We focus on the parts of the supply chain most companies ignore: transparency, traceability, and farmer equity.

We had the pleasure of interviewing Ben Ripple, CEO and Founder of Big Tree Farms.

Benjamin Ripple is the CEO and Founder of Big Tree Farms, the regenerative food company behind category-leading Coconut Aminos and Coconut Sugar, and a pioneer in organic food systems bridging the U.S. and Indonesia. Over two decades of living and working in Indonesia, he has built the world’s largest organic coconut nectar supply chain, empowering over 19,000 smallholder farmers while setting new standards for transparency, Fair Trade, and regenerative sourcing. Fluent in Indonesian, Ben combines hands-on expertise in supply chain development, brand strategy, and social impact at scale. He is a frequent speaker on regenerative agriculture, ethical sourcing, and building businesses that deliver profit, purpose, and planetary benefit.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?

I grew up in an East Coast suburb, far removed from farming. My exposure to agriculture was limited to the occasional pumpkin patch in October, Christmas tree farms in December, or fresh corn in the summer. But something in me always lit up in those moments.

I was always considered a little unconventional for my age. While most kids wanted to play street hockey, I preferred tending a small patch of tomatoes in our backyard. That earned me a few good-natured teasings and plenty of side-eye from the neighborhood — but it also revealed something early: I was wired differently. As I got older, I became fiercely independent. Like many teenagers, I rejected the life path I saw around me. I hitchhiked, traveled, and resisted the idea of settling down. But wherever I went, I always found farms. Farming kept pulling me back.

That pull eventually brought me to Western Washington, where I studied sustainable agriculture. It was at the intersection of farming and travel that I found the direction that has defined the last thirty years of my life.

After backpacking across the Indonesian Archipelago with my then-girlfriend — now wife — we landed in a small village in Bali. A local English teacher asked if we would consider staying, taking over his family’s land, and starting an organic farm. He told us his long-deceased father had come to him in a dream and instructed him to offer us the land.

As unconventional as that sounds, we said yes. That decision set us on the path that would eventually become Big Tree Farms, thirty years later.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

If I had to pick the most interesting moment in my career, it wasn’t dramatic in the usual sense — it was a quiet realization about the power of regenerative supply chains.

Back in 2016, Big Tree Farms was in serious trouble. Expansion had been rapid across multiple supply projects — coconut sugar, sea salt, honey, cashew, moringa, even chocolate — and inconsistent profitability, seasonality, and cash flow were straining the business. By year-end, the picture was clear: we were in real jeopardy.

We had flown too close to the sun. Enthralled by the early promise of our vertically integrated, farmer-direct supply chains, we had grown too quickly, launched too many innovations at once, and dropped the ball. Four out of five production facilities were closed. Hundreds of team members were laid off, and payments to producers were aging rapidly. It was the nightmare scenario — any stakeholder could have pushed us into bankruptcy. We had to restructure.

And then something remarkable happened. Employees gathered and talked openly. Farmer groups met in meeting halls. Everyone could have demanded immediate payment or cut ties, but instead, they trusted us to honor our commitments over time. They supported what, at the moment, looked like a risky bet: that Big Tree Farms would persist, grow, and eventually make good on its obligations. And we did.

That moment was both humbling and inspiring. It revealed that the regenerative supply chains we were building didn’t just buffer environmental volatility — they created social resilience, trust, and a values-driven community within our stakeholders. When people believe in something, it lasts.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. Relentless curiosity. I’ve never been comfortable with “that’s just how it’s done.” In fact, I rarely accept anything as fact without testing it for myself. I’ve always needed to understand why something works — or whether it actually does.

That instinct to question assumptions pushed us to rethink everything from sourcing to manufacturing. Instead of inheriting conventional supply chain models, we challenged them — often breaking them entirely — and rebuilt systems that aligned with our values and long-term goals. In the process, we didn’t just improve existing products; we helped create entirely new categories, from coconut-nectar-based alternatives like coconut aminos and coconut sugar to globally inspired sauces rooted in regenerative sourcing.

Curiosity, for me, isn’t academic. It’s practical. It’s how we’ve learned, adapted, and built things that didn’t exist before.

2. Productive stubbornness. I hold ideas long enough to make them real — even when the odds or consensus say they shouldn’t work. And anyone who knows me well would probably say that’s an understatement.

When the business was going through a brutal stretch — cash flow was tight, sales were thin, and things felt bleak. I remember talking to a long-time innovator in the natural foods industry on a trade show floor. He looked at me, winked, and said, “Don’t get down on a great idea. Look at me — I was a 20-year overnight success.” That stuck. And here we are — 20 years in — experiencing real success. Like fine wine, good things take time.

That mindset shows up clearly in how we built the coconut sugar category in the U.S.

I first discovered traditional coconut sugar at a local market in Bali. The flavor was incredible — but the format was anything but. It came in large, half-sphere blocks of hardened caramel that you had to grate by hand. With just two farmer suppliers, we launched it as an artisan ingredient. We sold a few pallets…until we realized the product would melt into a gooey mess, ferment, and cause bags to inflate and pop.

Over time, we slowly learned how to adapt this traditional sweetener for modern consumers — changing cooking methods and discovering a way to hand-granulate it. The product was now stable, but the process was still rustic. Our supply base grew from two farmers to fifty, and again we shipped pallet by pallet to curious customers.

And it went on like that. Iteration after iteration. Training farmers. Investing in our own manufacturing. Building systems that didn’t exist before. Every step was a first for a category that barely existed. We had near bankruptcies, rejected loads, and more than a few dark days — but I stayed stubbornly committed to the opportunity.

That stubbornness paid off. Today, we’ve built the world’s largest and highest-quality organic coconut sugar supply chain. And it only happened because we were willing to fail forward, learn slowly, and stay in the game long enough for a great idea to become a real one.

3. Long-term obsession. I’m willing to play a much longer game than most people are comfortable with — sometimes that includes our investors, and certainly our competitors. But that passion, verging on obsession, with regenerative farming, building strong livelihoods for small farmers, and working with this truly magical ingredient — coconut flower nectar — yields fruit over time.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

We’re doing amazing work in the supply chain that will directly support the next phase of coconut sugar (or, really, the production of coconut flower nectar, which is the precursor to coconut sugar and coconut aminos) to grow into the mainstream globally. Ask anyone, and they’ll tell you: coconut trees are tall. Imagine climbing 20 of them, twice a day, to harvest your product. It’s always been a traditional labor of love — equal parts magic and madness (which I love) — and we’re working on innovations that will make the process so much easier and scalable over time. For example, we’ve been working for years on the identification of dwarf varietals of coconut trees that don’t grow tall (simple ladder-in-the-tree-type harvest), which means an 8-foot climb instead of a 30-foot climb, and that changes the game for everyone. Harvesting coconuts is typically a poverty crop for most global producers. They have coconut trees, they harvest mature nuts, and they sell, mostly unprocessed, to huge oil processors. There’s no money in that, or at least, very little.

By comparison, coconut flower nectar farmers make an average of four times the income of their nut-harvesting neighbors, and that’s a massive improvement in livelihood. By innovating the way in which coconut flower nectar is harvested, we can scale faster, with more farmers gaining access to the life-changing income opportunity of coconut sweeteners, while simultaneously growing demand for a better-for-you sweetener (low glycemic and unrefined) that is also better for the environment (using ten times less water than the production of cane sugar). That’s a sweet all-around package!

Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. To ensure that we are all on the same page let’s begin with some simple definitions. What does the term “supply chain” encompass?

It’s the whole enchilada, or I guess I should say the whole coconut! The supply chain encompasses the entire, end-to-end system involved in creating and delivering a product — from raw materials to the final end customer.

Can you help articulate the weaknesses in our current food supply chain systems?

Where to begin? Our global food system is incredibly efficient at moving cheap calories, but remarkably poor at protecting the resources and people it depends on.

We’ve built supply chains that span continents, making them fragile, opaque, and increasingly vulnerable to disruption. At the same time, industrial production relies on heavy chemical inputs that temporarily inflate yields while quietly degrading soils, water, and biodiversity — the very foundations of agriculture.

Layer onto that a subsidy system that rewards monoculture and extraction over regeneration, and we end up locking in practices that undermine long-term food security. And because these supply chains are so long and complex, traceability is weak, and equity is scarce — farmers carry most of the risk while capturing the least value.

In short, we’ve optimized the system for scale and speed, not resilience or responsibility — and that tradeoff is becoming harder to ignore.

Can you help define what a nationally secure and resilient food supply chain would look like?

A nationally secure and resilient food supply is one in which everyone can reliably access sufficient, safe, and nutritious food — even in the face of shocks like climate volatility, economic disruption, or geopolitical instability. It’s a system that can absorb stress, adapt, and recover without collapsing or pushing the burden onto the most vulnerable.

That’s the baseline. But real resilience goes further — and it has to account for the reality that food systems are no longer national.

We live in a highly interconnected world, and today’s food system is deeply globalized. Production and trade are organized through tightly networked supply chains dominated by a small number of exporting countries and transnational firms. That concentration may deliver efficiency in the short term, but it also creates fragility. When disruption hits, shocks cascade quickly across borders.

Compounding that risk is a global demand built around the overconsumption of a narrow set of crops and ingredients. That lack of diversity reduces resilience at every level — on farms, in markets, and across entire regions — making the system more vulnerable to pests, disease, climate stress, and supply disruption.

In short, achieving a nationally secure and resilient food system requires engaging with global systems differently. The goal is availability, access, and quality for all — but the path forward lies in redesigning how we participate in global supply chains by investing in diversified sourcing, regional capacity, regenerative production, and trusted partnerships, so interdependence strengthens resilience rather than undermines it.

Can you share with our readers a few of the things that your organization is doing to help create a more secure food supply chain?

We focus on the parts of the supply chain most companies ignore: transparency, traceability, and farmer equity.

We know our farmers, we know our farms, and we know how value moves through the system. That level of traceability builds trust on both ends of the chain — consumers trust the product, and farmers trust that they’re true partners, not interchangeable inputs. It’s not a transactional relationship.

That trust is reinforced through fair pricing and a shared approach to success. When farmers earn a better living and feel ownership in the value chain, they’re more inclined to adapt techniques we propose through advanced training and they are willing to invest more of their energy into their trees’ quality, their groves’ sustainability, and their resilience. That’s what actually strengthens a food system over time.

For us, equity and empowerment aren’t ideals — they’re the operating system. And that becomes the foundation from which we can scale while still remaining “rooted in goodness.”

What are a few threats over the horizon that might disrupt our food supply chain that we should take action now to correct? Can you please explain?

The biggest threats ahead that I see are climate volatility, depleted soils, water scarcity, geopolitical disruption, and extreme systems consolidation. All are the result of a food system built for short-term efficiency instead of long-term resilience. The work ahead is pretty clear: diversify supply, rebuild soil health and integrate water-conserving farming practices, shorten and strengthen supply chains, and create transparent, equitable partnerships that farmers and consumers can trust. That’s not idealism — that’s how you future-proof the food system.

Ok, thank you. Here is the main question of our interview. What are the “5 Things We Must Do To Create Nationally Secure And Resilient Food Supply Chains” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Build for diversity and regeneration — not efficiency alone.

We’ve over-optimized food systems around a handful of crops and production models, and that’s made them fragile. Diversity creates stability. Regenerative systems rebuild soils, expand market opportunities for farmers, and reduce our dependence on too few inputs, regions, and players. Resilience starts at the farm.

2. Make equity a design principle, not a side benefit.

Supply chains only work when the people producing the food are economically secure and respected as partners. Fair pricing, shared decision-making, and long-term relationships create ownership, pride, and accountability. When farmers win, the supply chain stabilizes.

3. Invest now in climate resilience at the ground level.

Climate volatility isn’t a future risk — it’s already disrupting yields and livelihoods. Regenerative practices like soil restoration, biodiversity, and water conservation aren’t just sustainable; they’re practical risk-management tools. Healthy ecosystems are more productive, more adaptive, and more resilient.

4. Break the silos and collaborate across sectors.

Food doesn’t exist in isolation. Energy, finance, and technology all shape how food is grown, moved, and valued. Solving food insecurity and supply chain fragility requires cross-industry collaboration, shared incentives, and systems thinking — not isolated solutions.

5. Make traceability non-negotiable.

You can’t fix what you can’t see. End-to-end traceability gives us the data to measure impact, ensure accountability, and build trust — from farmer to consumer. Transparency isn’t overhead; it’s infrastructure.

Are there other ideas or considerations that should encourage us to reimagine our food supply chain?

Yes — and many of them start with how we see our own role in the system.

First, consumers are participants. People aren’t just shoppers — they’re food citizens. Every purchasing decision sends a signal about how food should be grown, who should benefit, and what values matter. When consumers support regenerative (or organic), fair trade (or transparent) and diversification through their purchases, they help build systems that are more democratic, resilient, and accountable.

And health is a powerful motivator. Regenerative farming isn’t just good for the planet — it’s good for people. Healthier soils tend to produce more nutrient-dense food, and consumers are increasingly connecting what happens on the farm to how they feel in their own bodies. When sustainability becomes personal — about energy, wellness, and long-term health — it stops being abstract and starts driving behavior.

Finally, transparency and technology are changing what’s possible. Consumers now have tools to see where food comes from, how it’s produced, and whether claims hold up. That transparency builds trust and rewards brands that reduce waste, cut emissions, and invest in regenerative practices. It also reminds us that waste — what we throw away at home or lose along the chain — is part of the system we’re trying to fix.

At the end of the day, reimagining the food supply chain is a shared responsibility. And when consumers understand their power and accept the responsibility for it, real change becomes possible.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I’d inspire a mass, consumer-led movement to reverse climate change — one that treats everyday choices as more than just personal virtues.

When millions of people align how they eat, travel, power their homes, and spend their money together, those choices become economic and political pressure. Purchases become votes. Savings get reinvested into climate solutions. And companies and policymakers are forced to respond.

At the individual level, the movement gives people something simple and empowering to rally around: living proud, visible “1.5-degree lifestyles,” tracking progress and sharing on social media, among other things.

The fastest way to change the system is to change the norm — and let it spread.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Readers can follow Big Tree Farms on LinkedIn and connect with me personally under my name, Benjamin Ripple. On Instagram and Facebook, you can follow us at @BigTreeFarmsBali. There are also several videos from my work over the years on YouTube at @BigTreeFarms_Bali, as well as on my personal channel.

This was very inspiring and informative. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this interview!

Ben Ripple of Big Tree Farms: How We Are Helping To Create A Resilient Food Supply Chain was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.