USA — Global agribusiness ADM and multinational food and beverage company PepsiCo Inc., have signed a 7½-year strategic commercial agreement to closely collaborate on regenerative agriculture projects across their shared North American supply chains.
The agreement will initially enroll corn, soy and wheat farmers in Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Nebraska. The growers will receive financial incentives, plus technical and agronomic support for using practices like cover crops, reducing tillage and engaging in responsible pesticide use.
On the ground, the companies plan to share resources and collaborate to create value through the supply chain by providing technical and financial assistance, access to regenerative farming peer networks, hosting educational field days, and tracking results using trusted, third-party measurement systems.
“Sustainability is fundamental to ADM: Our growth strategy is underpinned by demand for more sustainable products, and our culture compels us to act,” said Alison Taylor, chief sustainability officer at ADM.
ADM’s Strive 35 sustainability goals include reducing absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 25%, energy intensity by 15%, water intensity by 10% and achieving a 90% landfill diversion rate by 2035 against a 2019 baseline.
Reaching the strategic partnership’s goal could eliminate 1.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses — equivalent to the amount of electricity used to power 275,000 homes per year — at the farm level, while creating shared value directly for farmers.
In 2021, ADM additionally committed to a new, aggressive environmental goal to reduce Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2035 while accelerating its target date to achieve a completely deforestation-free supply chain from 2030 to 2025.
The company also has committed to work with the Science Based Targets Initiative with the aim of obtaining approval of its climate targets and alignment with ambitious global goals to limit rising temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Reaching the strategic partnership’s goal with PepsiCo could eliminate 1.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses — equivalent to the amount of electricity used to power 275,000 homes per year — at the farm level, while creating shared value directly for farmers.
pep+ is PepsiCo’s strategic, end-to-end business transformation with sustainability and human capital at the center of how the company will create growth and value. As part of those ambitions, the company is working to spread regenerative practices across 7 million acres of land by 2030 and striving to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040.
“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,” said Jim Andrew, chief sustainability officer for PepsiCo.
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