The Perennial Farming Initiative is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to building a renewable food system rooted in healthy soil. Their work aims to reduce climate impacts from agriculture and incentivize practices that remove carbon from the atmosphere. Their goal is a food system that values soil for its environmental, economic, and nutritional benefits. They plan to engage restaurants, producers, and consumers to develop a soil carbon market through their Zero Foodprint and Healthy Soil Carbon Fund programs.

1. Who We Are
The Perennial Farming Initiative is a 501.c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to
building a renewable food system rooted in healthy soil. Our work aims not only to
reduce negative climate impacts associated with agriculture, but also to incentivize
practicesthatactivelydrawdowncarbondioxideandofferourbesthopeofaddressing
the climate crisis. The goal of The Perennial Farming Initiative is a food system in
which healthy soil has economic value commensurate with its environmental value
and nutritional value, and our method involves engaging restaurants, producers,
and consumers in the development of a soil carbon market.
Why Us
Co-Founders Karen Leibowitz (Executive Director) and Anthony Myint (Director of Operations), have a history
of leadership in the restaurant industry. As restaurateurs, Myint and Leibowitz are known for The Perennial, often
lauded as the most sustainable restaurant in the world, and for founding Mission Chinese Food (over one million
meals raised for the SF Food Bank and named among Bon Appétit’s 20 Most Important Restaurant in America).
As environmental restaurateurs, the leaders of PFI are uniquely situated to mobilize chefs and diners around
sustainable food system change: their non-profit work includes helping restaurants assess, reduce, and offset their
greenhouse gas emissions in order to earn “Zero Foodprint” status and participate in the promotion of carbon-
neutral dining as a category.
Our Opportunity
PFI’s goal is to create a positive feedback loop in which regenerative
agriculture escapes the niche limitations that have kept organic
produce at less than 1.5% of U.S. farm acreage. PFI plans to direct
carbon offset funding from Zero Foodprint restaurants towards
the implementation of regenerative agriculture through a Healthy
Soil Carbon Fund. Carbon-neutral restaurants represent the most
viable and scalable source of demand for soil carbon credits—
not only providing the seed funding for a new market, but also
leveraging chefs’ cultural capital to accelerate systemic changes
needed to scale up food- and soil-based solutions. Our theory of
change is inspired by the example of Chez Panisse in launching the
farm-to-table movement as a “delicious revolution,” but also by
the implementation of regional soda taxes. Restaurants represent
the largest economic sector in the food system and can activate
climate optimism as an aspirational value for diners, who will seek
better choices in their own grocery stores, and eventually demand
changes in food policy.
Our Vision
PFI’s vision for a “Farm-to-Table 2.0” empowers chefs, diners, farmers, ranchers, and eaters across the supply
chain—many of whom would like to be more sustainable but need practical ways to create systemic change. PFI
is working with 3 Degrees Inc. to use the carbon market as a financial mechanism to drive implementation. PFI
is collaborating with scientists from Cornell and The Nature Conservancy to develop criteria for a chef- and con-
sumer-facing Healthy Soil Guide that emphasizes Soil Organic Matter and acknowledges producers that employ
soil-building practices, like cover cropping and adaptive multi-paddock grazing. We have the personal relation-
ships with the restaurant and sustainability community to bring those worlds together and we are now seeking
funding and programmatic support to create the conditions for a renewable and circular food economy that funds
healthy soil as a climate solution

2. Our Strategies
ZERO FOODPRINT - Activating the Restaurant Industry
We are activating the global restaurant industry to be part of the solution to climate
change. Functionally this involves creating a movement to recognize carbon neutral
establishments.Chefsandrestaurateursachievecarbonneutralitythroughacombination
of best practices and contributions to renewable energy projects and carbon farm plans.
ZFP’s model falls between Fair Trade certification and a Soda Tax, creating a virtue out
of very modest consumer contributions towards socially beneficial programs, with a
focus on healthy soil as a climate solution. We are partnered with 3 Degrees Inc. on this
effort to ensure rigor and potential industry-wide scalability.
Over two years, our goal is to take 500 restaurants carbon neutral with Zero Foodprint, as early adopters and
promoters of healthy soil. This would create annual purchasing power of over $1 million in carbon offset and
healthy soil carbon fund contributions.
HEALTHY SOIL CARBON FUND - Redirecting Capital Towards Healthy Soil
We are in-process with the creation of a private sector
complement to the California Healthy Soils Program in which
investment from Zero Foodprint restaurants will fund the
implementation of carbon farm plans already outlined through
the CA Healthy Soils Program. ZFP restaurants will be the
primary contributors to this Healthy Soil Carbon Fund, thereby
taking the risk off of farmers while providing marketing value
to the restaurants. We are seeking philanthropic or social
impact funding to launch the program, which will then increase
organically as more restaurants go carbon neutral.
Five Hundred ZFP restaurants could implement carbon farm plans on 100,000 acres of land and sequester 200,000
tons of CO2e per year on an ongoing basis beyond the two-year campaign.* This program utilizes the buying
power of carbon neutral restaurants to create an alternative to the standard carbon offset market, which entails
unnecessarily costly verification. The HSCF approach relies on advanced science based modeling and periodic
field verification, underwritten and overseen by 3 Degrees Inc. and local Resource Conservation Districts, in
conjunction with the CA Healthy Soils Program. Subsequent focus areas would be funding carbon farm plans in
the Hudson Valley, New York, and around Copenhagen--areas with critical mass of carbon neutral restaurants.
HEALTHY SOIL GUIDE - Communicating Why Better Farming is Worth More Money
Many consumers struggle to evaluate the impact of their food choices--and the challenge
is to communicate these topics in under five seconds. The HSG highlights Soil Organic
Matter % as a primary indicator of soil health and nutrient density.
The guide will initially focus on two regions, with plans for additional locations and a
national campaign. We will create Bay Area and Hudson Valley guides with at least 50
farms and ranches showing their SOM% data. The Heathy Soil Guide model will increase
awareness and demand for renewable food with events and special offers with farmers
markets and groceries, plus at least eight pieces of earned media. The goal of the Healthy
Soil Guide is to cut through the static and label fatigue associated with food and create
transparency around soil data, which coincidentally tracks with pricing—the $5 cherry
tomatoes were probably grown in soil with >5% SOM and the $0.99 tomatoes grown in
soil with <1% SOM.

3. Ultimate Impact: PFI is laying the foundation for a Renewable Food System Rooted in Healthy Soil.
“A mere two percent increase
in the carbon content of the
planet’s soils could offset 100
percent of all greenhouse
gas emissions going into the
atmosphere.”
--Rattan Lal, Professor of Soil
Science, Ohio State University
“What I’m really excited
about is highlighting
solutions...How can
regenerative agriculture flip
farms from being maybe a
“problem” to being part of
the solution?... We have four
big tools to change the world:
policy is one, but it’s also the
flow of capital—where the
money goes—and helping to
highlight the risk of certain
kinds of agriculture and the
performance of other kinds.”
--Jon Foley, Executive Director,
Project Drawdown
Organizational Resource Needs
Executive Director Karen Leibowitz ($80,000/year)
Director of Operations Anthony Myint ($70,000/year)
Zero Foodprint Manager ($55,000/year)
West Coast Farm Liaison for Healthy Soil Guide
($10,000/year)
East Coast Farm Liaison for Healthy Soil Guide
($10,000/year)
Accounting/Administration ($25,000/year)
Total: $500,000 over 2 years
Healthy Soil Carbon Fund – Pilot
Healthy Soil Carbon Fund Program Buildout with 3
Degrees, Inc and regional RCDs ($40,000)
Chef Outreach and Marketing ($10,000)
Seed Funding - passed through to directly fund 10
carbon farm plans – approximate cost requirement
is $25k/plan but varies. Fund will be “renewed” by
carbon neutral restaurant purchasing. ($250,000)
Total: $300,000 to launch