Seth Petchers

Leveraging over 25 years of on the ground experience in sustainable global supply chains, Seth Petchers has spent his career building win-win supply chains for farmers and companies that create shared opportunity, value, and risk. With past experience in both corporate and non-profit organizations, and with projects in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the US, Seth brings a range of perspectives and experiences to his work.  At the Sustainable Food Lab, Seth helps companies set strategy and create practical, impactful implementation plans with room for learning and scaling.  His projects focus on mentoring small businesses on governance, strategy development, and program execution, as well as working with large companies to develop sustainability frameworks that set the stage for action.

Prior to joining the Sustainable Food Lab’s team, Seth led Frontier Co-op’s efforts to deepen its sustainable herb, spice, and essential oils sourcing, developing initiatives to build the business capacity of suppliers around the globe.  Seth previously lived in India for six years, where he founded Shop for Change, a social-venture working to connect farmers to Indian consumer markets.  Seth has also held positions with Oxfam America and Fair Trade USA, as well as consulted for The World Bank.  His work on coffee, cocoa, cotton, spices, fresh produce, and tea has included policy advocacy, consumer awareness, supply chain development, market assessment, and farmer-organization capacity building.  Seth holds a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts in South Asian Studies and Religion from Oberlin College.  Seth is based in Iowa where, in addition to his work with the Food Lab, he enjoys bicycling gravel farm roads between fields of corn and soybeans and playing bass guitar in a local band.