GreenPods: The first Regenagri-certified nut farm

GreenPods was the first nut farm to gain Regenagri certification in 2022. Starting with La Granja, their first almond orchard in Toulouse, the company has since expanded across the Pyrenees by planting new almond groves in Spain.

Co-founder Boris Spassky shares GreenPods’ experience as a Regenagri-certified organisation, and the impact of implementing regenerative practices on their orchards on both sides of the Pyrenees. 

Why GreenPods works with Regenagri

We define ourselves as a fully integrated regenerative agriculture orchard developer and operator. We are B Corp certified and regenerative agriculture is in our DNA. Ensuring the credibility of our farming methods and backing up our claims is key.

All our regenerative agriculture practices are highlighted in our Regenagri audit report – it’s a simple, quantifiable system. As a farmer, you need certified backing in speaking to procurement departments. It’s indispensable. Having credible backing gives you transactional leverage in conversations with buyers and puts you in a different category of producers.

If you don’t necessarily get a price advantage, you do get a transactional advantage. When selling almonds, Regenagri certification helps us get our foot in the door with chocolatiers and bakeries, which have high standards in terms of quality and traceability.

“To scale regenerative agriculture, certification is a must. There is a commonly accepted definition of regenerative agriculture and its associated practices. Let’s measure what is being done in the ground and spread the word.”

– Boris Spassky, co-founder of GreenPods 

Positive changes at the farm since joining Regenagri

To give you a few concrete examples: we plant cover crops, we never leave the soil bare, we have reduced our tillage, and we grind pruning residues instead of burning them. All these practices increase soil organic carbon and the soil’s capacity to retain water.

Today, our net carbon balance per hectare is also negative. On average, we capture four tonnes per hectare per year if we sum emissions with removals.

How Regenagri supports GreenPods to navigate an evolving market

Some clients are now asking us to go into much deeper detail when it comes to product traceability, as they are interested in sourcing fully traceable European almonds. At the request of one of our French clients, we have conducted a full life cycle assessment. They wanted to compare our footprint to almond production in California.

One of the key figures we can provide to clients is our CO2 sequestration net balance, which the Regenagri carbon standard calculates using the Cool Farm Tool. We are also working with Regenagri to pilot their Carbon Insetting Programme. For buyers looking carefully at their Scope 3 emissions, this is a very promising initiative.

To learn more about GreenPods, check out our previous article: GreenPods: Finding hope amid the climate crisis with regenerative agriculture