Nature's Path Foods, commonly known as Nature's Path, is a privately held, family-owned producer of certified

organic food Organic food, ecological food or biological food are food and drinks produced by methods complying with the standards of organic farming. Standards vary worldwide, but organic farming features practices that cycle resources, promote ecological ...

s. Originally known for its

breakfast cereal Cereal, formally termed breakfast cereal (and further categorized as cold cereal or warm cereal), is a traditional breakfast food made from processed cereal grains. It is traditionally eaten as part of breakfast, or a snack food, primarily in ...

s, it now has a portfolio of more than 150 products. Founded in 1985 by Arran and Ratana Stephens, Nature's Path employs approximately 500 people, with manufacturing facilities in Canada and the United States and sales in more than 40 countries. All of its products are

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

certified organic Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products, in the European Union more commonly known as ecological or biological products.Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/ ...

, and

Non-GMO Project The Non-GMO Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focusing on genetically modified organisms. The organization began as an initiative of independent natural foods retailers in the U.S. and Canada, with the stated aim to label products pr ...

Verified. Nature's Path is a

triple bottom line The triple bottom line (or otherwise noted as TBL or 3BL) is an accounting framework with three parts: social, environmental (or ecological) and economic. Some organizations have adopted the TBL framework to evaluate their performance in a broader ...

social enterprise, and has been recognized for incorporating the notion of

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

into its business practices through its support of various charitable and eco-friendly initiatives. The company is regularly named one of Canada's best employers.

History

The company was started by

Arran Stephens Arran Blackburn Stephens (born 1944) is a Canadian entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist. He is co-founder of Nature's Path, a leading manufacturer of organic foods. He is regarded as a pioneer in the food industry and has received numerous ...

and Ratana Stephens in 1985 in British Columbia, Canada and the first product was Manna Bread. The Stephens' son, Arjan, and daughters, Jyoti and Gurdeep, currently work at Nature's Path. Prior to opening Nature's Path, Arran Stephens opened Canada's first large organic supermarket in 1971, called Lifestream, and sold a successful line of natural products. Lifestream was sold to

Kraft The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...

in 1981, but bought back by Stephens in 1995. In September 2018, Nature's Path announced plans to move their head office from Richmond to

East Vancouver East Vancouver (also called "East Van" or "the East Side") is a region within the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Geographically, East Vancouver is bordered to the north by Burrard Inlet, to the south by the Fraser River, and to the ...

Awards

Nature's Path has been voted among Canada's Best 50 Employers in Canada in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012, and among Canada's Greenest Employers in 2009, 2011 and 2012. The

Organic Trade Association The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is a membership-based business association that focuses on the organic business community in North America. OTA's mission is to promote ethical consumerism, promoting and protecting the growth of organic trade to ...

recognized founders Arran and Ratana Stephens with the award for Growing Organic Leadership in 2013 and a Nature's Path farmer, Doug Crabtree, with the Farmer of the Year award. Food in Canada recognized Nature's Path with the 2014 award for Leadership in Sustainability.

Environmental and social sustainability

Nature's Path helped to establish the Sustainable Food Trade Association and in 2009 was one of the first companies to sign onto the Food Trade Sustainability Leadership Association's Declaration of Sustainability to promote sustainable practices in the food industry. The company became

zero waste Zero waste is a set of principles focused on waste prevention that encourages redesigning resource life cycles so that all products are reused. The goal of this movement is to avoid sending trash to landfills, incinerators, or the ocean. Curren ...

certified in 2010 and have committed to complete

carbon neutrality Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the "p ...

by 2020. So far Nature's Path has successfully implemented practices that have diverted 92 per cent of their waste from landfills; reduced packaging saving 825,540 gallons of wastewater, 437 tons of paperboard, 7,464 million BTUs of energy and 1.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide; they have launched a supplier code of conduct for labor; empowered employees to take ownership of sustainability and green initiatives; and through their commitment to

organic farming Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...

have kept over 418,000 lbs of chemical pesticides out of the soil. Nature's Path is committed to many charitable and social initiatives. Their Gardens for Good program awards three $15,000 grants to urban gardens to help educate and feed their communities every year – totalling $270,000 so far; they hold an Eat Well Do Good foodraiser for food banks every year which has raised over $750,000 in food to date. Additionally Nature's Path's Bite for Bite program commits $1 million to North American food banks and through the EnviroKidz brand's 1% for the Planet affiliation, work to help save endangered species.

Organic farming

The company has purchased of of organic farmland in Saskatchewan that it crop shares with family farmers (Fox Valley, Legend Farms, Tompkins Landing Heritage Organic Farms) as well as in Montana (at Wild Horse, Vilicus Farms – including partnership and apprenticeship program) for a total of of organic farmland. Nature's Path serves as an outlet/processor for many independent organic family farmers representing approximately .

Non-GMO support

Nature's Path has been a staunch opponent of

GMO A genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The exact definition of a genetically modified organism and what constitutes genetic engineering varies, with ...

proliferation since 2001, and founder Arran Stephens was an early supporter and board member of the Non-GMO Project. Nature's Path products are tested to bear the Non-GMO Project Verified Seal. The brand sponsored the making of documentary

GMO OMG ''GMO OMG'' is a 2013 American pseudoscientific documentary film which takes a negative view towards the use of genetically modified organisms used in the production of food, in the United States. The film focuses on Monsanto, a multinational a ...

Jeremy Seifert ''Dive!'' is an American documentary film directed by Jeremy Seifert. Premise The film follows director Jeremy Seifert and his friends as they dumpster dive behind several grocery stores in the Los Angeles area to demonstrate the massive amount ...

in 2013 and the Right2Know GMO March in 2011. The company was active in supporting the failed

Proposition 37 Proposition 37 was a California ballot measure rejected in California at the statewide election on November 6, 2012. This initiative statute would have required labeling of genetically engineered food, with some exceptions. It would have disall ...

, previously the California Right to Know ballot initiative, for mandatory GMO labeling in California by contributing $600,000, plus time and support, as well as supporting the Oregon and Colorado Right to Know campaigns in 2014.

Products

The company's organic products are sold under the Nature's Path, Love Crunch, Qi’a, Flax Plus, and EnviroKidz brand names in grocery and specialty foods stores in over 42 countries worldwide. All Nature's Path products are certified organic and vegetarian, many are

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

, and a large number are

gluten-free A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a nutritional plan that strictly excludes gluten, which is a mixture of proteins found in wheat (and all of its species and hybrids, such as spelt, kamut, and triticale), as well as barley, rye, and oats. The inclus ...

References

External links

Nature's PathNature's Path on TwitterNature's Path on Facebook
{{Vancouver Corporations Canadian brands Companies based in Richmond, British Columbia Food and drink companies established in 1985 1985 establishments in Canada Food and drink companies of Canada Organic farming organizations Privately held companies of Canada 1985 establishments in British Columbia Breakfast cereal companies Vegetarian companies and establishments of Canada