Practical Farmers of Iowa, Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, and the Illinois Corn Growers’ Association are partnering with PepsiCo to drive regenerative agriculture practices and reduce carbon emissions. PepsiCo has announced that $216 million will be invested in the multi-year partnership.
The combined impact of these three partnerships is expected to support the accelerated uptake of regenerative practices on more than 3 million acres and deliver approximately 3 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emission reductions and removals by 2030.
“Farmers in Illinois want to make the best decisions for the resources in their care. They are invested in protecting and preserving their farms to pass something on to the next generation that is better than what they received. Sometimes, the heavy risk of new conservation practices gets in the way, but PepsiCo’s partnership helps to lessen some of the risk involved for farmers to try a new practice and that will make a big difference,” said Dirk Rice, the farmer leader of ICGA.
PepsiCo will work alongside these organizations to establish and scale financial, agronomic, and social programs that enable the transition to regenerative agriculture practices through education, upfront investment in outcomes, peer coaching and networking, and cost-sharing.
Driven by PepsiCo Positive (pep+), the company’s strategic, end-to-end business transformation, PepsiCo says its investment in PFI, SWOF and ICGA is essential to supporting the U.S. farming community as it makes changes that aim to secure production volumes and mitigate the impacts of climate change, while still cultivating quality, bountiful crops to feed the world’s growing population.
“As the climate crisis continues to escalate, the threat to our food system increases as well,” said Jim Andrew, chief sustainability officer of PepsiCo. “It’s critically important to partner, for the long term, with organizations that have earned the trust of farmers as they make the transition to adopt climate-smart agriculture practices. We intend to be shoulder-to-shoulder with farmers as they work to make soil healthier, sequester carbon, improve watershed health and biodiversity, and improve their livelihoods.”
Through these partnerships, by 2030, PepsiCo will work with PFI to reach approximately 1.5 million acres; SWOF to reach nearly 1 million acres; and the ICGA to reach approximately 600,000 acres. Based on progress to date, these collaborative efforts are expected to deliver more than 500,000 regenerative acres by the end of 2023.
