Nonprofit SCI and non-GMO cereal company’s expanded partnership supports farmers and regenerative land movement
There’s a new win-win for farmers and the regenerative agriculture movement: The nonprofit Soil & Climate Initiative (SCI) and non-GMO cereal company Seven Sundays are expanding their partnership to support more farmers as they adopt regenerative practices.
A project of nonprofit Green America, SCI is a “farm-to-shelf” regenerative agriculture certification program that seeks to engage every link in the supply chain—from farmers to food companies and suppliers—to scale regenerative practices. In doing so, they work to improve soil health, climate resilience, biodiversity, and farm profitability, not to mention the overall well-being of rural communities.
Seven Sundays is a certified B-Corp founded by Hannah and Brady Barnstable, who launched the cereal company in 2011 after a transformative experience eating muesli in New Zealand. Since then, the Barnstables have worked directly with Midwest farmers to source locally grown crops like oats, buckwheat, flax, and sunflowers for their cereals, which are free of preservatives, dyes, artificial and “natural” flavors, refined sugars, GMOs, and glyphosate.
SCI and Seven Sundays first teamed up in 2022 when the cereal company joined SCI’s Go-to-Market Pilots program. While SCI focused on soil health testing in its earlier pilot programs, it showed a greater range of offerings in its Go-to-Market program. Participating farmers and CPG brands received access to markets and information sharing, enhanced networking, and SCI’s own verification labeling process.
Adam Kotin, managing director of SCI, said the small cohort of forward-thinking brands and farmers worked together to test-drive SCI’s Regenerative Transition and Verification Programs.
“The pilot provided an opportunity to collaboratively build SCI’s approach, with direct input from brands and farmers who were already committed to regenerative values. Together, we co-created core components of the program for both rigor and accessibility, including soil sampling protocols, verification methods, consumer messaging, and a flexible framework centered on continuous improvement,” explained Kotin.
“Seven Sundays’ feedback,” he continued, “along with insights from other founding brands and their suppliers, have played an essential role, helping to shape SCI into a scalable, collaborative, and inclusive framework that is farmer-first, science-backed, and built to serve the needs of both producers and purpose-driven brands.”
What the new partnership features
In the expansion of their partnership announced this July, SCI and Seven Sundays will come together to support 15 farmers who are transitioning to regenerative agriculture. The farmers, who collectively manage over 2,400 acres, will receive comprehensive services and benefits as they transition. Whether it’s assistance with testing soil health, transforming and incentivizing agronomic practices, or improving farm profitability, SCI and Seven Sundays hope that the crucial support this new partnership gives farmers will help foster biological abundance on the land and create a sustainable path forward.
Seven Sundays co-founder and chief cultivation officer Brady Barnstable reflected on the company’s partnership with SCI, explaining, “We share a focus and commitment to farm-to-family connections, practical agronomic technical support for farmers, and furthering a regenerative movement. From the farmers market days, we’ve built farm-direct relationships built on mutual transparency, trust and education, and we chose to work with SCI because they share this farmer-first approach.”
What they’re hoping to gain from working together
After seeing success in their work together over the last three years, Kotin and the Barnstables look forward to growing their partnership.
“We are excited to collaborate with SCI to further our mission in restoring people and planet health for future generations,” said Brady Barnstable. “We were a founding brand member of SCI with the intention to partner with a third party to support our farmer network with soil testing insights to use as agronomic tools and verify farm-level practices, and connect those practices to nutrient density-based outcomes. Being a fellow farmer-first organization, SCI has also served as an important liaison for our growing farmer network.”
Through its alliance with SCI, the brand is directly investing in its growers while also working with processors to strengthen supply chain resiliency, an integrated approach that delivers the transparency today’s consumers increasingly expect.
“Our partnership with SCI advances our North Star—restoring people and planet health for future generations. We advance this mission in going AFIELD—Always Farm, Innovate, Educate and Lead Differently––our rallying cry and foundation for where we put our hearts and dollars in this work.”
Kotin echoed Barnstable’s sentiments, saying, “We’re excited to grow our partnership with Seven Sundays, a regenerative leader committed to charting a new path forward for our food system. Together, we are equipping farmers with the tools and support they need to grow delicious food in ways that rejuvenate the land.”
