CPG General Mills and food retailer Ahold Delhaize USA (ADUSA) are partnering to transition more acreage within their shared supply chain to regenerative agriculture.
The two companies will co-invest in “priority supply sheds” — geographic regions where they source ingredients — by helping farmers in those areas transition to regenerative agriculture. Farmers will receive technical and financial support to implement regenerative agriculture practices such as cover cropping and nutrient management.
“This supply shed approach supports change at the farm-level, which benefits all companies and stakeholders connected to the landscapes and works to create positive environmental impacts,” says Jay Watson, director of regenerative agriculture at General Mills.
The goal of the partnership is to transition more than 70,000 acres of farmland in the state of Kansas and in Canadian province Saskatchewan by the end of 2025, which is “the approximate number of acres” from which General Mills sources ingredients for products sold at Ahold Delhaize USA brands.
The Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC), a nonprofit that compensates farmers for switching to regen ag practices, will facilitate the work on the ground, says Watson, including quantifying measurement impact and partnering with an independent certifier to verify greenhouse gas reductions and soil carbon sequestration.
“ESMC’s unique delivery and tracking of impact units for verified outcomes will enable multiple players within the shared value chain to co-invest in program delivery and farmer incentives and co-claim the environmental impact,” he notes.
ESMC’s involvement continues a collaboration begun with General Mills in 2020 to reward farmers for beneficial outcomes from regenerative agriculture practices.
‘Collaboration and collective action are required to create lasting change’
General Mills made its first public regenerative agriculture commitment in 2019, when the CPG said it would transition 1 million acres by 2030. It has a commitment with the Science Based Targets initiative to reduce absolute scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions 30% by 2030, from a 2020 base year.
Since making that first commitment, General Mills has announced a number of different projects related to regenerative agriculture, including a collaboration with with American Farmland Trust and Rodale Institute in California, and a collaboration with Walmart to transition 60,000 acres by 2030.
“Collaboration and collective action are required to create lasting change,” says Watson, who adds that General Mills is focused on “gaining insights and learnings from these programs, and welcome[s] opportunities to partner with retailers and stakeholders across the value chain to create even greater impact.”
Meanwhile, Ahold Delhaize, which owns Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop brands, has committed to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% by 2030 from a 2018 base year. For scope 3, the company has said it will cut emissions 15% by 2030 (from a 2018 base year).
According to Kendrick Repko, director of sustainable products for Ahold Delhaize USA, this is ADUSA’s “first farmland-focused pilot that takes a supply shed approach as opposed to a crop-specific [approach].”
Like General Mills, ADUSA has several other scope 3-related projects in progress, for both farmland and aquaculture. In March of 2024 the company announced its Shrimp Decarbonization Initiative, developed by The Thai Union Group in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), that aims to reduce emissions in the shrimp supply chain.
ADUSA has also announced a regenerative wheat pilot Kellanova supporting the latter’s Cheez-It brand and “has additional scope 3 pilots planned with announcements to come later this year,” says Repko.
Sponsored
Restoring the soil quickly is key to capturing returns in regenerative agriculture