Plant-based food brand New Barn Organics has partnered with food-tech venture BAM the Brand, Inc. to launch a Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) Buckwheat Milk across the United States.
Rolling out to select regional Whole Foods Market locations, the launch marks New Barn Organics' first product developed from inception under the ROC framework. The commercial arrangement combines BAM’s proprietary buckwheat processing technology with New Barn’s established manufacturing and retail distribution platform.
The product rollout has commenced across Whole Foods Market divisions in Northern California, Southern Pacific, the Southwest, the Rocky Mountain region, and Florida.
Partnership Structure and Supply Chain Integration
Under the commercial agreement, New Barn Organics has acquired the proprietary formulations for BAM's Buckwheat Milk, returning the finished liquid beverage to retail shelves under the New Barn Organics masterbrand.
In turn, BAM will transition into an upstream commercial supplier, providing its shelf-stable Buckwheat Milk Powder to New Barn as its anchor customer. The ingredient platform is engineered to facilitate scaled adoption of buckwheat across broader food and beverage applications.
"The CPG industry is competitive, and we saw a unique opportunity to be stronger together," said Paige Hansen, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BAM the Brand, Inc. "Plant-based milk remains a core category, and Buckwheat Milk is a natural next step as consumers seek regenerative, delicious ways to diversify their diets. This partnership accelerates category growth and enables BAM to expand buckwheat into new formats."
Jasen Ureña, Vice President of New Barn Organics, added: "We chose buckwheat because of BAM's early leadership and the consumer traction Paige created. BAM's innovation gives us a powerful ingredient to build from, and we're thrilled to bring it to consumers through the New Barn portfolio."
Formulation and Certification Standards
The product formulation is positioned around emerging clean-label and agricultural sustainability benchmarks within the plant-based dairy category:
Regenerative Organic Certified: Certified through the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA), validating farm-level soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness criteria throughout the agricultural supply chain.
Certified Seed Oil Free: Formulated without added vegetable oils, addressing consumer scrutiny regarding emulsifiers and refined seed oils in alternative milks.
Allergen Profile: Naturally gluten-free and processed without dairy, nuts, or soy inputs.
To secure sufficient certified raw material volumes, New Barn and BAM worked directly with the ROA to formalise supply routes for regenerative organic buckwheat cultivation.
Whole Foods Market Accelerator Origins and Distribution
The commercial collaboration originated through Whole Foods Market's Local and Emerging Accelerator Program (LEAP), which accepted BAM into its 2023 cohort and paired the business with New Barn Organics for industry mentorship.
"At Whole Foods Market, one of our core values is to practice win-win partnerships with our suppliers, so it's an extra win for us when two of our suppliers join forces like this," said Lisa Tosun, Emerging Brands Forager for Whole Foods Market.
"I've had the pleasure of working with New Barn Organics for about nine years now and knew when BAM joined our LEAP cohort back in 2023 that these two brands would instantly connect through their commitment to regenerative agriculture."
Commercial distribution is currently expanding across Whole Foods Market shelves throughout five core US operating territories, with wider availability across natural grocery channels planned as raw buckwheat production scales.
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