According to a new report by the non-profit Forum for the Future, the regenerative agriculture movement in the U.S. has “never had more momentum”.
General Mills, Unilever, PepsiCo and Nestle are among the major food companies pledging large-scale support for this type of farming, which emphasizes soil health, biodiversity and avoids the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Amazon-owned Whole Foods called it the number one food trend in 2020.
Of those food conglomerates recognizing the value of more nature-based production, General Mills has been particularly vocal. It has pledged to advance regenerative agriculture on 1 million acres globally by 2030, an area that represents approximately 25-35% of its worldwide sourcing footprint.
It all sounds very altruistic, but what’s the true scale of this movement? According to Dr Kristine Nichols, a soil microbiologist and regenerative agriculture expert, of the 900 million arable acres in the U.S., only about 1.5% is being farmed regeneratively.
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The Forum for the Future report says that there have been some positive shifts in the last few years, “around policy change, valuation of ecosystem services, alternative types of financial flows, demonstration of the business case and coalition-building amongst farmers”, but these shifts are still nascent.
