“I want to thank all my brothers and sisters that that are committed to this higher purpose of natural and organic food products and to make the world a better place,” John Mackey, founder and for more than 40 years CEO of the Whole Foods Market company, said during the "Conscious Leadership in the Age of Amazon" session at FamilyFarmed’s 2021 Good Food Financing and Innovation Conference.

"I'll put the challenge to the next generation to evolve the industry and take it to another level, which means getting back to the original vision of the early leaders in this movement. Originally, this was an agricultural revolution of food grown closer to nature where farmers were taking care of the soil and maintaining the purity of the water. We wanted food that was in its natural state and less processed. I hope the next generation will re-embrace this intent."