sense of purpose, and is realized through diligent, courageous, and collaborative action. Let us all take a page from Anthony's book: let's stay curious, stay in the fight, and continue to build this regenerative future, one seed at a time.