Savory Institute Ignites Consumer Revolution
Published: January 24, 2017
News Release
At the forefront of the fight to save the world’s grasslands, the Savory Institute is taking a bold step towards ecological change on a global scale. Savory’s new Land to Market verification program will enable consumers to buy food and fashion items derived from livestock properly managed through practices verified to enhance water availability, soil health, carbon sequestration, and wildlife habitats. A recent Indiegogo campaign raised over $44,000 in support of the initiative.
Addressing the true cost of fast-food and fast-fashion, Savory’s Land to Market is a grassroots and collaborative program designed to create a market and production system for products that regenerate land and human health. Savory’s program will equip and support producers while providing brands and consumers with an efficient and transparent mechanism to guide their purchases of regenerative food and fiber items.
“Currently, regenerative producers are unable to position their products advantageously and differentiate themselves in the market place. Additionally, there is no outcome based verification mechanism to back claims of regenerative land management,” explains Savory Institute co-founder and CEO, Daniela Ibarra-Howell. “We’ve engaged with partners across the conservation and academic spectrum to develop an Ecological Outcome Verification tool to allow robust measurements of key indicators of ecosystem health, to be analyzed, verified, and compared across contexts, and the data utilized in retail programs,” she notes.
Michigan State University (MSU), a Savory hub, is taking the lead in aggregating the data from the program. Hub leader, Dr. Jason Rowntree, says, “We are hoping to create one of the largest global databases for monitoring ecosystem services, with MSU serving as the data analysis arm”. Savory’s goal is to positively impact 1 billion hectares (2.47B acres) of grasslands through Holistic Management by 2025.