Major players in the food industry have unveiled a global regenerative agriculture framework – set to unleash trillions of dollars in support of regenerative farming practices. 

Names including Mars, McCain Foods, McDonals, PepsiCo and Waitrose have worked in collaboration with the Sustainable Market Initiative’s Agriculture Task Force to make regenerative farming practices both scalable and financially viable. 

The strategy aims to address urgent environmental challenges posed by the current food system, which is responsible for approximately 30% of human-produced GHG emissions, alongside a significant drive of nature loss. 

Grant Reid, the chair of the Agribusiness Task Force, emphasised the necessity of returning to regenerative practices, stating that it is one of the few ways to ensure the survival of farming and global food supply chains for future generations. The task force believes that regenerative farming could contribute significantly to land-based climate action by 2030, but economic barriers currently hinder its widespread adoption by farmers.

The framework incorporates a blended finance approach, including philanthropic support, catalytic capital from asset managers, preferential-rate commercial capital from banks, and longer-term contract commitments from food businesses to source sustainable commodities. The framework also proposes crop insurance from insurance companies to help de-risk farming operations.

To create new revenue streams for farmers, the framework suggests enabling them to earn carbon credits throughout their field's entire rotation, even during periods of soil recovery. 

The framework also calls for policy changes to unlock an estimated $1.2 trillion that regenerative agriculture can contribute to the global economy. Recommendations include providing financial support and training to farmers adopting regenerative practices, integrating regenerative farming terms into trade agreements, and incentivising landowners to promote these techniques among tenants.

The Agribusiness Task Force is actively exploring farming projects worldwide to demonstrate the viability of its concept. These projects span various crops, such as rice in India, canola and wheat in Poland, wheat in the US, and potatoes in the UK. 

Source: Edie