Investing in healthy eating from soil to shelf

January 2026

The healthy foods thesis: Supported by policymakers and investors alike

The recent update to the U.S. food pyramid underscores a growing consensus: Americans’ health has suffered from diets dominated by highly processed foods and added sugars. While we may not align with every recommendation, we share the view that encouraging diets filled with clean and less processed foods will improve health outcomes. Markets are also responding, with health-focused brands like Poppi and Siete commanding premium acquisition valuations by PepsiCo of $1.95B and $1.2B respectively. Venture investors have allocated over $2B to over 50 Food-as-Medicine startups in the last four years.

We believe the next generation of food brands that win lasting consumer loyalty will come from the perimeter of the grocery store. Historically treated as a commodity, fresh produce now can differentiate and earn trust from discerning consumers by delivering proven health benefits alongside convenience and taste. We’ve been doing precisely this at AC since 2014: investing in clean, nutrient-rich foods through an integrated value chain approach that starts with regenerative soil practices and ends with branded, healthy products consumers love.

Healthy food starts with healthy soil

The research is clear that healthy soil grows healthier crops, by providing humans with the micronutrients and trace minerals our bodies need to function. This happens through two key pathways:

1. Underground, root-enhancing networks: Regenerative agriculture practices, like cover cropping, no-till, fostering biodiversity, and composting, build living soils with robust underground fungal networks and soil microbial communities. These living soils help plants access micronutrients that their roots can’t reach on their own.
   1. Natural defenses: Crops grown with fewer synthetic pesticides (like Organic or regenerative) need to build stronger defenses against pest pressures, while conventional crops rely on pesticides which wipe out potential threats. The natural plant defenses partially take the form of polyphenols, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that are associated with combatting against obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular health, cancer, and inflammation.

AC Farms have cultivated healthy soils through regenerative practices that include optimizing and significantly increasing compost application as well as planting cover crops.

This image shows how healthy soils increase a plant’s access to nutrients
Credits: University of Wisconsin

Increasing access to convenient and nutritious snacking

We’ve invested in growing crops — through our Sumo and blueberry businesses — that lend themselves to healthy eating at scale. Some examples:

• Developing Sumo as a healthy snacking swap: It comes as no surprise that we invested in developing Sumo Citrus because it is delicious and healthy, providing 163% of daily Vitamin C intake and the same amount of potassium as a banana. But what may be surprising is that much of our decision to scale this specific fruit also lies in it being easy to peel, portable, and satisfying. By investing in state-of-the-art sweetness testing and fruit size measuring technologies, we can also ensure a consistent eating experience. All these attributes make taking a Sumo on the go as easy and reliable as your favorite processed snack, while being much healthier!

• Accessible organic blueberries: We’ve also invested in scaling our organic blueberry operation. As the largest regenerative and USDA Certified organic blueberry grower in North America, producing over 50M pints of blueberries, we’re able to our sell high quality, healthy blueberries into the largest retailers, such as CostCo and Walmart[1]. We’ve also invested in frozen processing, providing customers at any price point with an alternative to conventional blueberries, which are listed on the Dirty Dozen with 90% of samples having pesticide residue.

We don’t just believe in healthy eating; we’ve organized our entire investment thesis around growing healthy food. This integrated model captures margin at every step—from regenerative farms to branded produce—creating resilience and resonating with customers that are seeking out healthy produce. Reach out to [email protected] to learn more about how we’re continuing to apply our thesis in today’s environment.

References

1. Del Rio, D., Rodriguez-Mateos, A., Spencer, J. P., et al. (2013). Dietary (poly)phenolics in human health: structures, bioavailability, and evidence of protective effects against chronic diseases. Antioxidants & Redox Signaling, 18(10), 1818–1892.
2. Environmental Working Group. (2025, January 15). Blueberries: EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™.
3. Montgomery DR, Biklé A, Archuleta R, Brown P, Jordan J. 2022. Soil health and nutrient density: preliminary comparison of regenerative and conventional farming. PeerJ 10:e12848
4. Nouwen, O., Rineau, F., Kohout, P., et al. (2025). Towards understanding the impact of mycorrhizal fungal environments on the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Microbiology Ecology. 101(8).
5. PepsiCo. (2025, July 8). PepsiCo completes acquisition of Poppi, accelerating strategic portfolio transformation.
6. PepsiCo. (2025, Jan 17). PepsiCo completes acquisition of Siete Foods.
7. Smith, D., Silva, E., Arriaga, F. (2025, March 18). Soil Health in Wisconsin: Characteristics of Healthy Soil. University of Wisconsin, Crops and Soils Division of Extension.

[1] CostCo and Walmart are examples of partner retailers and is subject to change. This is not a full list of retail partners.