Regenerative Agriculture Gets Pet Food Nod From Industry Giant Mars

Food and pet care leader Mars has struck several partnerships focused on regenerative agriculture in its European supply chain for pet food.

With the impending arrival of Robert F Kennedy Jr as Donald Trump’s health secretary, regenerative agriculture is set to come into sharp focus in America’s food industry, with repercussions felt across the world.

Mars, the snacking and pet care giant, is jumping on the bandwagon too. It is working on scaling up “climate-smart” farm practices across its global supply chain, aimed at delivering over one million acres of regenerative agriculture practices by 2030.

To support these efforts, Mars Petcare has announced five new partnerships – including with Cargill and ADM – focused on its European pet food value chain, which will help transition 20,900 hectares of wheat and maize crops to regenerative farming practices by 2028.

It follows a similar move in its North American operation in October, with four projects focused on cutting scope 3 emissions through regenerative agriculture, months ahead of its impending merger with Kellanova.

Nearly 60% of Mars’s climate footprint comes from agriculture, which is why the company is stepping up its decarbonisation efforts. In 2023, it recorded an 8% decrease in GHG emissions, its single largest reduction against a 2015 baseline.

“At Mars, we know businesses like ours play a key role in securing a sustainable future for pet food. Healthy soil is the backbone of a resilient food system,” said Deri Watkins, regional president of Mars Pet Nutrition Europe.

Mars projects focus on soil health and sequestration

The partnerships will entail financial incentives and expert advisory services for farmers in the UK, Poland, and Hungary to adopt regenerative practices – think crop rotation, minimal tillage, and the cultivation of cover crops.

By investing in these new methods, farmers will be aided in building knowledge and removing barriers to adopting them. The idea is to deliver benefits like increased yields, better water quality, enhanced soil health, improved biodiversity, and “lower greenhouse gas emissions through reduction and carbon sequestration” (more on that later).

Under Cargill’s RegenConnect programme – which looks to improve soil health on over 4,600 hectares in the next two years – farmers will receive payments for carbon sequestered after adopting regenerative practices. They can access on-the-spot agronomic support on crop rotation patterns, cover crop selection, and the use of appropriate machinery.

Poland is also the focus of Mars’s five-year deal with ADM, which centres around soil health improvement, carbon sequestration, and erosion reduction. Here, too, farmers stand to benefit from financial incentives for implementing regenerative practices, covering the transition of 4,000 hectares of wheat crops in the country.

Two partnerships in Hungary are working to collectively transform over 9,000 hectares of wheat and maize crops. With precision farming startup Horta, the focus is on helping farmers make informed decisions about irrigation and “the appropriate amount of fertiliser to use”, while implementing cover crops and doing away with tilling.

And the three-year collaboration with technical experts Biospheres and Agreena is described as a “grower-centric program”, intending to improve soil health, sequester soil carbon, and reduce erosion, while providing economic incentives for farmers to adopt these measures.

Finally, regenerative agriculture specialist Soil Capital is working with Mars Petcare to finance the transition for wheat farmers in the UK, with similar aims as above, covering 3,200 hectares by 2028.

Regen ag in the spotlight – but is it a greenwashing tool?

Regenerative agriculture has been RFK Jr’s answer to the conventional production methods he feels are making Americans sick. In announcing the former Democrat’s appointment to his administration, Trump referenced this.

“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” he tweeted, noting that Kennedy’s Health and Human Services Department will help “ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives” that have fuelled the country’s health crisis.

For years now, advocates of regenerative agriculture have touted its purportedly vast climate benefits, and the practice has entered mainstream consciousness with documentaries like Kiss the Ground and its sequel Common Ground, as well as Feeding Tomorrow.

Big Food players – including Nestlé, Danone, Arla, and Cargill – have embraced it, positioning it as a silver bullet for the climate. But experts have accused them of greenwashing consumers, as there’s a lack of clear and globally recognised standards for regenerative agriculture.

These companies primarily focus on natural carbon sequestration, but this is becoming more and more unreliable, as the land’s ability to absorb CO2 has significantly declined. Recent research suggests that forests, plants, and soil are currently absorbing almost no carbon. And even techniques like tilling-free farming and crop rotation have been employed superficially, often without essential organic principles.

For its part, Mars – which aims to promote ecosystem resilience, local economies, and a sustainable pet food supply – says it will track the impact of the projects through “robust measurement, reporting, and verification systems to ensure transparency”.

The industry leader is separately working with partners on a new programme for startups to develop novel proteins and fats – like plant-based innovations and cultivated meat – for use in sustainable pet food products.