Today, PepsiCo launched its
Positive Agriculture initiative, which centers on a goal to spread
regenerative farming practices across 7 million acres — approximately equal to
its entire agricultural footprint. The snack food and beverage giant estimates
that the effort will eliminate at least 3 million tons of greenhouse gas
emissions (GHGs) by the end of the decade. Additional 2030 goals within the
agenda include improving the livelihoods of more than 250,000 people in its
agricultural supply chain and sustainably sourcing 100 percent of its key
ingredients.
“Any plan to tackle the urgent challenges facing the global food system must
address agriculture — the source of nourishment for billions of people and a key
lever to address climate change and inequality,” said PepsiCo Chairman and CEO
Ramon Laguarta. “As one of the world’s leading food and beverage companies,
a resilient food
system
is essential to our business; and with our scale, we have an opportunity and
responsibility to drive meaningful change. PepsiCo’s Positive Agriculture agenda
prioritizes investment, innovation and robust collaboration with our farming
partners to deliver impact around the world. Working together, we can reduce our
collective carbon footprint, feed a rapidly growing population, and provide
meaningful economic opportunities for more people.”
The Positive Agriculture agenda aims to source crops and ingredients in a way
that accelerates regenerative agriculture and strengthens farming communities,
with a focus on:
Adopting regenerative farming practices across 7 million acres
This would be approximately equal to the amount of land around the world devoted
to growing crops and ingredients for PepsiCo products. These efforts are
estimated to lead to a net-reduction of at least 3 million tons of GHG emissions
by 2030.
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Investments in innovative, sustainable agriculture solutions are being driven by
PepsiCo’s iconic brands, many of which have already begun implementing the
Positive Agriculture approach. For example, PepsiCo’s
Walkers brand in the UK worked with
CCm Technologies to introduce new ‘circular
potatoes’
technology that uses potato peelings to manufacture low-carbon, nutrient-rich
fertilizer. Use of this fertilizer is expected to reduce Walkers’ carbon
emissions from growing potatoes by 70 percent. And
Quaker has developed the
“Opti-Oat”
initiative — which uses over one million data points to guide farmers in how to
sustainably grow the “perfect oat,” improving yields.
Improving the livelihoods of more than 250,000 people in its agricultural supply chain and communities, including economically empowering women
PepsiCo will focus its work on the most vulnerable farming communities linked to
its global value chain — including smallholder farmers and farm workers, women
and minority farmers. The company will continue to advance this goal through
work with partners including US Agency for International
Development,
Inter-American Development
Bank
(IDB), CARE, FFA
Organization,
and the National Black Growers Council.
PepsiCo has already begun to address these issues: In January, it expanded a
partnership
with the PepsiCo Foundation and IDB aimed at fostering social and economic
growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a focus on empowerment
of female farmers in its potato supply chain.
Sustainably sourcing 100 percent of key ingredients
This effort will include not only its direct-sourced crops (potatoes, whole
corn, oats and oranges), but also key crops from third parties — such as
vegetable oils and grains. PepsiCo sources crops across 60 countries and
supports over 100,000 jobs in the agricultural supply chain.
As of the end of 2020, PepsiCo’s direct-sourced crops are 100 percent
sustainably sourced in 28 countries. PepsiCo says that globally, nearly 87
percent of direct crops are sustainably sourced through its Sustainable Farming
Program — including 100 percent of the oranges purchased for Tropicana
orange juice from Florida; and 100 percent of the potatoes and oats for
Lay’s and Quaker, respectively, in North America. The company also
achieved its goal to source 100 percent Bonsucro-certified sustainable cane
sugar globally by 2020 and achieved more than 99 percent physically certified
palm
oil
by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.
“Through our Sustainable Farming Program and ongoing work with tens of thousands
of farmers, we’ve seen firsthand the ability to drive solutions within our
agricultural communities, resulting in nature-based outcomes,” said Jim
Andrew, PepsiCo’s Chief Sustainability Officer. “Today, we're accelerating our
Positive Agriculture agenda because we know we have to do even more to create
truly systemic change. By focusing on regenerative agriculture practices at the
local level to improve soil
health,
we can build a stronger foundation for our products and help make the entire
food system more sustainable.”
PepsiCo advocates for the establishment of industry-wide regenerative
agriculture standards and measurement. In the absence of such standards, the
company says it will measure progress towards its Positive Agriculture goals by
tracking acres and people engaged in the initiative; and over time, the impact
toward five key outcomes — including: building soil health and fertility;
sequestering carbon and reducing emissions; enhancing watershed health;
increasing biodiversity; and improving farmer livelihoods. PepsiCo is already
working with leading organizations including the World Wildlife Fund
(WWF) to develop a method for setting science-based targets for water that
consider the benefits of regenerative and resilient farming systems and
practices on water quality and quantity.
The Positive Agriculture agenda is another step in the company’s PepsiCo
Positive journey and follows PepsiCo’s recent announcement to double its
science-based climate
goal
— targeting a reduction of absolute greenhouse gas emissions across its value
chain by more than 40 percent by 2030, as well as pledging to achieve net-zero
emissions by 2040.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Apr 20, 2021 5am EDT / 2am PDT / 10am BST / 11am CEST