• 🐽 Singing Pastures Farm: ‘Regenerative Agriculture Is Not A New Catchphrase’
• 🧑‍⚖️ Instacart Shareholders Allege It Overstated Growth Potential
• 💸 Feeling Meaty: Bansk Group Acquires Jerky Brand

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced three major public-private partnerships with Feeding America, The Rockefeller Foundation and Instacart during yesterday’s inaugural Food Is Medicine Summit, emphasizing the role nutrition plays in improving health outcomes. 

🌾HHS will help elevate Feeding America’s “Food Is Medicine” (FIM) program, launched in 2019 in collaboration with Elevance, which allows healthcare providers to help connect food insecure patients to food assistance resources

• To date, the program has brought these resources, including prepackaged food pickup boxes, to hospitals and clinics, introduced produce prescription programs as well as nutrition courses and home delivery services. 
• Elevance made a $14.1 million investment in 2022 to fund a new phase of the program which brought more than 20 partner food banks and healthcare partners data collection and analysis capabilities to better understand the needs of people facing hunger.  
• Feeding America has tapped the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition to take the lead on its new programming with HHS. 

📊The Rockefeller Foundation will also work with HHS to research clinical health outcomes and gather evidence on the cost-effectiveness of food-based medical intervention programs. 

• The foundation has committed over $100 million to these efforts, including up to $51 million for the American Heart Association. 
• This is The Rockefeller Center’s second FIM program with the U.S. government. Last year, it helped launch two Produce Prescription programs to help tackle food insecurity and diet-related diseases among veterans. 

🛒Elsewhere, grocery delivery company Instacart will leverage its widespread network to increase access to healthy foods broadly. The partnership with HHS is an extension of Instacart’s Health Initiative, created in collaboration with the White House following the 2022 Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. 

• The news comes after Instacart on Tuesday expanded its online Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) acceptance to reach 96% of SNAP households nationwide with same-day grocery delivery.

There are plenty of pasture-raised poultry and grass fed beef jerky but pork has been somewhat overlooked in the meat snack sector. Singing Pastures Farm in Newcastle, Maine is trying to change that. Husband-and-wife team John and Holly Arbuckle spoke to Nosh about how they are changing the conversation about pig farming and bringing regenerative agriculture into the conversation while competing in the meat snacks category.

🐷 The Arbuckles source from their farm as well as other pasture-based, family farms. The duo is currently working through Land to Market’s verification program but like many farmers, have struggled with the cost of these programs. 

🌱 Singing Pastures Roam meat sticks and recently launched salamis not only bring extra income to the farm but also increase awareness around regenerative agriculture and the importance of pasture-raised meat.

🚜 As the Arbuckles like to say, “we don’t just support regenerative agriculture, we live it.” John Arbuckle is a ninth generation farmer originally from the Midwest and has seen the toll industrial farming has had on the environment.

Check out the full interview on Nosh.

Disgruntled shareholders have filed another proposed class action lawsuit against Instacart this week. The two similar suits allege the online shopping platform knowingly exaggerated its growth prospects and made “materially false and misleading statements” in documents tied to its initial public offering in 2023.

🏛️ The first complaint was filed in California federal court last Thursday and claims Instacart’s exec team downplayed the severity of competition within the expanding grocery delivery market from operators like DoorDash and Uber.

📂 A second class action was filed this morning containing similar allegations, claiming Instacart made “materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operations, and prospects” during the Class Period.

💰 The San Francisco-based grocery delivery company filed for its IPO on August 25, and completed the offering on September 19, priced at $30 per share or a valuation of roughly $10 billion.

Read the full scoop on Nosh. 

Private investment firm Bansk Group is expanding its CPG food portfolio with the acquisition of Oklahoma-based meat snack brand No Man’s Land for an undisclosed amount. 

👔 The jerky and meat stick business will continue to be led by the existing leadership team including CEO Pete Dillingham and president Clint Beagley.

🆗 No Man’s Land was founded in 1997 as part of a family-run local Oklahoma grocery store. It eventually expanded into neighboring Boise City and then opened a production facility in Enid, Okla. in 2016.

📈 "We believe there is a meaningful opportunity for No Man's Land to expand into new distribution channels and geographic markets," said Bansk senior partner and chief investment officer Brian O'Connor.

🌯 The acquisition expands Bansk’s portfolio which includes frozen burrito and snack brand Red’s All Natural.

Jesse Merrill, the co-founder and CEO of better-for-you dairy brand Good Culture, spoke about why mission and values dictate every aspect of business strategy, why proof of concept and velocity are keys to brand development and being “maniacal” about delivering on the products’ key attributes.

Listen to the full episode here.