Working Together to Create Better Products and a More Sustainable World

An Interview with Howard-Yana Shapiro, one of the founders of Seeds of Change and Global Director of Plant Science and External Research at Mars Incorporated.


As a founder of one of the first certified organic seed companies, Seeds of Change, Howard-Yana Shapiro was quite literally one of the leaders in growing the organic movement. Today, Seeds of Change works with an extensive network of growers and their research farm hosts over a thousand varieties of plants, serving as a development and educational center for organic agriculture. In 1995, Shapiro went from seed to shelf, joining with Mars Incorporated to develop a Seeds of Change product line which includes everything from frozen entrées andpasta sauces to salad dressings and chocolates.

The overall theme and inspiration throughout all of his work has been to promote sustainable agriculture, and over the years Shapiro has become known as one of the foremost experts on this subject as well as sustainable agroforestry and agroeconomics. He has put this expertise to work spearheading projects around the world to help protect biodiversity and create a stable livelihood for farmers. He is also a frequent speaker on sustainability and the author of the book “Gardening for the Future of the Earth” and other publications. His many contributions to sustainable organic agriculture were recently recognized this past year when he was presented the Organic Trade Association’s 2007 Organic Leadership Award.

Shapiro took some time before jetting off to work on projects in Vietnam, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to chat with Organic Processing Magazine.

OP: From farming to processing, you have covered the entire spectrum of organic. Tell me about this journey—what were the challenges and rewards?

Shapiro: Almost everyone who started in the organic industry started from a position of passion with a desire to deliver something that they thought was special to a consumer, to offer them a choice, and the most rewarding thing is that people actually got it. They felt good about it and there was a feeling or a sense among people that we were really doing something special.

When Seeds of Change first started, it was a movement. Then that movement became a business. In 1995, it went from just developing seeds to processing. It seemed logical to us that with our knowledge of ingredients, we could make pretty good processed food. Just imagine growing and tasting 2,500 types of vegetables, fruits and herbs. We knew about grains like quinoa long before others and we loved the idea of delivering these great things to people. However, when we started looking at it we realized that we were not in a position to do this. It was at this time that we started discussions with Mars.

For me, the challenges were mostly in processing. All the big industries had really figured out a lot of the stuff and we were like stumbling fools in the dark. How do you put stuff into the kettles appropriately so that you don’t lose flavor? What does it mean when you take a tomato that’s been processed and reprocess it? You might have learned it if you went to school and studied food science, but almost everyone who was part of the early organic food industry really went at it the hard way. It’s a totally new level of science and while growing vegetables is complex, making food that was put in a container and sold to someone who made a choice about what they fed their families was even more pressure. All of a sudden you wake up in a cold sweat at night worrying, “Had it been processed properly? Do I really know what I’m doing?”

The joys were that we learned not by doing but by finding partnerships. In the case of Seeds of Change, it was Mars. All of a sudden here’s a 70 year old business that knew how to manufacture. They had a giant sauce business in Europe, Asia and Australia as well as a big grain business with Uncle Ben’s. These people were the best of the best. They worked with us and no one ever said no. We would tell them that we wanted to keep the product to under 10 ingredients and they would say, “Okay, we can deliver that. Can we deliver it better with IQF basil or dry basil? We’ll let you know.” We felt immediate affinity; even if they had not come through the organic orthodoxy, they still got it.

OP: You each brought different expertise to the partnership. How has your farming experience and research farm helped the processing side?

Shapiro: Everything comes down to patterns in both processing and in farming. What I understood about patterns in agriculture was often transferable. It’s systematics; some people see it, some people don’t. I’m lucky that I can see things pretty quickly.

Soon the people who joined us from Mars—those who specialized in quality control, vender assurance and best manufacturing practices—became witty about farming too. It was rewarding to see them care as much about farming as they did about manufacturing. They would say, “This guy’s fields are too weedy and we need to talk to him about getting some of the weeds out of his field. It’s not going to give him the kind of product that he’s capable of.” Then we would call the farmer, help him make his system better and bingo, we’ve got a partner for life.

OP: Many people in the organic world believe that large corporate businesses, such as Mars, will water down standards or not fully embrace the organic philosophy. What do you say to that?

Shapiro: The last thing they want to do is water down standards. I can’t speak for all large corporations, but I can speak for our relationship to Mars; they’ve never watered down a standard on anything. They understand the organic industry is what it is because the standards have not been watered down. That’s why we’re active participants on the organic standard reviews and working with the American Seed Trade Association to get organic seeds as part of that institution’s mandate. If anything, we boost the standards. There’s no diminishment, there’s no reason to diminish. If anything they make the standards more rigorous. They don’t wantconsumers to wake up one day and say “These standards are not high enough for us.” Mars, which is privately held, understands the vision of organics and the need to support it. They see a value in who we are and what we do. We influence them and they influence us. The founding principles of Seeds of Change were reaffirmed when the new management took over, and I really do think the future was formed that day. They embraced why we wanted to be who we were. They understood the importance of protecting biodiversity and encouraging sustainable agricultural models. If you only come offering dogma, there’s not much to sell. But, if you’re actually talking about applications of science and developments in agriculture for processed foods—and if somehow there’s a marriage there—there’s no company in the world that shouldn’t be interested in that marriage.

OP: Speaking of which, you are part of several sustainability projects throughout the world. Can you tell me about some of these?

Shapiro: One that we have been working on is the Sustainable Cacao Agroforestry Project. Cocoa production has been largely unaffected for 300 years with very little work on genetics, fertilization or disease control, so Mars decided that we would make a concerted effort to improve cacao sustainability on a number of levels. But you can’t do this alone—this is a crop that’s farmed by 6.5 million small farmers in many countries—so we partnered with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and others.

Behind all of these projects we are working on is the issue of agroforestry. Along with the cacao, we are planting a diversified portfolio of other trees, bushes and groundcover that can be used for everything from food to furniture, which then helps provide a more stabilized income over 12 months and reduces the risk of crop or market failure. In addition to this, we are also helping protect and promote biodiversity, often rebuilding areas that had been deforested.

In Ghana, we are working with an institution to domesticate five medicinal plants with a proven European market that’ll grow under the shade of cocoa trees which can then be harvested by women in the community to help provide more income. In Vietnam we are working with the government on a hillside restoration project to stop erosion by planting a matrix of trees, including cacao. We are also building a reservoir there that can capture over 5.2 million cubic liters of water and irrigate over 100 hectares of land. Then in other areas of the world, we are applying the principles developed through the cacao project to other tree crops. In West Africa, we have set up farmer field schools where we teach farmers about everything from controlling insects and grafting plants, to economics and agroforestry. At the end of the day, it’s not just economic. It’s not just ecological. It’s not just environmental, social or cultural. It’s all of those things. It’s win-win-win-win-win. I’m incredibly proud of the participation that I’ve had in that and my associates at Mars who have given us the green light to be the global leaders in this area.

OP: Speaking of being leaders, you’ve said with the organic industry’s growth, we must now recognize that we have a vast responsibility to share our knowledge and help change the world. Can you tell me more about what you envision?

Shapiro: Well, if we’re as smart as we say and we protest that we are about sustainable organic agriculture, don’t we have some responsibility to share that knowledge when we can to increase the crop yield for people and better their livelihoods through what we know about agriculture? The answer is yes. How do we do it? Maybe it’s through small projects where we partner up through a group of institutions like OTA, USAID and the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF). The organic industry has a responsibility to share knowledge. Why don’t we get together and pick an area where we can have the most impact? Where is the loss of simple food production the greatest? Maybe we could call it the “Organic Corp.”

OP: You have talked about how the organic industry needs to look at reducing, even eliminating our carbon footprint, and how if we did, we would stand above nearly every other industry in the world in our commitment to do good. What are some of the ways that processors can do this?

Shapiro: It’s more than processors, it needs to go all throughout the industry. We need to ask ourselves, “What is the carbon footprint of our manufacturing processes? Is our packaging truly recyclable? Can we work with our manufacturing facilities or our co-packers to make simple changes?” In California, there’s a lot of activity with solar collectors and water recycling. Even something like changing motors that use too much energy to more efficient motors can make a difference. We need to take a stand both individually and collectively as an industry—not as alarmists, but as activists.

Then there’s the topic of “carbon offset,” or carbon sequestration. I personally dislike the word “offset.” If you look at the definition of offset, it means to push aside. We came up with the term “carbon onset.” Onset means “from the beginning” by definition. If we can push something aside it cannot be considered serious or essential. I’d like to think from the beginning of a process we’re trying to understand how we’re going to sequester carbon, and it’s not a simple task. There’s a lot organizations that offer programs such as the World Wildlife Foundation, Conservation International and the World Resource Institute, which has a project to help the public understand the carbon footprint and a database with information about carbon sequestration projects worldwide.

Beyond that though, do you want to just go to a market and trade carbon like we trade commodities? No, that’s a bad model. That’s too easy. What we need is to build models of carbon sequestration that are scientifically rigorous and will pass the test of time. Then and only then can we consider ourselves true leaders.

OP: Looking back, what are you most happy about and what lessons have you learned that you can pass on?

Shapiro: I’m glad that we’re not wagging our finger and saying, “We’re right and you’re wrong” because in the early days of the organic industry, it was us against them. If we’re so smart and we can help influence conventional agricultural practices, why not? Today, more people in this industry embrace this philosophy. I believe I’ve had a part in making that dialogue part of the future and giving up some of the dogma of the past.

I want other people to share the dreams we had in the early days, before it was called organic, when it was just sustainable agriculture. Now we’re talking about what is next. Is organic sufficient, or do we need to tweak that too? The fact is that the dialogue is very different now than it was 10 to 15 years ago, and I’m proud of that. Other people have become the champions. Those individuals have captured the ideas and remade them for themselves and they now espouse them with the same vigor as when we were young. The organic industry is moving forward globally, and I’m glad to be part of it. The dialogue that began over 30 years ago is stronger now because we had the difficult conversations and we’ve continued to be as honest as we can with each other. The truth, the authenticity, the passion, the fire of the organic community is championed now by new leaders and as we look back while moving forward we should have smiles on our faces, knowing our philosophy and work made sense.