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Agrotech, Company News, Sustainability, World

The Positive Agriculture Outcomes Accelerator will now catalyse more than $30 million in investments to support nearly 40 agricultural projects through 2028.

PepsiCo announced the third year of its global agriculture program, the Positive Agriculture Outcomes (PAO) Accelerator, by backing eight new innovation projects across nine countries. PepsiCo’s continued investment aims to address some of the most urgent challenges facing agriculture today, while moving the company’s pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) agenda forward. The PepsiCo Positive Agriculture Outcomes (PAO) Accelerator will now catalyze more than $30 million in investments to support nearly 40 agricultural projects through 2028.

PepsiCo’s PAO Accelerator offers local farming communities co-investment to accelerate diverse and results-driven Positive Agriculture projects, as well as funding for ag-tech start-ups that offer proven products or technology with the potential to scale. This year’s innovations will build resiliency through climate related analysis, improve soil health, and strengthen farms’ climate resilience – engaging farmers in Australia, Colombia, Egypt, India, Iraq, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, and the United Kingdom.

“We can’t motivate systemic change on our own, and our PAO Accelerator continues to provide a forum for farming communities to bring forth ideas and opportunities, and receive the funding needed to get promising innovation off the ground,” said Margaret Henry, Vice President, Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture at PepsiCo. “With this latest round of projects, we’re not only fostering this powerful network of innovators across global farmland, but growing closer to achieving a more regenerative future, with farmers’ insight at the forefront.”

Among the roster of 2023 projects, will be a project with Australian grain growers to test and validate soil health management practices to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions on-farm. In Colombia, funding will support increasing potato crop quality and yield by installing sprinkler irrigation systems that will also reduce water use. And, in collaboration with 3Keel, a UK-based landscape innovation firm, funding will help connect Europe-based organizations interested in supporting regenerative solutions with local farmland managers who can deliver measurable, sustainable outcomes.

“Investing in pioneering agriculture projects is a key action in combatting the evolving climate crisis and setting farmers around the world, up for long-term success,” shared Tom Curtis, Director, 3Keel Group Ltd. “Support from PepsiCo’s PAO Accelerator will powerfully enable our team to work with local farmers across Europe to further broker the partnerships needed to accelerate climate action on the ground to strengthen agricultural supply chains for the long-term.”

Since its launch in 2021, the PAO Accelerator has supported diverse projects – from adopting efficient irrigation systems in response to increased drought, developing kilns to turn agricultural waste into fertilizer, improving soil health, and more.

“Speaking from experience, prioritizing and investing in climate-smart innovation can uncover solutions for our entire global agricultural supply chain,” said Chris Seymour, Seymour Farms, Canada, and 2022 PAO Accelerator funding recipient. “With support from PepsiCo’s PAO Accelerator, my team gained new insights that helped improved soil health and profitability for my business, even as weather conditions became more unpredictable over time.”

The Positive Agriculture Outcomes Accelerator will now

Agrotech, Company News, North America, Sustainability

The collaboration between PepsiCo and Walmart offers a voluntary, flexible approach to regenerative agriculture

PepsiCo and Walmart announced a 7-year collaboration to pursue $120 million worth of investments focused on supporting U.S. and Canadian farmers in their pursuit to improve soil health and water quality. By establishing and scaling financial, agronomic and social programs, it aims to enable and accelerate the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices on more than 2 million acres of farmland and deliver approximately 4 million metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions and removals by 2030 – roughly equivalent to the amount of electricity needed to power 778,300 homes for one year1. 

Commenting on the voluntary adoption of regenerative agriculture practices, Jeff Huffman, Owner & Operator of Island Farms LLC in Maxwell, Neb., said, “From my perspective, embracing regenerative agriculture is essential. It’s good for farmers, not only because it’s beneficial to the environment and our food quality, but also for the profitability of our businesses. If you use less fertiliser and you grow a bigger crop, or if you use less water and can still grow the same size of the crop, it strengthens your farm in a way that benefits the bottom line and our environment for generations to come.”

PepsiCo’s and Walmart’s businesses are dependent on farmers to grow ingredients that are used to make delicious products that consumers enjoy every day. With a supply chain for the two companies that stretches across North America and involves a large volume of critical crops – including potatoes, oats, corn, wheat, soybean and rice – sustainability will look different from commodity to commodity, region to region, and even farm to farm. The collaboration between PepsiCo and Walmart offers a voluntary, flexible approach to regenerative agriculture that gives farmers a seat at the table, recognises the diversity of agriculture and that one size does not fit all.

“At Walmart, our sustainability strategy is built to make the everyday choice the sustainable choice for our customers. This collaboration with PepsiCo is a great example of how we are prioritising the expansion of regenerative agricultural practices among farmers across North America so that we can continue to make quality products affordable and accessible for customers. This collaboration aims to help elevate farmer livelihoods, engage them on how to more sustainably manage soil health, increase yields and create a model that others can mimic across other product categories, including encouraging additional investments in regenerative agriculture by other brands,” said Jane Ewing, Senior Vice President for sustainability at Walmart.

The collaboration between PepsiCo and Walmart offers

Company News, Foodgrains, People, Sustainability, World

Partnership plans to come to life through several activations focusing on food security and support for smallholder farmers across the globe

International advocacy organisation Global Citizen and the PepsiCo Foundation, the philanthropic arm of PepsiCo, announced a year-long partnership and campaign focused on alleviating world hunger and promoting economic empowerment by tapping the enormous potential of rural, small-scale farming communities. The initiative seeks to provide a platform for smallholder farmers to work alongside world leaders and advocate for delivering on commitments targeting the nexus of the food and climate crises. 

The multi-faceted partnership plans to come to life through some activations focusing on food security and support for smallholder farmers across the globe, highlighting the importance in six countries: Egypt, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, Thailand and Turkey:

The campaign will urge the private sector and philanthropists to unlock new commitments that match the scale and ambition of PepsiCo’s global Food for Good platform and support the livelihoods of farming communities in the developing world. Together, the two organisations will reaffirm PepsiCo’s $100 million commitment to the Zero Hunger Private Sector Pledge and call on the broader participation of its private sector peers and business leaders. As a global food and beverage company, regenerative agriculture is crucial to PepsiCo’s business with the company sourcing 25 crops from more than 7 million acres in 60 countries.

C.D. Glin, President of the PepsiCo Foundation and Global Head of Philanthropy for PepsiCo said, “Our partnership with Global Citizen builds on the history of collaboration between PepsiCo Foundation and local partners through programs including ‘She Feeds the World’ and ‘Agrovita’ to advance food security through gender-conscious community engagement. We’re focused on strengthening the role of small-scale women producers through sustainable and regenerative agriculture training and economic support and by improving linkages, including within the PepsiCo supply chain, to ensure sustainable and stable incomes for the farmer community. These efforts support our PepsiCo Positive commitment to Positive Agriculture and contribute to our goal to improve the livelihoods of more than 250,000 people in our agricultural supply chain and support 5 million female farmers and members of their communities by 2025.” 

Michael Sheldrick, Co-Founder and Chief Policy, Impact and Government Affairs Officer of Global Citizen said, “We’re happy to work with the PepsiCo Foundation to help rural farmers and their communities by sharing their stories through Global Citizen’s advocacy campaigns. These farmers, especially women, are very important for local food systems, but they often face poverty and vulnerability during crises.” 

Partnership plans to come to life through

Agrotech, Company News, Finance, India

India among 11 countries to receive investment for Regenerative Agriculture Projects

PepsiCo today announced the continuation of its global agriculture accelerator, the Positive Agriculture Outcomes (PAO) Fund, by granting funding to 14 business projects in India and 10 other countries to address some of the most intractable challenges facing agriculture today.

“We’re in a race to reach the world’s 1.5-degree target and, to do our part, PepsiCo has set a range of ambitious PepsiCo Positive goals, including expanding regenerative agriculture practices and building the resilience of those in our agricultural supply chain by preparing them for a changing climate,” said Rob Meyers, Vice President of Global Sustainable Agriculture.

Launched in August 2021, the PAO Fund offers PepsiCo market teams co-investment to accelerate diverse and innovative Positive Agriculture projects. The investments are designed to ‘de-risk’ promising initiatives while accelerating the development of innovative technologies and approaches that can help scale the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices.

In 2022, the PAO Fund is making investments in projects that span a range of commodities, supply chains, time horizons and PepsiCo business units, but all are focused on either testing a new regenerative technology or approach, helping farmers build climate resilience, or developing new sustainable “landscapes”. In total, the PAO Fund is providing ongoing support to over 20 different projects around the world through grants totalling more than $7.4 million awarded in 2021 and 2022.

“With support from the PAO Fund, we’ve been able to generate much greater engagement and innovation both at the farm level and through closer collaboration with our global teams,” said Haseeb Malik, Senior Manager of Agriculture APAC, PepsiCo.

Projects from the PAO Fund’s inaugural investment are the focus of PepsiCo’s latest, four-part digital video series, “Growing Our Future.” The series looks at how PepsiCo is working with farmers in Thailand to help them adapt to climate change, how farmers in Greece are adopting more efficient irrigation systems to adapt to increased drought, and how PepsiCo is supporting research in Brazil to help potato farmers improve soil health.

For India, the series elaborates on how PepsiCo has partnered with farmers in Punjab to develop kilns that can turn their agricultural waste into fertiliser known as biochar.

In recent years, PepsiCo India’s Pep+ (Pep Positive) agenda in the supply chain of potatoes have created awareness and impact in Punjab and West Bengal, helping farmers manage paddy crop residue by ploughing back into soils and conversion of paddy straw into biochar through the process of pyrolysis. PepsiCo India is also funding the infrastructure (retort kilns) to help growers in these states.

India among 11 countries to receive investment

Agrotech, Company News, North America, Sustainability

This strategic partnership is expected to reach up to 2 million acres by 2030 and represents a trailblazing effort by two global companies that share ambitious carbon reduction goals.

ADM, a global leader in sustainable agriculture and nutrition, and PepsiCo announced a ground-breaking 7.5-year strategic commercial agreement to closely collaborate on projects that aim to significantly expand regenerative agriculture across their shared North American supply chains. This strategic partnership is expected to reach up to 2 million acres by 2030 and represents a trailblazing effort by two global companies that share ambitious carbon reduction goals. The companies’ capabilities span the food and agriculture value chains, creating a unique, large-scale platform to support farmers’ transition to regenerative agriculture, while building their resilience to climate change.

Reaching the strategic partnership’s goals could eliminate 1.4 million metric tons of greenhouse gasses – equivalent to the amount of electricity used to power 275,000 homes per year – at the farm level, while creating meaningful shared value directly for farmers.

“Building a better food system is essential to the future health of the earth and all of us,” said Jim Andrew, Chief Sustainability Officer, PepsiCo. “At its core, PepsiCo is an agricultural company, working to spread regenerative agriculture practices that restore the earth and reduce carbon emissions to 7 million acres by 2030. This partnership with ADM marks a sea change in how PepsiCo engages with strategic partners and is expected to help us reach almost one-third of that goal. By enabling greater collaboration through strategic partnerships like this one, we can strengthen the livelihoods and resilience of the farmers we work with, while building a more sustainable future together.”

“Sustainability is fundamental to ADM: Our growth strategy is underpinned by demand for more sustainable products, and our culture compels us to act,” said ADM Chief Sustainability Officer Alison Taylor. “Last year, we expanded on our Strive 35 sustainability goals with a commitment to reduce our Scope 3 emissions by 25 per cent by 2035 and expanding regenerative agriculture practices – as we have with our recent strategic partnerships with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Farmers Business Network – will be key to reaching that goal. This announcement is a major step forward, as we work with a partner whose values align with our own to scale up regenerative agriculture in a way few other companies can. We’re excited to take the next big step in reducing carbon and making our entire food system more sustainable.”

This strategic partnership is expected to reach

Agrotech, Allied Industry

Both companies have partnered to create sustainable change through unique drip irrigation technology

PepsiCo India and N-Drip, manufacturer of an innovative gravity-powered micro-irrigation system, have announced a partnership, as a lead-up to World Water Day 2022, to help farmers in India adopt game-changing technology in water efficiency. The technology has already been introduced in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Rajasthan with an aim to improve water efficiency levels across thousands of hectares in the country by 2025. This is part of a global partnership between PepsiCo and N-Drip aimed at increasing water efficiency across 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) around the world by 2025.

N-Drip’s high-efficiency irrigation system is powered by gravity and harnesses the water-saving benefits of high-pressure drip irrigation, but with low energy, operating and maintenance demands—making it more accessible to all types of farmers and nearly all types of crops. Farmers using N-Drip routinely achieve significant water savings, see larger crop yields, and reduce the need for expensive fertilizess. In addition, by converting from flood irrigation to N-Drip’s drip irrigation system, carbon (CO2) emissions are reduced by as much as 83 per cent and methane emissions by as much as 78 per cent.

Speaking about this development, Pratap Bose, Agro Director, Supply Chain, PepsiCo India, said, “Being an agri centric company at heart, PepsiCo India over the last 30+ years has been working towards increasing efficiency across its agri supply chain to reduce water usage by providing alternates to flood irrigation practices. The collaboration with N-Drip is another step in that direction. We are excited to partner with them as they are committed to solving the problem of water shortage by providing a robust alternative to flood irrigation. The initial response to the pilot project has been quite encouraging. We are already seeing improved crop yields, reduced fertiliser usage, and an average reduction of 39 per cent water consumption compared to flood irrigation in states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Rajasthan.”

This new innovative technology not only applies to potato cultivation but also to other crops such as vegetables or maize.

Both companies have partnered to create sustainable