Building a More Sustainable Food System, One Spice at a Time

What does it look like when SUA graduates become entrepreneurs? Nandini Puri ’14, who concentrated in International Studies, co-founded Beej Farms in 2022 with her husband and business partner, Andrew Bawdon. Beej Farms is a public benefit corporation that sources fair trade, climate-conscious heirloom spices from farmers across the world. All the spices they sell are grown on farms that practice regenerative agriculture, a type of farming that applies sustainable techniques to restore soil health, increase biodiversity, and improve the water cycle. Puri and Bawdon spoke at the 20th anniversary Peace Gala this year, an experience that Puri said would be a “highlight for many decades” for both of them. In this interview, Puri shares more about Beej Farms and how her education at SUA planted the seed of entrepreneurship for a more just and sustainable world.

Could you describe how the idea for Beej Farms came about?

Andrew and I have always been very interested in food systems, especially the impact on climate change. We had always focused on reducing plastic packaging or changing to electric vehicles, which are outstanding ways to reduce your carbon footprint. But then we learned that conventional agriculture emits up to a third of the greenhouse gasses [in the atmosphere], and it uses almost three-fourths of the fresh water available in the world. And those who actually grow our food barely get paid anything at all. We felt that was a very unsustainable type of progress.

We decided to start off very small, with just three spices: whole black peppercorns from the south of India, and two kinds of turmeric from the state of Karnataka in the southwest and Meghalaya in the northeast. We chose spices because it’s something we’re both very familiar with. I’m from India, where spices are grown in abundance. Andrew is from California, and his mother’s side of the family is Hispanic, so he’s also familiar with all kinds of spices.

We work directly with Indigenous farmers practicing regenerative agriculture. And because we work directly with them, there are no middlemen, and the farmers themselves get paid up to five times the fair trade premium. Regenerative agriculture, research shows, is the most viable way to combat climate change in our lifetime.

How do you think your education at SUA prepared you to be an entrepreneur of a public benefit corporation like Beej Farms?

My education at SUA was everything. While I was at SUA, I was exposed to a way of education that was very human-centered and very much about my strengths. It was extremely different from anything that I’d seen before or that my friends going to other colleges were experiencing.

What is unique about SUA is not only are we a very diverse student body, but also we’re all there to create value and achieve peace in our own way. It exposes you to people who have very unique ideas on how we can achieve that collective goal for a better world.

There is no other place on Earth, I feel, that has a culture more conducive to change on a human level. I don’t come from an entrepreneurial background. My dad worked in the paper industry, and my mom was a school teacher. Starting a business felt unattainable. I thought you either had to be born into it or already have great access.

But my time at Soka made being an entrepreneur achievable. There’s this sense that you as an individual matter and have the ability to create change, even if it’s very small. That starts with how our professors interacted with us. They didn’t talk at us, but with us. At 18 or 19, it was very new for me that these people who have so much experience valued what I had to say. It was a very encouraging environment. I also was able to take advantage of our learning clusters and different clubs on campus.

Your company’s articles of incorporation outline three core pillars: environmental responsibility, fair trade, and education. How does Beej Farms contribute to the public good in each of these areas?

For us, a primary focus has been making sure that the people who grow our food, who nourish us, are paid fairly for their work. The nature of farming is so convoluted; there are at least eight to 10 middlemen. The farmer gets paid pennies while the middleman gets paid tens of dollars. So fair trade was a no-brainer from the very beginning.

We focus only on regenerative agriculture. We are working toward supporting farmers who are trying to switch from conventional to regenerative agriculture, which is a multi-year commitment, not to mention the cost associated with it. We also want to invest in education that allows people to take on these career paths that support regenerative agriculture.

Our packaging is all zero waste. We source from local suppliers. Even our seals — they look like plastic, but they’re made from wood pulp. So that in and of itself is educational for our consumers.

What has been the biggest challenge of running a sustainable and fair trade business?

Our biggest hurdle has been making our community aware of the significant impact that regenerative agriculture has on climate change. Andrew and I didn’t even know about this until we started investigating the research behind it. We spent almost three years researching and speaking to food scientists, different people in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and journalists who’ve been covering droughts or other unseasonal trends in the environment. And it all boiled down to how we are degrading our soil health through conventional agriculture. It was eye-opening for us.

So education and community awareness have been our biggest obstacles. That’s why we’re working on creating this environment where people are aware that how we eat is a means to true sustainability and a robust food system.

What has been your proudest achievement, big or small, in running Beej Farms?

Being asked to speak at the Peace Gala was a humbling moment for Andrew and me, because when you start a business, it’s kind of like you’re in a whirlpool. You don’t really see what’s happening in the bigger picture. You’re just trying to survive until the next day. We spent so much time and energy focusing on how we can have the biggest reach while also making good financial choices that we didn’t take a step back to see how far we’ve come in two years until we were invited to speak at the Peace Gala. It was a very surreal experience. We never thought that we would be able to come back and actually tell SUA donors that their investment does make an impact at a very foundational level.

What are some of your goals for the future of Beej Farms?

We’re diversifying our portfolio to include all pantry essentials, sourced from regenerative farms in the U.S. and abroad. The goal is to create a robust and sustainable food system that gives everyone access to regeneratively grown food. We want to leverage our current portfolio and our reach to bring down the cost of the products that we offer. Even now, certified organic food is completely unsustainable for all of us on a budget and is reserved for a certain income bracket. We fundamentally believe that nutritious food should be accessible for all.

We also recently received our tax-exempt status for our philanthropic arm. We want to provide grants and funding for farmers transitioning from conventional to regenerative agriculture.

What advice would you give SUA students who are interested in careers in business and entrepreneurship?

Go for it, because SUA has the most incredible support system. It was only after graduating from SUA that I realized how privileged we are. I want every SUA student to know that there is help from an experienced person who truly believes in you and your vision of change.

Business is seen as very cutthroat, but that has not been my experience at all because of my training at SUA. There is a small army of faculty, staff, and friends who are always cheering you on, and not in a frivolous way. They support you with resources that connect you to other entrepreneurs. They connect you to subject matter experts that help you create an unshakable foundation.

I also want students to have a lot of confidence in their own inherent potential, without which they wouldn’t be at SUA today. If they’re at SUA, they’re primed to be global changemakers. Take advantage of every opportunity that SUA has. It offers a tremendous wealth of opportunities for growth and exposure, and those four years go by so quickly. There’s a culture of change that I want everyone to immerse themselves in.