Behind the Scenes with Refarm'd
Some people start a business, other people launch a mission. Lisa talks to Geraldine Starke about how she is helping dairy farmers convert to making plant-based milk.
For more information on Refarm’d, see their website at: refarmd.com
When Geraldine started Refarm’d, she didn’t just start a business, she launched a mission. By taking time to understand and engage with dairy farmers, she’s been able to build a business model that stops the exploitation of animals, gives them a safe space to live out the rest of their lives and provides the farmers with a sustainable and compassionate source of income.
Out of all the things you could have done, why did you decide you wanted to start a vegan business?
I’m originally from France and my background is in hospitality, so I was working daily in a meat & dairy heavy environment until my ethically motivated transition to veganism 10 years ago.
I have started a few vegan businesses since then: I created an online subscription-based vegan shop, a green & ethical event planning company, and I worked on building a vegan & eco village in Portugal with a group of people. I also became a self-taught software developer to sustain myself and be able, along with my husband, to become digital nomads because we love travelling.
It has always made sense to me to try and do something aligned with my values. Therefore, building Refarm’d as an ethical vegan business is a logical thing to do for me. I wouldn’t do it any other way.
What did you know about farming before you started out on the idea of converting farms? Has it been a steep learning curve?
I don’t have any farming background and my only experience with animal farms was because I had previously rented the house of cow farmers. I went vegan at that time, so it was quite challenging but I learned a lot and we established a good relationship with the farmers. It was quite a small farm with around 35 cows, and we were able to visit and learn about what they were doing. They knew that I was vegan, and we had some interesting conversations. Funnily (or not), one of the farmers could not actually eat meat, as recommended by his doctors, because he had started getting trouble with his heart.
Apart from this experience, I was reading and watching a lot about animal farming because I was very interested to know how it works and about the farmer’s mindset. Also, as a vegan I was having lots of unwanted discussions regarding farming not being all bad and that if treated well it’s OK to consume the animal’s flesh or secretions.
Something that I increasingly noticed was this confrontation between farmers and vegans. In France it became like a war, with each side accusing the other for all their problems and intervening in each other’s events or destroying belongings.
Unfortunately, recently the rates of farmers struggling and resulting suicides have increased dramatically (especially in France). I have never rejoiced from the suffering of animal farmers, even though I know what they are inflicting on other sentient beings. I think compassion should apply to all – human beings included. And that’s how and why I started Refarm’d; I realised we need to work with farmers to move faster towards a more ethical future of farming.
Starting Refarm’d has definitely been a steep learning curve, not just about the farming industry but on all aspects of our work. We are developing a completely new business model, so this means that we don’t have pre-existing data or information to look at and therefore we need to constantly think outside of the box.
Meeting and working with farmers has definitely been both a great and challenging experience. The feedback we get makes us realise there is really a need for such a solution and so many farmers are looking for an exit strategy from this industry.
Something that I increasingly noticed was this confrontation between farmers and vegans. In France it became like a war, with each side accusing the other for all their problems.
Refarm’d is not just helping convert dairy farmers to oat-milk production, but their farms also become animal sanctuaries so their animals can live out their natural lives. How have the farmers reacted to this part of the deal?
Becoming an animal sanctuary is a requirement for farmers to join our program, along with transitioning 100% to plant-based production; both are non-negotiable. A lot of people, especially non-vegans, have difficulties grasping this because economically speaking it is not advantageous to keep the animals. For the farmers it would be much easier to send the last herd to slaughter; they would gain land space and not have the ongoing costs of maintaining an ageing herd.
However, our goal is not just to make these farmers profitable and to help our planet, but to use the opportunity of their transition to educate people on that each individual matters. We want to help people, and the farmers themselves, connect with these animals to help us move faster towards a vegan world. Farmers brought these sentient beings to life, so they are responsible for their well-being until the end. Because most farmers really love caring for their animals, this is an opportunity for them to be able to keep them in a totally different relationship. And, in my opinion, there is no better advocate for the vegan community than a farmer becoming vegan.
The feedback we’ve had from farmers regarding keeping the animals has been great. They were interested in shifting to plant-based production because they started to realise that what they were doing to the animals was wrong, so they wanted to allow their herd to be free of this exploitation. On the flip side we did have some talks with farmers that were trying to avoid this aspect of our model, but again it is non-negotiable for Refarm’d.
Unfortunately, the reality is also not always so black and white. Sometimes the farmers are under contract with dairies; for example, to raise the cows until they give birth for the first time. This means that these cows don’t belong to the farmers and must return to the dairy farm to become an active dairy cow. Another example are farms who are raising pigs or chickens as well as cows. Usually, these animals are raised in great numbers and held indoors in very confined spaces, so it is not possible when transitioning to keep these animals as their environment isn’t suitable for them to live a sanctuary life. This is also why (for now at least) our business model is not meant for bigger or factory farms.
You’ve completed a ‘beta’ phase where you tested the concept with three farms – how much have you learned from this and why was it important to test the idea first?
The initial plan was to work with only one farm first. However, we got so much demand from farmers that we couldn’t say no and so ended up working with three farms in two different countries in the middle of a pandemic. This was quite challenging, and some things didn’t go according to plan, but we learned so much from this experience. In fact, we learned so much that I decided to pause operations in 2021 to work on our business model so that we can build a better one which we know will be successful.
We learned the hard way that farmers have high expectations and that we can’t base everything on trust alone, although trust is what we need to achieve to have a good working relationship with farmers. We also learned that our model will not work for every farmer and that we will likely need to develop a few other models if we want to work with a diverse range of farms.
Refarm’d is all about the mission and the work with farmers, but we also now understand how important the products themselves are. Even if you have a great company, in the long-term customers will only support you if they can buy products that are on the same level or better than the big names out there. This is also more difficult for us because we want to keep the products sustainable and whole foods.
We made some beginner’s mistakes such as underestimating costs and doing too much too quick. But this experience also made us realise how much of a need there is for farmers to get help on a business level, and also how much this work is needed for our planet and animals. We’ve received such amazing feedback and have been overwhelmed by all the support, and this has really helped us understand that we’re on the right track.
It’s so important to test an idea as much as you can before really getting serious about it, because what actually happens will likely not match your plans or expectations. You can’t make a great product or service if you don’t first talk and test with customers to understand their needs and expectations. It’s your customers who will guide you through developing something great – and needed.
You’re now in the position where you have a plan to roll out the concept to more farms; what do you need to make that happen?
Utilising the experience and knowledge gained in our beta phase we’ve changed our model recently. We’re now going to test our new model with our partner farm in the UK and make sure they are successful before we roll it out to other farms. We do not want to put farmers at risk and so will do it step by step to have a strong and working solution. What we need now to make it happen is to get funding, and the faster the better so that we can transition more farms. We’re currently looking to raise funds from investors and also applying for grants. This will allow us to develop our new improved plant-milk recipe and work on our branding, as well as hire some talents to push Refarm’d to the next level.
We made some beginner's mistakes such as underestimating costs and doing too much too quick. But this experience also made us realise how much of a need there is for farmers to get help on a business level.
You didn’t so much start a business as launch a mission. Do you think basing a business idea around a strong mission has helped get more people on board and spread your message quicker?
Yes – 100%! I never expected things to evolve so fast and to have such support, and that is entirely due to the mission behind Refarm’d. Honestly when I started this I didn’t really think it would get to this point. It just shows that I’m not the only one that cares for our planet, the animals and also for local communities. Therefore, I strongly believe that having a mission aligned with those values is critical to building something great in such a competitive and business-oriented society.
I also think that as businesses we have a responsibility to create products and services that do good and have a real impact. It’s not enough anymore to just launch a product for the purpose of launching a product. And it’s great to see customers being increasingly uncompromising about that. If not led by the ethics and morals of business founders, then at least the customers will be those driving the change we need to see in the business world.
There are many vegans who would love to help create a vegan world quicker by setting up a mission-led business but don’t know where to start. What advice would you give them?
After having the idea for Refarm’d I spent the first year talking with farmers, ex-farmers and people involved in this industry so that I could understand if my project made sense and if there’s a need and demand for it. This helped me to get media attention and farmers lining up before even building a team and developing a product.
So this is definitely something I’d recommend you do first: talk with potential customers, competitors and all people involved in the type of business you want to create.
What I should have done, but didn’t do until much later, was talk to business advisors and present my project to both investors and experienced business people. If you’re driven by a mission then you can tend to not care too much about the business side of things, but this aspect is so important to achieve your goals. It won’t happen without business knowledge or experience, so if you’re not a business person yourself then make sure you get early feedback from experts. This will help you avoid big mistakes, high costs and losing time.
I’d also suggest doing things step by step and not rushing. I learnt this the hard way and it was definitely a mistake to do so much so quickly; it meant we were not able to work on what really mattered, and it also came with high costs. The best way forward is having a plan and cutting things down into small steps without being afraid to change plans along the way.
I like the ‘fail fast’ approach to learning: frequently check in, see our mistakes and start again. One needs to be open to failure, and sometimes several ones, to be able to get to a successful business model. The most important thing is to start small, test things as much as possible and don’t get stuck if it all seems insurmountable – it’s not!
Learn more about Refarm’d at their website: refarmd.com
Lisa Fox says:
It’s easy for many of us to see the people within the animal industries as the enemies. However, by taking the time to engage with and understand the farmers, Geraldine has been able to build a business which suits the needs of both farmers and the animals; this gives them the opportunity to move away from dairy farming. Refarm’d is a prime example of researching, testing and not being afraid to make some mistakes along the way to completely understand a market and to build a solid business.
