As we all know, yesterday was National French Fry Day. Don’t act surprised, it rolls around every 13 July so you’ve only got yourself to blame if you missed it…

This year’s big event came with the usual circus of activity that surrounds it. Only parents will understand the joy of waking up French Fry Day morning to children sick with excitement to open their sacks of potatoes and get peeling.

But – by the efforts of the global food brand McCain – this French Fry Day came with a rather stark warning: that each year, erosion is claiming some 12 million hectares of farmable land. That’s roughly one football pitch every few seconds, and that paints a pretty bleak picture for the future of French Fry Day – and potatoes in general.

Which is also why this year, McCain is demonstrating the power of regenerative agriculture to bring this soil back to life. How? Well, by bringing back that most beloved pop-culture heroine, the ‘taken too soon’ cult figure, Barb (from Stranger Things), of course. Using the revived character, McCain is showing how regenerative agriculture can revive healthy farming practices to bring back healthy soil and vibrant biodiversity.

While admittedly, this may be the first time to work of the Demogorgon has been brought into the sustainability conversation, for regular readers of Products of Change, this won’t be the first time the link between biodiversity and food security has been brought to the foreground. Earlier this week, the EU witnessed an historic vote to pass the EU Nature Restoration Law, a bill that will place greater demands on member states to restore nature, safeguard biodiversity, and promote sustainable land use and soil.

Not only has the restoration of such habitat been recognised as crucial to fighting against biodiversity loss but in securing the sustainable future of business, a prosperous planet to inherit, and reducing the risks to food security through land and soil regeneration.

What we know, is that biodiversity is inextricably linked to the healthy ecosystems that provide the natural resources that sustain us. It’s why the case for ‘business for nature’ has never been stronger. It is as they say, a fact, that without nature, there can be no business.

So, with its core principles of regenerative agriculture, including enhancing crop and ecosystem diversity, armouring soils, minimising soil disturbance, reducing chemical impacts, optimising water use, and integrating organic and livestock elements, McCain is committed to implementing regenerative practices on 100% of its potato acreage by 2030.

“Sustainability has become increasingly important for consumers – particularly the younger generation,” said Matt Kohler, managing director, Canada Retail at McCain. “We want younger audiences to connect with those sustainability initiatives, to learn about regenerative agriculture, and to know that their next purchase could make a positive impact on the planet.”

Products of Change has played host to some fascinatingly insightful discussion already this month when the Research Institutes of Sweden joined the platform last week to talk about the bioeconomy and the role of biodiversity in industry such as paper and publishing, and when the sustainable textiles experts Bluesign Technologies took the lead this week to discuss not only the tranche of legislation impacting the fashion and apparel industry in the coming years, but some of the keenest innovation to be driving sustainable development across the sector.

POC Members will be able to find these sessions, and a complete library of guest speaker sessions and workstream meetings on the On Demand platform. And what with the quiet summer weeks now just around the corner, there’s no better time to start scheduling in some time for a good few listening and learning sessions to better arm ourselves for the next phase of this fast-progressing story of an industry evolving.

And it is evolving. At the start of the week, we shone a spotlight on the Products of Change Industry Sustainability Framework, a step-by-step guide and resource on how to transition business with a focus on Stage 1 of that journey, creating an in-house Green Team as a means of bringing insight, skills, and representation from each department of a business – from finance to design – to the sustainability conversation and drive impact across company culture quicker.

We need as many voices a part of this discussion as we can get. It’s the only way to make positive and lasting change happen. So POC members, why not kick off a conversation on the Connect area of the site? You never know what you might stumble across.

We’ll be hosting the plastic recycling charity RECOUP next week when Anne Hitch and the team join us on Wednesday, 19 July to deliver a Recycling 101 lunch and learn session, and give us all some food for thought on the common mistakes made when designing product and packaging for recycling. You can register for the event here.

With that, it’s hard to believe we’ve hit another Friday. One of us is off to Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place Festival this weekend for a bit of feel-good yoga… the other will likely be found in his happy place in the pub garden bent over double for entirely different reasons. Still, it’s all good for the soul isn’t it?