A conversation with Citizens of Soil’s founders, Sarah & Michael Vachon.

Please tell us what Citizens of Soil does in one sentence.

Award-winning extra virgin olive oils on a mission to turn a commodity into a community.

What inspired you to start Citizens of Soil?

We have friends in Greece who were doing more to preserve their land than anyone else around them, but because olive oil is treated as a commodity, they were only ever paid the same as people who were farming intensively, stripping the land of its natural resources.

When you pay farmers directly and you pay them above the commodity rates for farming regeneratively, the result is you get a much higher-quality product, that tastes amazing, is full of nutritional benefits, and is better for the planet. 

What problems is Citizens of Soil solving?

In the commodity system of olive oil, producers are typically paid a set price by weight, and when you prioritise quantity, you sacrifice quality. We ensure fair pay and help introduce better farming practices that mean the quality of our olive oils tend to get better every year.

This is a huge benefit for our customers, most of whom find it’s difficult to find olive oil brands they can trust. Unlike most other brands, we make a point of showcasing who makes every olive oil we sell, where it comes from, when it was harvested, and other important details like the level of polyphenols (antioxidants) present. It’s through transparency that we build trust and it’s through trust that we build community.

What is Citizens of Soil doing to drive positive environmental or social change in the consumer sector?

We’re not here to preserve the status quo—we’re here to build a new model. Increasingly, olive oil is being made in industrial ways which degrade soils, overlook communities, and lower its nutritional value. In a landscape like this, sustainability isn't enough.

That said, we chose to start our business with a focus on fair. For us this means fair pay throughout the supply chain. We pay our farmers well above the commodity rate so they can not only have a livelihood that enables them to stay on their land, but by which they can reinvest back into better looking after the land.

After people, we focus on the environmental impact. In our case, soil health is very important to us so we’re always learning and looking for opportunities to “regenerate” as sustaining isn’t going to protect our groves in the future. This is why we work with our farmers on regenerative practices to build in resilience to their land.

For us, this means: Farming organically with no synthetic chemical intervention (except as a last resort), low or no tilling of the soil, sowing cover crops to protect and enhance the soil structure while supporting biodiversity and then incorporating grazing animals or their manure as natural fertiliser where possible.

What has been your greatest achievement since starting Citizens of Soil?

Securing that first big listing with Waitrose was a game-changer for our business. It’s such a prestigious and respected grocery group, but it’s also massive so it was a huge step up for us.

We launched in 155 stores with both our bottle and refill, which made us the first EVOO refill on shelves in the UK.

It was a testament to the innovation work we’d be doing around refill packaging (since it worked and continues to drive a solid rate of sale, showing that shoppers are engaged on these lighter-weight options), as well as an opportunity to expand into more farmers and look to transform more groves into a system that better supports nature.

What has been the biggest challenge since starting Citizens of Soil?

Cashflow and working with a single ingredient heavily impacted by the climate crisis is no small feat. We are also working with a "commodity" product, with one single harvest a year. So when we forecast and buy, it's for a full year of stock.

On top of that, the past couple of years have been the most difficult in living history in the Mediterranean for olive farmers, which has led to lots of fraud, theft, damaged/degraded land and huge shortages.

Navigating this creates an interesting journey for a start up.

But our commitment to outstanding farmers and championing them has meant we have a line-up of small-batch producers who want to work with us. They feel proud to be represented and a sense of community that we’re helping to build.

How will this investment help Citizens of Soil?

We're so honoured that such an exciting group of people all share our vision for creating lasting change in the olive oil industry. Amidst a clearly challenging fundraising environment, we’ve secured £1.8M in new investment from FIGR, another private family office, and a small group of angel investors, to grow our business and support more amazing olive oil producers.

For starters, we will dramatically scale up our direct-to-consumer offering and welcome thousands of new members in our Olive Oil Club, the UK’s only monthly letterbox delivery of olive oil. At the same time, we’ll be expanding our footprint across national grocery, bringing our exciting core range of regeneratively-farmed extra virgin olive oil to so many new shoppers.

All this growth needs a strong team and this investment will enable us to continue to hire the best in the business. We’ll be expanding our team across digital, sales, and marketing in 2025.

Lastly, and most importantly, this means we can work with even more farmers to support our growth, paying them well above the commodity rates, and ensuring they’re well-equipped to continue regenerating their land.

How have you found working with FIGR so far?

Before we even finalised the investment with FIGR, Ellie and Fiona were already leaning in to support with introductions, potential candidates, and more. We’ve always found they had our best interests in mind and we’re so excited to see what we can achieve together in the years to come.