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HomePosts Tagged "regenerative agriculture"
Agribiotechnology, Agribusiness, Agrotech, Company News, Digital Technologies, Inputs, R&D, World

Each blockbuster is expected to contribute more than 500 million euros of the over 32-billion-euros peak sales potential in the R&D pipeline – unparalleled across the global agricultural industry.

 Bayer aims to launch ten blockbuster products in the next ten years to support farmers worldwide, the company announced at its 2024 Crop Science innovation update in Chicago. Each blockbuster is expected to contribute more than 500 million euros of the over 32-billion-euros peak sales potential in the R&D pipeline – unparalleled across the global agricultural industry. Farmers will benefit from new technologies that will help them produce more while restoring nature through innovations that power regenerative agriculture.

Unparalleled R&D pipeline with over 32 billion euros peak sales potential includes transformative technologies like the new broad-acre herbicide Icafolin, the biotech version of the Preceon Smart Corn System, fourth-generation corn rootworm technology, fourth- and fifth-generation soybean herbicide tolerance traits as well as third- and fourth-generation insect protection traits. Promoting and scaling regenerative agricultural practices are key to producing more while restoring nature – with R&D and digital technologies being key enablers . As the global innovation leader for agriculture, Bayer is demonstrating how its solutions can support food security and mitigation of climate change

Bayer is on its way to scale regenerative agriculture on more than 400 million acres globally by the middle of the next decade. The company considers regenerative agriculture as an outcome-based production model, with improving soil health as a key component, leading to increased resilience. Other key aspects include increased productivity; adaption and mitigation of climate change through reductions in greenhouse gas emissions; increased carbon sequestration in the soil; maintaining, preserving or restoring on-farm biodiversity; conserving water resources through improved water retention, reduction in water run-off, as well as improved social and economic well-being of farmers and their communities. In addition, Bayer is capitalizing on the opportunity to double its accessible market to more than 200 billion euros, driven by global market growth and investments into ag-adjacent spaces like biofuels, crop fertility, as well as digital platforms and marketplaces.

“Agriculture needs to change for the better, there’s no relying on what has been working in the past. We deliver a combination of unmatched innovation that goes hand in hand with key regenerative practices to help address two of the biggest challenges of our time: ensuring food security for a growing population and fighting climate change,” said Frank Terhorst, Head of Strategy and Sustainability at Bayer’s Crop Science Division.

Bob Reiter, Head of R&D, added: “The age of single and isolated technologies is over. We are focusing on closely connected agricultural systems that combine seeds, traits, crop protection and digital solutions in a smart way to benefit the farmers and the environment. To this end, we are leveraging key technology platforms like gene editing, precision breeding, small molecules and biologicals to deliver products that farmers need to make agriculture more productive while reducing the carbon footprint and fostering biodiversity at a global scale.”

Each blockbuster is expected to contribute more

Agribusiness, Agrotech, Carbon Farming, Company News, Nature, Sustainability, World

CIBO Impact addresses Scope 3 Sponsor Challenges: Maximizing Funding Potential for Farmers, Boosting Enrollment and Accessing and Sourcing Farmers and Acres

CIBO Technologies, the company powering the transition to regenerative agriculture, unveiled a comprehensive end-to-end Scope 3 offering designed to help agricultural enterprises identify, measure, reduce and report on carbon emissions throughout their supply chains. By accessing the CIBO Impact platform and its Grower Network Partners, enterprises can better decarbonize agricultural commodities and accelerate the adoption of conservation practices through farmer incentive programs.

Enterprises face many challenges in reporting and reducing carbon emissions, including complex supply chains, lack of direct farmer access, limited data availability and accuracy, variance in emissions sources, and shifting regulatory and compliance dynamics. Companies also need help to design programs that provide a sufficient incentive for all stakeholders to ensure the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices for the long term.

CIBO Impact Addresses Scope 3 Sponsor Challenges: Maximizing Funding Potential for Farmers, Boosting Enrollment and Accessing and Sourcing Farmers and Acres

CIBO Impact empowers Scope 3 sponsors to maximize funding potential for farmers by connecting them with additional financial incentives, such as the USDA Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), to cover transition costs, leading to higher farmer adoption. CIBO is the only company that provides a scaled Scope 3 reporting and program platform that enables programs to be deployed to farmers leveraging CIBO’s Grower Network Partners, composed of trusted organizations across their supply sheds with farmer relationships already in place.

“We value our important business relationship with CIBO, and together are excited to continue delivering reduced emissions factors for CPGs and processors through best-in-class sustainability solutions for farmers,” said Jamie Leifker, President of Truterra, a Land O’Lakes Company.

Additional CIBO Impact Scope 3 features include:

Defining sourcing regions or supply sheds, measuring carbon intensity (CI) from the company inventory base year to the current crop year.

Designing strategies to reduce emissions to reach companies’ interim (5-10 year) agriculture GHG reduction targets.

Developing and deploying farmer-facing programs to achieve these targets, and measuring and reporting intervention CI to compare to supply sheds.

CIBO Impact addresses Scope 3 Sponsor Challenges:

Company News, Environment, Soil Health, Sustainability, World

By 2026, ambitious target to recover over 300 thousand hectares of degraded land in Cerrado Brazil and regenerate agricultural soils in China.

Syngenta Group, the leading global agriculture technology company, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a world-wide conservation organization with the mission to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends, today renewed their successful collaboration that links conservation goals with economic potential and addresses societal issues like deforestation and land degradation. The two partners have been collaborating since 2009 and entered into a global collaboration in 2018.

The new three-year collaboration builds on successful projects and focuses on further advancing business practices with the goals to scale up regenerative agriculture, improve resource efficiency to minimize impact of agriculture on climate, improve soil health, and promote habitat protection in major agricultural regions worldwide including the Cerrado region of Brazil, China, and the United States. The collaboration embodies Syngenta’s commitment to regenerate soil and nature, core to its new Group-wide sustainability priorities announced in April 2024.

Petra Laux, Chief Sustainability Officer of Syngenta Group: “We are very proud to continue our collaboration with TNC and our partnership for impact. We want to further leverage our efforts towards a climate solution-oriented agriculture fueled by innovation and partnerships that regenerate soil and protect nature. Agriculture must not only feed a growing global population over the coming decades, but it also needs to fight climate change and safeguard natural resources.”

Syngenta has set an ambitious target to recover 1 million hectares of degraded land throughout Brazil, with a significant portion focused on the Cerrado where the TNC collaborates with the company.

The goal of the initiative is to make the restoration of degraded land the profitable option sought by farmers in Brazil when expanding their production, instead of clearing native vegetation. The REVERTE® program, originally designed by Syngenta and TNC for the Cerrado due to its significant potential, includes Itaú BBA bank as the organization offering a line of credit for the growers following socio-environmental criteria.

Michael Doane, Global Managing Director Food & Freshwater Systems, TNC: “REVERTE® aims to demonstrate, through an integrated solution involving good agricultural practices, financial tools, policy, and business models, the economic viability of restoring degraded pastures instead of opening new cultivation areas and avoiding deforestation. Restoring land in the Cerrado delivers soil and water conservation benefits, increases carbon sequestration, and can increase the resilience of the production systems to extreme climate events. The program aims to support the transformation of agribusiness in the Cerrado, generating social, economic, and environmental benefits today and in the future.”

By 2026, ambitious target to recover over

Agribusiness, Carbon Farming, Company News, India, Soil Health

The partnership will introduce improved agriculture practices and offer carbon finance to 1,100 sector tea gardens and more than 200,000 small tea growers.

Tea Research Institute TRA Tocklai and Boomitra, the 2023 Earthshot Prize winner and a leader in soil carbon marketplaces, have formed a partnership to transform tea farming in Eastern India with regenerative agriculture. The partnership will introduce improved agriculture practices and offer carbon finance to 1,100 sector tea gardens and more than 200,000 small tea growers.

The collaboration aims to transform the tea sector in India to be climate resilient for generations to come while sequestering carbon from the atmosphere.

Established as the oldest and largest tea research institute worldwide, TRA Tocklai plays a pivotal role in addressing the research and development needs of the Indian tea industry. With a primary focus on enhancing overall productivity and quality, TRA Tocklai is renowned for its groundbreaking research and innovative extension services.

The collaboration between TRA Tocklai and Boomitra signifies a major stride towards sustainable tea cultivation. Boomitra will leverage its expertise to assist TRA growers in adopting regenerative agriculture practices. This initiative is designed to enhance productivity, promote soil health, and contribute to carbon sequestration.

In addition to promoting regenerative agriculture guidance, Boomitra will enable tea growers associated with TRA to generate income through the sale of carbon credits. This innovative approach aligns with the global movement towards sustainable agriculture and provides a unique economic incentive for tea farmers to contribute to environmental conservation.

“We are thrilled to partner with the esteemed Tea Research Association to bring regenerative agriculture practices and carbon finance to tea growers in India. This collaboration exemplifies our commitment to fostering sustainable agricultural practices and supporting farmers in mitigating climate change,” said Aadith Moorthy, CEO and Founder of Boomitra.

“The exclusive agreement with Boomitra marks a significant milestone for TRA Tocklai and the tea industry at large. By integrating regenerative agriculture and carbon finance into our practices, we aim to create a more resilient and sustainable future for our tea growers,” said Joydeep Phukan, Secretary of the Tea Research Association.

The partnership underscores TRA and Boomitra’s joint commitment to environmental sustainability, economic empowerment for tea growers, and the advancement of regenerative agriculture practices in India.

The partnership will introduce improved agriculture practices

Agbiologicals, Biostimulants, Company News, Europe

YaraAmplix will begin commercial rollout in China, Brazil, and France during the end of 2023, and will gradually be rolled out to the rest of the world in 2024.

Climate change is putting many of the world’s most popular foods such as maize, tomato and wheat at risk of reduced crops. With the average global temperature on earth having already increased by over 1 degree Celsius in the last 100 years*1, agriculture is now experiencing more extreme weather than ever before with temperature increases being most severe on land.

To meet the increasing demand for solutions to protect crops against climate change and optimize nutrient use efficiency, Yara has launched YaraAmplix™. A new brand that will expand the range of biostimulants, at the Biostimulant World Congress in Milan, Italy.  YaraAmplix will begin commercial rollout in China, Brazil, and France during the end of 2023, and will gradually be rolled out to the rest of the world in 2024.

“Extreme weather is destroying crops all over the world with drought, flooding and frost. Biostimulants helps farmers make their crops stronger, and more resilient to stress from climate change. Farmers are the first line of defense against food insecurity, and we are adapting to their needs with solutions that allow them to prosper when the environment is not always on their side,” says Svein Tore Holsether, CEO Yara.

In the last five years, Yara has developed a comprehensive product portfolio of biostimulants, with each one based on a unique formulation, and with the ability to stimulate plant metabolism and performance. Since 2018, this portfolio has grown with a compound annual growth rate of more than 50 per cent.

These products will now become part of a new brand family, YaraAmplix, with several new products in the pipeline for 2024. The portfolio is formulated with mostly natural ingredients such as seaweed and plant extracts, to deliver targeted effects such as enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress, improved nutrient use efficiency, crop yield and quality. YaraAmplix is a vital solution for regenerative agriculture addressing climate, soil health, resource use, biodiversity and prosperity.

 YaraAmplix is a complement to Yara’s fertilizer portfolio, providing a complete crop nutrition solution; in what will become a key offering for farmers in the future.  Yara’s ambition is to grow a nature-positive food future, and the company is conducting scientific and independent trials on biostimulants in all regions to evaluate and validate their effects in various conditions and crops. A dataset of 359 data points from 2018 to 2020 shows an average yield increase of 7.5 per cent with a win rate of 74 per cent over control treatment.

YaraAmplix will begin commercial rollout in China,

Agrotech, Company News, India, Seeds, Sustainability

Potential to transform India’s rice production: 75 per cent of total rice cultivation area expected to shift to direct-seeded rice practices by 2040.

Bayer has announced the introduction of its direct-seeded rice (DSR) system at the 6th International Rice Congress in Manila. Moving from transplanted puddled rice cultivation to direct-seeded rice can help farmers to reduce water use by up to 40 percent, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by up to 45 percent and reduce farmers’ dependence on scarce and costly manual labor by up to 50 percent. The introduction of the DSR system is fully in line with Bayer’s recently announced approach to regenerative agriculture which will enable farmers to produce more while restoring more.

Driven by these advantages, DSR has the potential to be transformational with 75 percent of total rice fields in India expected to switch to this cultivation method by 2040, in comparison to roughly 11 percent today. By 2030, Bayer plans to bring the DSR system to one million hectares in India, supporting over two million early-adopter smallholder rice farmers through its DirectAcres program.

Already underway, DirectAcres has seen considerable success with 99 percent of Indian farmers achieving successful plant establishment and 75 percent a higher return on investment compared to rice grown using the conventional transplanted method. Bayer plans therefore to introduce DirectAcres in other rice growing countries in Asia Pacific, starting with the Philippines in 2024.

“We are building entire systems based on regenerative agriculture practices that create value for farmers and nature alike and that help address the issue of global food security,” said Frank Terhorst, Head of Strategy & Sustainability at Bayer’s Crop Science division.

Traditionally, rice farmers first grow seedlings in nurseries before transplanting them in ploughed, levelled and flooded paddy fields. Over the subsequent months the water level must remain constant to ensure that the plants establish and grow. Shortly before the harvest the farmer drains the field. Some 80 percent of the world’s rice crop is today produced using this method.

Now, using advanced R&D capabilities, Bayer is designing climate-resilient rice hybrids with higher yields that can be sown directly in the soil and bred specifically for the different farm environments. By removing the standing water, machinery can perform much of the otherwise time consuming and arduous, manual farming practices. The reduced dependence on excess water – used partly to prevent weeds – means access to crop protection solutions will be key to the transformation. To address this, Bayer is developing new crop protection solutions including a new rice herbicide to ensure a successful and durable weed management program for the direct-seeded rice system.

DSR has the potential to change this by reducing the water use and the GHG emissions created by methane emitting bacteria that thrive in the standing water. The reduction of on-farm manual labor – through mechanization – addresses the issue of continuous labor shortage in the Indian countryside due to rapid urbanization. This has been recently confirmed in the Farmer Voice study supported by Bayer: 22 per cent of Indian smallholder farmers see labor costs as one of the biggest challenges to their operations.

At the 2023 UN Water Conference, Bayer committed to improving water use by 25 percent per kilogram of rice produced by its smallholder farmer customers enrolled in the DirectAcres program by 2030. Bringing direct-seeded rice to one million hectares by 2030 also contributes to the company’s sustainability goals of reducing customers’ on-field GHGs per kilogram of crop produced by 30 percent and empowering 100 million smallholder farmers to sustainably increase their productivity, improve the quality of their produce and enhance their livelihoods.

Potential to transform India’s rice production: 75

Agro chems – Chemicals, Agrotech, Company News, Europe, Finance, R&D

This is the company’s largest single investment in its Crop Protection business in Germany.

Bayer significantly strengthens its commitment to innovation in regenerative agriculture with a EUR 220 million investment in research and development (R&D) at its Monheim site. This is the company’s largest single investment in its Crop Protection business in Germany since the founding of the Monheim campus in 1979. The new Product Safety complex with labs, offices, and a greenhouse area offers space for approximately 200 employees. Its principal focus will be on developing the next generation of chemicals for a sustainable future and enhancing the environmental and human safety of Crop Protection. The new facility will boost Bayer’s efforts to become a major contributor to regenerative agriculture by developing and bringing to market new Crop Protection solutions which have even better environmental profiles than those currently available and will play a key role in significantly reducing agriculture’s impact on the environment.

“Looking into the future, we must radically transform today’s farming systems and switch to regenerative agriculture practices that produce more with less, while restoring more. There is a high demand for pushing beyond established standards in safety to unlock breakthrough innovation and Crop Protection solutions with better environmental profiles,” said Dr. Robert Reiter, Head of R&D at Bayer’s Crop Science Division.

The investment is also a clear commitment to Europe as a base of operations as well as one important cornerstone of Bayer’s Future Concept for Germany. “Even in times of economic uncertainty, we are laser-focused on innovation and future technologies,” Dirk Backhaus, Head of Product Supply at Crop Science, pointed out. “We have a long track record of investing into research, development, and production of safe chemical products for agriculture, and we’re eager to leverage our world class expertise in Germany to shape the future of regenerative agriculture here and around the world. The new facility at our Monheim site is a shining example of precisely that: Investments in future technologies, modern facilities, and, most importantly, our people.” Over the past three years, Bayer has invested EUR 180 million at its Dormagen site, with a focus on expanding production capacities for modern Crop Protection.

 The opportunity to invent better, climate neutral and environmentally benign Crop Protection products is huge and aims to strengthen Bayer’s global competitiveness. As such, this investment also reflects Bayer’s commitment to the innovative capacity of Germany and Europe. The anticipated construction period of the new Monheim facility will be around 3 years. Full commissioning is planned for 2026.

The new R&D facilities will be an important cornerstone of Bayer’s new innovation approach for Crop Protection. Already today, Bayer’s product portfolio ranks very well in terms of environmental impact. But the company is strongly committed to reducing it even further and pushing beyond established standards.

“With our new disruptive innovation approach – what we call CropKey – we are now designing molecules instead of selecting them,” said Rachel Rama, Head of Small Molecules at Crop Science. “This is based on a discovery concept which allows us to create solutions based on the predefined safety and sustainability profiles that go above and beyond current standards.” Data science, early safety screenings, modeling and artificial intelligence are crucial elements that enable our top scientists to create the next generation of Crop Protection, taking advantage of massive amounts of data and machine learning and setting a new benchmark. “With our investment in Monheim, we are now building a new data powerhouse in a high-tech work environment that will be highly attractive for our researchers and future top talents.”

The new innovation approach to Crop Protection is also clearly aligned with Bayer’s sustainability commitment to reduce the environmental impact of Crop Protection products by 30% by 2030.

This is the company’s largest single investment

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

Agri Genomics, Agrotech, Company News, Sustainability, World

Company expects to tap more than 100 billion euros of value in accessible and ag-adjacent markets with estimated peak sales potential of more than 30 billion euros to promote regenerative agricultural practices.

Bayer today announced its Crop Science Division will capitalise on opportunities presented by the shift to regenerative agriculture to grow in adjacent markets in addition to its core business of seeds, traits, crop protection and digital. At its 2023 Innovation Summit, the company identified growth potential in segments like crop fertility, biologicals, biofuels, carbon farming, precision application services as well as digital platforms and marketplaces, all of which are serving the needs of agriculture. Overall, the company expects to access more than 100 billion euros in these adjacent markets annually, in effect doubling the division’s potential market which today stands at more than 100 billion euro for the core portfolio alone. Importantly, by the middle of the next decade, Bayer envisions shaping regenerative agriculture on more than 400 million acres, built on the foundation of its leading agriculture input solutions.

This endeavor, in combination with the division’s leading seeds, traits and crop protection R&D pipeline were showcased in New York, featuring holistic system solutions the company is uniquely positioned to provide, fueling long-term growth of the company as it propels its ambitious growth plan to drive regenerative agriculture.

“We are envisioning an even broader role in agriculture. With the most powerful innovation engine in the industry and leading market positions, Bayer is uniquely set to provide the solutions that farmers need in light of food security and climate change,” said Rodrigo Santos, President of Bayer’s Crop Science Division and Member of the Board of Bayer AG. “We define regenerative agriculture as increasing food production, farm incomes and resilience in a changing climate while renewing nature. Our portfolio will deliver future innovations with regenerative agriculture at the core, and we will explore new market opportunities to further allow farmers to combine productivity, profitability, and sustainability benefits.”

Focus on solutions that drive regenerative agriculture

Farmers around the globe can expect access to industry-leading innovations that not only deliver yield improvements, but which can also regenerate soil and minimize the impact of farming on the climate and broader environment – tailored to the different crops. On the farm of the future, the terabytes of data captured from the field as well as the tons of carbon dioxide sequestered, will be as important to the farmer as the yield that each field produces. Going forward, Bayer will focus its investment on solutions that deliver important pillars of regenerative agriculture. This includes improved productivity, social and economic wellbeing of farmers and communities, conservation of water, mitigation of climate change, improved soil health as well as preservation and restoration of biodiversity.

To this end, Bayer’s core portfolio of crop protection, seeds and traits and digital products is best positioned to grow, and significant advancements are being made annually. The company is investing in its industry-leading pipeline to accelerate the delivery of solutions that growers need. Late-stage transformative technologies are being combined with the annual refresh of the global seed portfolio and the addition of hundreds of new product registrations and formulations every year.

Company expects to tap more than 100

Agrotech, India, Opinions, Sustainability

By Dr Deepak Birewar, Chairman & MD, Inventys Research Company

India is one of the major players in the global agricultural market. With the unstable food security landscape and the burden of feeding the growing population, the stress on the agricultural systems is increasing. This is leading to the emergence of issues like soil degradation and loss of crops and biodiversity. International scientists and industry reports suggest that at the current pace, only 50 years of harvest remain to feed the world population. In such a scenario, regenerative agriculture that prioritises ecological functions will be effective in building the resilience of agroecosystems.

Regenerative agriculture is a holistic farming system that focuses on improving soil health, enhancing food quality, and biodiversity improvement, through practices that increase soil organic matter, biota and biodiversity. The technique builds soil health, supports biodiversity and even returns carbon and nutrients to the soil. Regenerative agriculture also enables soil aggregation, water infiltration, retention and nutrient cycling. The practice further reduces soil erosion and provides habitat and food for diverse species.

The technique works on four main principles: minimising soil disturbance through conservation or zero tillage, diversifying crops to replenish nutrients and disrupt pest and disease lifecycles, retaining soil cover using cover crops, and integrating livestock (which adds manure to the soil and serves as a source of carbon sinks). Regenerative agriculture preserves soil organic matter and moisture, which helps suppress weeds, protects soil from the impact of extreme weather patterns, and avoids soil compaction. The farming method promotes nutrient cycling, improved plant nutrition, and helps prevent pests and diseases.

Also known as conservation agriculture, it is a farming system that supports sustainable land management, environmental protection and climate change adaptation and mitigation. It is relatively 20-50 per cent less labour-intensive and contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through lower energy inputs and improved nutrient use efficiency. Additionally, it minimises soil disturbance by reducing ploughing and retaining carbon in the soil, promotes crop rotation to enhance biodiversity and moves grazing animals to different pastures, thus improving soil quality and animal welfare.

Benefits

The practice improves long-term farmer livelihood through reduced costs and improved crop quality. It also ensures greater resilience to market volatility and extreme climate events. It further opens new green revenue streams for farmers, such as rewarding them for carbon capture and storage in the soil.

When soil is healthy, it produces more food and nutrition, stores more carbon and increases biodiversity. It also supports other water, land and air environments and ecosystems through natural processes, including water drainage and pollination. Other benefits of this model include efficient water usage and fewer pests, as greater biodiversity makes the land more resilient.

Regenerative farming can improve crop yields – the volume of crops produced- by improving the health of the soil and its ability to retain water, as well as reducing soil erosion. These improved yields can help feed the world’s growing population. Moreover, regenerative farming has the potential to transform the croplands and pastures, which cover up to 40 per cent of Earth’s ice-free land, into carbon sinks, reducing emissions from agriculture.

To read more click on:https://agrospectrumindia.com/e-magazine

By Dr Deepak Birewar, Chairman & MD,

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

Company News, Sustainability

Hormel Foods continues ESG investment in practices to enhance soil health, water and air quality, and sequester greenhouse gases

Hormel Foods Corporation, a Fortune 500 global branded food company, along with its subsidiary Applegate Farms LLC, is leading the way in supporting farmers who employ regenerative agriculture practices, a holistic system of farming that encourages continuous innovation and soil improvement using techniques such as minimal or no soil tillage, regular crop rotation and cover cropping.

Hormel Foods recently became a major sponsor of an up to 50,000-acre regenerative-agriculture pilot project to be located throughout central and southeast Minnesota. Assistance from Hormel Foods and other participants will help provide financial incentives for farmers to participate in the project and adopt regenerative agriculture practices. Furthering regenerative agriculture is part of the Hormel Foods 20 By 30 Challenge, a set of 20 aggressive environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals the company intends to reach by 2030.

“As we face the daunting challenges of feeding a growing global population while protecting the planet, we believe advancing regenerative agriculture practices is a smart and responsible choice,” said Mark Coffey, group vice president of supply chain at Hormel Foods.

Hormel Foods continues ESG investment in practices