Tina Owens is a systems leader, strategist and futurist within the Organic, Regenerative Agriculture and Triple Bottom Line movements in the United States. Her background includes leading transformational shifts in food and agriculture systems as it relates to on-farm profitability, carbon sequestration, consumer activism related to clean label and organics, plus unfolding food as medicine and nutrient dense systems. Tina was raised in a multi-generational farming family and is a passionate advocate for scaling regionally-based, perennial and regenerative food systems focused on human and planetary health outcomes, and walks the talk through regeneration of the land on her own family farm.
Tina spent almost 18 years at Kellogg Company, with work spanning Research & Development, Logistics, Procurement & Supply Chain, brand Operations and Contract Manufacturing, food transparency and leading-edge certifications (non-GMO, Organic, Certified Transitional, unfolding Regenerative) leading multi-disciplinary programs and as a media-trained company spokesperson. Tina’s concerted focus was spent on the Natural & Organic brands Kashi and Bear Naked granola, where she was the Director of Sustainability and worked for a decade as an intrapreneur to design industry-leading programs that impacted on-farm profitability, conversion of thousands of acres of land from conventional to organic practices, early soil health projects related to Bolivian quinoa and converting large portions of the supply chain portfolio to meet brand needs and to put Kashi and Bear Naked at the forefront of food-values movements.
Most recently she spent three and a half years working at Danone North America where she was the Senior Director of Food & Agriculture Impact and developed one of the first stacked financing programs within the regenerative movement. She was also deeply involved in the carbon neutrality work for the world’s largest dairy brand, Horizon Organic, designing work spanning all four pillars of the Carbon Positive program including soil health, farmer care and safety, animal welfare, and nature-based offsets.
In 2022 Tina began working with Applied Ecological Institute (AEI) which is a non-profit founded by Steve Apfelbaum, a notable ecologist, climate scientist and recent Harvard professor. The AEI ecosystem also includes EcoEXchange Ventures, StratifyX, and Climate Foods which are partner businesses to help transform the systems of food and agriculture for ecological restoration. As the Managing Director - Impact, and Entrepreneur in Residence on Perennial Harvest (b2b), Tina’s main focus is on developing supply webs for native perennial grasses at scale within a de-carbonized food system, which puts her background in developing supplier and farmer networks for at-scale systems change to its fullest use. AEI will harness the soil regenerating power of native perennials through its first consumer-facing brand, Climate Foods (b2c), and beyond to dilute the carbon footprint of existing food systems while reintroducing perennial grains to the food system.
Tina is also co-leading a Nutrient Density Community of Practice with partners at Green America, the Non-GMO Project, and the Bionutrient Institute. The community aims to set a standard for nutrient density tied to the regenerative movement as the science is already very clear that soil health, human health, and nutrient density are all inextricably linked.
