 |
|
|
|||||
At a conference in 2019, Laura Shenkar buttonholed Greg Steltenpohlthe founder of Odwalla and then-CEO of Califia Farmsto offer the juice and alt-milk pioneer a few sustainability tips. I was like, There are a lot of things you need to do to get Califia to be truly environmentally sensitive, recalls Shenkar, an environmental business strategist at the time, laughing now at the flex. And he said, Yes, thats true. This company cant do what youre describing. Youd need to start a company from the ground up. It was a gargantuan task, he warnedone that would require designing the business at every step with a team that thinks differently, not the usual corporate CPG types. Viewing that as a challenge, Shenkar launched PKN, a pecan milk brand, two years later in an attempt to tap into the alternative milk market. Califia and others had been mostly focused on oats and almonds. Almonds are a notoriously thirsty nut, with the highest water footprint of all major California crops. Shenkar had become fixated on pecans, instead. Pecans are nutritious, packed with vitamins A, B, and E, omega-3s, and impressive amounts of manganese, zinc, and copper. They boast the highest antioxidant content of any tree nut. Theyre wind-pollinated, so they dont rely on bees trucked across the country like almonds do. And theyre native to the United StatesAmericas only major indigenous tree nut, growing naturally in places like Georgia, Texas, and New Mexico, where theyve thrived without needing ecological intervention. Pecans on the ground after harvest at Pearson Farm, Fort Valley, Georgia. [Photo: Robert Holmes/Getty Images] Theyre also drought-tolerant, something Shenkar was primed to appreciate after having spent years thinking about water preservation. In the early 2000s, she founded Artemis Water Strategy, a consulting firm that helped governments and corporations such as Intel, IBM, Walmart, and Bain & Company implement advanced water-management technologies. She designed the pilot that helped Walmart cut water use by 30% at 2,000 stores and coauthored a paper that influenced Californias drought response. Later, the Nature Conservancys impact investment arm, NatureVest, hired her to study a drought-prone stretch of the Texas Colorado River outside Austin. She concluded that one major problem was alfalfaa high-water-use crop grown for animal feed thats become a bane of the entire Southwestand that the solution was to plant native species in its place. Theyre additive rather than depletive of the environment, she says. You dont have to import water from 200 miles away. You use the water thats falling from the sky. That very stretch of the Colorado River is also home to San Saba, known as the pecan capital of the world. But Shenkar noticed that local farmers were leaving the pecan business. The market, they said, was fragmented and difficult. While their best nut piecesUSDA Fancy-grade halvesfetched higher prices than other nuts, the darker, nutritionally identical Choice pieces had few buyers and often got sold for animal feed at a loss. What if, she wondered, someone used those pieces to make milk? The idea was to upcycle pecans to create a new revenue stream for farmers, to fund their transition into regenerative and organic production, she says. She knew it would take capital and technology. But to her, it was clear: Pecans, and not alfalfa, are the future for at least that part of Texas. Tree shaker shaking pecan tree to free nuts for harvest, Tifton, Georgia. [Photo: Edwin Remsberg / VWPics/Universal Images Group/Getty Images] Pecan milk vs. almond, soy, and oat milk Today, plant-based alternatives often claim more supermarket shelf space than traditional dairy. Industry forecasts suggest the market is still heating up. Currently valued at $20 billionlarger than telehealth or pizza deliveryit is predicted to double globally by 2030, reaching more than $40 billion. However, as the category evolves, its not almond, soy, and oat that are posting strong growth. The legacy alternatives are now joined by milks made from every conceivable nut, seed, grain, and bean. There are now barley, potato, corn, and water-lentil milks. A brand calling itself MILKish sells half-gallons of watermelon seed milk for $10. Oatlys investors have backed Quiny, a quinoa milk. Yet just because a plant can be milked doesnt mean it should be. Almond milk still accounts for more than half of all category sales, according to the Plant Based Foods Association and Good Food Institutes 2024 market overview, which is based on SPINS data. Almond milk benefits from having a mild flavor and a well-documented health halo, thanks in part to prolific research funded by the Almond Board of California. But Californias almonds require an average of 3.2 gallons of total water per nut, according to one frequently cited 2019 study. And the states groundwater suppliesparticularly in heavy almond-producng regions like Joaquin and Sacramento countiesare worryingly overdrawn. These two counties alone produce roughly 80% of the worlds almonds. If the plant-milk market does double by 2030, California almond growers wont be able to double their output to keep pace. If anything, production is slipping: Almond acreage fell by 40,000 last year, a 3% drop and the third consecutive year of decline. Soy milk, meanwhile, may be affordable and high in protein. But soybeans are more than overplanted; the vast monocultures in which theyre grown contribute to deforestation and hasten biodiversity loss. Oat milk is beloved for its creamy texture, but that texture often comes courtesy of canola or other vegetable seed oilssometimes in quantities comparable to what youd get in a small order of fries. Cows milk, of course, produces the highest greenhouse gas emissions of all, and increasingly comes from dairies modeled on industrial factories. And then there are pecans: nutritious, sustainable, and native to the United States. The nut was a dietary staple for Native Americans living in the Pecan Belt region spanning from Georgia to New Mexico and down into Mexico. In the 16th century, the Algonquians were preparing a creamy pecan liquid called powcohicorapotentially Americas very first plant-based milk! Colonists quickly adopted the practice. By the 18th century, George Washington was growing pecan trees at Mount Vernon, and Thomas Jefferson was so enamored that he demanded James Madison send him boxfuls in Europe as fresh as possible, packed in sand. By 1920, U.S. production had topped two million pounds. Today, the country produces nearly 300 million pounds, more than four-fifths of the worlds supply. This still pales in comparison even to other nuts: Americas pecan crop is valued at roughly $500 million annually. Last year, California produced almost three billion pounds of almonds worth over $4 billion, or eight times more. Yet Shenkar believes that pecan milk could capture 2030% of the alt milk market by 2030. Chris Harrell, CEO of Southern Rootsa $150 million grower-owned pecan cooperativewould be pleased. He explains that pecan economics are a little, well, nutty. Pecans are expensive because they taste better, and if youre a health nut they check all the boxes, he says. But you wont see a lot of investment going into pecans, because the margins are much thinner than on almonds, or even walnuts. I sit on four different industry boards, Harrell adds, and I spend a good portion of every day discussing how we can generate more demand so were not selling the Choice pieces at a loss, and we can bring down the price point for consumers. [Photo: Pkn] Reaching the grocery chainsand across the ideological divide PKN sources its pecans from San Saba, where farmers harvest from trees said to be more than 200 years old. The company currently offers six products, from a basic, four-ingredient milk containing just pecans, water, vanilla extract, and salt, to sweetened options like chocolate, several different creamers, and a version for baristas. Theyre sold online (through PKNs site, Amazon, and Walmart) and at about 500 stores across 31 states, including Albertsons, Sprouts, Erewhon, and Central Market. A 32-ounce carton costs around $6, a dollar more than Oatly. PKN has only two competitors. One, a Georgia-based brand called Treenhouse Naturals, makes canned pecan drinks that recently earned a spot in Garden & Guns annual Made in the South awards. The other, Pecana, launched in 2023 and has begun infiltrating grocery chains including Whole Foods and H-E-Bit can currently be found in nearly 300 stores. Pecana also sources from San Saba, Texas, and is owned by the Chase family, heirs to the Mack Energy Corporation fortune in New Mexico. That the top two brands are run by such different peopleShenkar, a self-described tree hugger who engages with outlets like VegNews and Green Queen, and a family that made billions in the Permian Basin oilfieldsshows that pecan milk has a refreshingly broad appeal that is missing from other plant-based alternatives. Like it or not, food choices have become political. Our milk preferences maybe most of all: Conservatives have long mocked urban progressives supposed love of sipping not just lattes, but soy lattes. MAHAs recent rise, meanwhile, has inspired liberals to declare raw milksomething Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just took shots of at the White Housethe preferred beverage of science deniers. Pecan milk might just sidestep the culture wars entirely. The sharpest divide over this product seems to be about pronunciation: Many Southerners (and apparently Martha Stewart) go with puh-CAWN. Northerners lean toward pee-CAN, as evidenced by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryans famous When Harry Met Sally scene. The truly deranged say PEE-CAWN. Whatever gets people to buy into sustainability is fine with Shenkar. We can address a lot of things with pecan milk if it tastes good enough, she says. Shes been excited to discover that, with pecans, patriotism and environmentalism can be sides of the same coin. Theres a provenance thing here, she notes, which is directly tied to the environmental impact. Mature pecans on the orchard floor that have just been shaken from the trees during the harvesting process/near Corning, Tehama County, Northern California, USA. [Photo: Kathy Coatney/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group/Getty Images] Selling the “supernut” Now its up to the industryand companies like PKNto get the word out. Matthew Bailey, a Georgia-based pecan executive who publishes the Pecan Report, says pecans once conjured images of holiday pies and traditional Southern treats. But the pecan industry is working to change that image. Last August, eight years after the American Pecan Council formed, Snickers rereleased a previously limited-edition, Texas-only pecan bar, this time nationwide. Southern Rootss Harrell says Dave & Busters is about to debut a pecan-encrusted chicken dish. The pecan council, meanwhile, has since launched a national consumer campaign under the banner American Pecans, the Original Supernut, modeled on successful industry promotion slogans like Beef, Its Whats for Dinner and Pork, the Other White Meat. Pecan milks profile is also growing. Its a good time to be in the not-almond, not-oat, not-soy milk business: All three lost ground last year, with sales down 7.4%, 1.8%, and 3.5% respectively, according to NielsenIQ. The lactose-free market continues to expand anyway. More than a third of Americans say that dairy gives them digestive trouble. Yet plant-based milks market penetration hovers around 17%, and 6 in 10 Americans say they dont like how it tastes. PKNs store count, fittingly, keeps climbing: Its products debuted on Targets milk aisle in June. Theres a lot of stuff were looking at doing with our marketing dollars, Harrell says. But pecan milk was one of the first. He adds: Lauras been very instrumental in leading that charge. Shenkar is now looking to set even higher sustainability goals for PKN, looking for ways to shrink the physical distance involved in manufacturing and distributing the products. She believes that would further deepen pecan milks connection to place. Were a ways off, but Id like to make an Arkansan pecan milkdoes Arkansan pecan milk taste different than Texan pecan milk? she asks. Wouldnt you like to know?
Category:
E-Commerce
Tech execs love popping supplements and infusing themselves with youthful young plasma to ward off Father Time, but new research shows that a substance humanity has been ingesting for a thousand years holds powerful anti-aging effects. A new study published in Nature Partner Journals Aging discovered that naturally occurring compounds in the modest psychedelic mushroom were able to slow aging in cells and even increase a mouses lifespan. The two-pronged study out of Emory University examined the effects of psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms, on the micro level using human lung and skin cells, and the macro level using lab mice. Human fetal lung cells treated with psilocin, psilocybins active metabolite, showed a 29% boost to their cellular lifespans a number that rocketed to 57% when exposed to a much larger dosage. When the scientists repeated the study with human skin cells, the large psilocin dose increased the cells lifespan by 51%. Across the cellular experiments, exposure to the psychedelic reduced the oxidative stress that can lead to cell damage and preserved the length of telomeres, a part of the chromosome implicated in cancer and other age-related diseases. The scientists findings in living mice were even more impressive. When dosing older mice with psilocybin and comparing them to a control group, the research team found the aged mice lived 30% longer than their peers who werent subject to the same psychedelic journey. On top of that, the mice given psilocybin looked healthier, with better fur quality, hair regrowth and less graying on their coats. Psilocybin is an emerging frontier in mental health research, but it obviously holds some strong potential in the field of longevity too. The psychedelic substance has shown promise for everything from helping smokers and alcoholics quit to giving patients long-lasting relief from major depression. Our study opens new questions about what long-term treatments can do, senior study author and former Emory University associate professor Louise Hecker, PhD said. Additionally, even when the intervention is initiated late in life in mice, it still leads to improved survival, which is clinically relevant in healthy aging,
Category:
E-Commerce
While tariffs threaten to whittle away profits for many businesses, those costs arent subtle when theyre tacked onto the price tag of an airplane. In an effort to preserve its bottom line, Delta Air Lines is getting creative. The Atlanta-based company has been pulling engines off new Airbus jets in Europe and bringing them stateside to get grounded U.S. planes up and flyingwithout paying costs associated with importing new planes and parts. Bloomberg reports that the company has a new practice of removing some U.S.-made Pratt & Whitney engines from new Airbus A321neo jets that were constructed in Europe and sending them to the U.S. in order to avoid import tariffs. Delta is then installing the engines on some of its older A320neo jets that arent currently flying due to engine problems. Because Delta is reportedly waiting for regulators to give its new set of jets the green light, the engine swapping doesnt mean grounding Europe-based planes that would otherwise be flying. Along with Boeing, Airbus is one of the two largest manufacturers of commercial aircraft in the world. Unlike U.S.-based Boeing, Airbus was founded in Europe and is co-owned by the governments of France, Germany, and Spain, among other investors. Under President Trumps current tariff rules, European-built aircraft incur a 10% tariff when imported into the U.S. Because airlines regularly pay Airbus and Boeing billions to bolster their fleets with modern jets, even a small percentage of additional cost stands to zap the airline industrys already notoriously thin margins. For Delta, one of the largest airlines in the U.S., coming to peace with trade chaos and paying Trumps tariffs isnt on the flight plan. We will not be paying tariffs on any aircraft deliveries, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in an April earnings call. These times are pretty uncertain, and if you start to put a 20% incremental cost on top of an aircraft, it gets very difficult to make that math work.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||