This month, The Plant Base speaks to Terviva, an agriculture innovation start-up that partners with farmers to grow climate-resilient pongamia trees. It then transforms the pongamia beans into nutritious food ingredients under its Ponova brand. We catch up with Ashley Kleckner, the company's senior vice president of food sales and marketing, to find out more.
Could you give us an overview of Terviva’s mission and activities, specifically within the food and beverage space?
Terviva’s mission is to create sustainable food ingredients by partnering with farmers to cultivate and harvest pongamia, a versatile legume. By transforming pongamia beans into products like Ponova oil, flour and protein, Terviva is the first to introduce this climate-resilient tree to the food and beverage space.
Our proprietary process produces oil used in plant-based foods, such as Aloha protein bars, and our R&D team is also developing a sustainable, gluten-free flour and protein from pongamia. Terviva pongamia food ingredients help revitalise underutilised land and support local agricultural communities worldwide.
What are the environmental benefits of harvesting pongamia trees?
Traditional oils and flours both contribute to, and are impacted by, climate change. We create lasting impact by revitalising agricultural land and transforming global systems to be regenerative, rather than extractive. Pongamia trees, which thrive in subtropical climates like India and Florida, offer a climate-resilient crop with significant environmental benefits.
Pongamia trees soak up carbon, improve soil health through their nitrogen-fixing properties, and reduce reliance on pesticides, making them ideal for restoring underutilised land. Pongamia beans can also be used as feedstock for biofuels, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and furthering environmental sustainability.
How does Terviva transform the pongamia beans into its Ponova food ingredients?
Pongamia is a true super tree for making delicious foods. It’s a resilient non-GMO species that can withstand weather events that other crops cannot, it can heal the soils it grows in, and it protects itself from pests through a simple and ingenious natural method: it has a bitter taste.
Historically, this prevented pongamia's use in food, but Ponova uses Terviva's IP to gently remove the bitterness and produces high-quality oils that are more lightly refined than other oils. The oil is smooth, with butter notes and a rich golden colour.
How can these ingredients be used in different food and beverage applications?
Ponova oil is a sustainable, mid-oleic vegetable oil featuring omega-9. It has a neutral flavour and buttery mouthfeel, suitable for various culinary applications, including dairy substitutes, plant-based meats, baked goods, mayonnaise and spreads. It has a higher smoke point than olive oil and can also be used in cooking and food preparation.
The pongamia protein and flour currently under development are rich in nutrients and ideal for protein bars, baked goods, snacks and other plant-based food products. These ingredients offer health benefits while helping food companies achieve sustainability goals.
Are there any drawbacks/challenges associated with using pongamia to develop ingredients? How do you navigate these?
The biggest challenge we face is time; growing a business centered on trees requires patience and long-term focus. We have been very lucky to work with partners that understand that the incredible potential of pongamia far outweighs the time it takes for trees to grow to maturity. To date, we have built a robust wild-harvest supply chain, secured strategic investment, and are scaling tree planting. Terviva navigates these challenges by staying committed to our north star: planting trees for impact. By focusing on the long-term benefits and unique value of pongamia as a sustainable supertree, Terviva has built a differentiated and high-potential business model.
How does Terviva approach working with farmers?
This ancient tree has long been prized for niche uses along the subtropics, but Terviva’s innovations are directly benefiting farmers with high-yield natural cultivars and an entire new category of products to drive the value of the crop. This new group of farmers, as resilient as the trees they grow, demonstrate that we all succeed when farmers succeed. By partnering directly with farmers and investing in local agricultural communities, we can address climate change and create a more equitable food system, building a more resilient and healthy future for future generations.
By scaling pongamia in places like India, Australia, Florida, and Hawai’i, we are helping to revitalise soil health and increase local biodiversity while creating new revenue streams that support local economies.
What about food and beverage brand collaborations? Any notable partnerships you’d like to mention?
In 2023, Terviva announced its landmark collaboration with Aloha, a plant-based protein and nutrition specialist. Aloha’s special-edition Kona bar featuring Ponova oil quickly became one of the brand's top-selling bars, demonstrating consumers’ desire for products that positively impact the environment and communities who produce our food.
Based on the success of the Kona bar, our partnership with Aloha has expanded in 2024 with the launch of the Pa'akai Bar in March 2024. The Pa'akai Bar features Ponova oil along with other sustainably grown Hawai'i ingredients. As the first commercial product using Ponova oil, our collaboration with Aloha exemplifies Terviva’s focus on sustainable, plant-based ingredients and their positive influence on the food industry.
What has been the company’s biggest achievement so far?
There have been many incredible milestones since Terviva’s inception in 2010. So far, one of Terviva’s most significant achievements has been the successful commercialisation and scaling of pongamia into food products like Ponova oil. Our partnership with Aloha demonstrates the potential power of pongamia in the food industry.
By empowering local farmers, Terviva has made significant strides in sustainability and community development. In India, our Terviva Karanja Sakhis program includes more than 1,000 community leaders, primarily women, who are managing harvesting and bean collection and partnering with smallholder and indigenous collecting communities. Over 40,000 lives have been positively impacted through their 2023 harvest. We are incredibly proud that more than 70% of the pongamia harvesters and collectors are women, offering them a new path to economic stability.
What’s next for Terviva? Any exciting plans for the future?
2024 has been a year of significant growth for Terviva. We recently announced the appointment of Simmarpal Singh as chief operating officer and Manju Kohli as senior vice president of people operations. These appointments will support Terviva's expansion in scaling global pongamia production across the food, feed, and fuel sectors.
Throughout the rest of the year and beyond, we are focused on driving further growth by continually developing our pongamia bean processing technology, expanding our equitable and transparent supply chain, and continuing to develop meaningful, strategic partnerships across various industries, positioning the company for continued success in 2025 and beyond. Watch this space!
