As shoppers grow more concerned about chemical inputs, soil health and farmer welfare, they’re looking beyond traditional organic and embracing Regenerative Organic Certified, or ROC, which is becoming one of the fastest growing labels in food.
According to Spins data, Regenerative Organic Certified products saw a 22% increase in buyers in 2025 – outpacing certifications like Fair Trade USA and USDA Organic certified, which grew only 10.7% and 6.6%, respectively – albeit off a larger base.
But for CPG brands and farms, that momentum represents more than a mission. It represents a market opportunity.
What is ROC?
Led by the non-profit Regenerative Organic Alliance, which was founded by the Rodale Institute, Dr. Bronner’s and Patagonia, ROC is a farm-level certification that builds on USDA Organic standards with an eye towards restoring, not just sustaining resources.
The certification emphasizes three main pillars – soil health and land management, animal welfare and farmer and worker fairness – but at its core, it focuses on the simple idea that healthier soil creates healthier food.
“ROC is really focused on the soil” and how to improve it through animal management and other agricultural practices, such as low- and no-till or planting cover crops, that can reduce or replace reliance on some synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, explained Jason Walker, the third-generation owner of Starwalker Organic Farms.
He explained that after decades of farming according to USDA Organic standards, his family farm recently went the extra step to become Regenerative Organic Certified because “if we don’t have healthy soils, we are not going to have healthy plants, we are not going to have healthy cattle, pigs – whatever it might be – and then we are not going to be healthy ourselves.”
Why brands are embracing ROC
As farmers focus on rebuilding soil and ecosystems, food brands are starting to rethink what sustainability really means and how ROC can offer a competitive edge.
For example, the herb and spice distributor Frontier Co-op has always placed the planet and people before profits, which included certifying most of its portfolio as USDA organic and some products as Fair Trade. But in 2024, it went the extra step to debut a selection of Regenerative Organic Certified bottled spices.
“It is really the best of the best as far as sustainability goes and what we are bringing to consumers,” said Sheryl Marchetti, senior director of food and flavoring marketing at the company.
Marchetti acknowledged that ROC certification is an added cost for farmers but it is also an added value for brands, which is why Frontier Co-op helps shoulder the extra expenses. One way it does that is by committing upfront to a three-year contract so that farmers know they can cover the long-term costs of investing in the transition to ROC.
Benefits beyond sustainability
For many brands, including Philosopher Foods, which makes fermented nuts and nut butters, the value of ROC goes beyond sustainability claims.
Philosopher Foods Founder and CEO Tim Richards explains, ROC is also about delivering better-tasting and more nutrient-dense food, which can help justify a premium price at a time when consumers increasingly are cost conscious.
“Because you are building the soil microbiology, with the soil building practices, it results in more nutrition available to the plant, which actually results in more nutrient dense food from the plant. So, you can get measurable increases in different nutrients as a result of regenerative management,” Richards said.
He noted Philosopher Foods works with a third-party lab to quantify its products’ nutrient density, including metabolomics and antioxidants, which can help tell a powerful story to consumers.
“You actually see a really dramatic boost a lot of times between conventional, organic and regenerative. And I think layering in the data, especially around something like nutrient density” can help consumers understand why they are paying more for a product, he said.
“You are getting three times the nutrient per ounce, and it is only double the price per ounce” of conventional, “therefore, you’re actually getting more nutrient per dollar than this other food,” he said, adding: “That’s where the industry really needs to go, and we are trying to help it go there.”
A powerful storytelling tool
Walker, whose farm also sells meat snacks from the livestock it raises, agreed that ROC offers a powerful storytelling tool.
“If you are going to be a CPG brand, you want to give the consumer what they want, and you want to be able to give a good story behind it,” he said. “The good story behind it would be, how you treat your animals, how you treat your land, what are the products you are making and how are they going to end up in the consumers’ body?” he explained.
“If you can tell that story organically or regen organically … that is going to connect to the consumer. And those are the sort of people who really have the dollars and want to go forward and buy those significantly better products,” he added.
In addition, he said, “If you can connect the consumer with the farmer, then you’re going to have a lifelong consumer.”
