Companies from across the food and agriculture sector unveiled new initiatives this week in a bid to boost the already substantial expansion of regenerative agriculture across North America.

Regenerative methods offer huge potential benefits. By reducing tillage, changing grazing patterns, planting cover crops and deploying other techniques, producers can boost yields and save on fertilizer costs. And because the methods also cut farmland emissions and sequester carbon in soils, food companies and retailers see reductions to Scope 3 inventories, which include upstream emissions from producers.

Adoption is growing but varies widely. While just over a quarter of cropland acres were managed using no-till in 2022, the year of the most recent Department of Agriculture census, cover crops were planted on less than 5 percent of that same area. Two key barriers to further scale, cost of deploying regenerative methods and a lack of expertise among producers, were among the focus areas for the partnerships announced this week.

The new initiatives

• McDonald’s is investing more than $200 million over the next seven years to accelerate regenerative grazing and wildlife conservation on ranches spanning 4 million acres and up to 38 states. A group of McDonald’s suppliers, including Cargill and Coca-Cola, will provide additional funding to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a conservation organization that will award grants to support ranchers.
• PepsiCo, Unilever and others will provide financial and strategic support to farmer organizations working to scale regenerative methods among local producers. Phase one of the program, known as Supporting Trusted Engagement and Partnership (STEP) up for Agriculture, includes three groups assisting farmers in Canada and the U.S. Two philanthropic funders, the Platform for Agriculture and Climate Transformation (PACT) and the PepsiCo Foundation, will also provide backing.
• Danone and Ahold Delhaize U.S.A., a retailer that owns Food Lion, Giant Food and other chains, are investing an undisclosed sum in supporting dairy farmers in Danone’s supply chain to reduce methane emissions. The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit, will contribute technical and financial expertise.

Why the investments make sense

The multi-party nature of these collaborations reflects a growing awareness of the potential of regenerative agriculture to safeguard food production, reduce emissions and benefit farmers. Agriculture giant ADM, for instance, said earlier this month that it hit its target of deploying regenerative practices on 5 million acres a year ahead of schedule. PepsiCo’s support for STEP up for Agricul