Leading retail and global food and beverage companies including PepsiCo and Unilever announced the launch of Supporting Trusted Engagement and Partnership (STEP) up for Agriculture (STEP up for Ag), a pre-competitive initiative designed to strengthen the capacity and sustainability of farmer-facing support organisations across North America.
Regenerative agriculture can be a powerful tool to promote healthier soil, as well as to reduce agricultural emissions, enhance biodiversity and watershed health, and help raise the standard of living for farmers and farming communities. It’s why PepsiCo – which sources approximately 50 key agricultural crops and ingredients from more than 60 countries around the world – has a goal to drive the adoption of regenerative agriculture, restorative, or protective practices across 10 million acres by 2030.
Scaling regenerative agriculture requires more than just technical solutions – it depends on trusted relationships and local expertise. Farmers are more likely to adopt new practices when they see clear benefits and receive guidance from organisations they know and trust. That’s why farmer-led, farmer-facing support groups are critical to the success of corporate regenerative agriculture programs.
STEP Up for Agriculture seeks to strengthen local organisations by equipping them with tools, training, and resources needed to support farmers on the ground. This approach is designed to unlock scale by meeting farmers where they are, with the aim of accelerating adoption across diverse geographies and creating a ripple effect of trust and innovation throughout the supply chain.
Through STEP up for Ag, corporate and philanthropic partners will provide funding and strategic support to help farmer support organisations:
Develop robust business and strategic plans to boost profitability and local economies
Expand staffing and training to better equip farmers with the tools of the future
Establish measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) systems to track sustainable progress against goals
Enhance implementation capabilities to support scalability
Access new revenue streams and partnerships to grow support for farmers over time
Transitioning more farms to regenerative agriculture requires deep collaboration – no single company or organisation can do it alone. By working together across sectors, STEP up for Ag is building a shared ecosystem of support that empowers farmers and drives lasting change at scale.
Lead Partners: PepsiCo, Unilever and others – each committing to fund and collaborate with specific farmer support organisations to strengthen advisory capacity and accelerate regenerative agriculture adoption – enhancing supply resilience and supporting local farming communities.
Contributing Partners: Corporations supporting existing or emerging organisations or the initiative at large.
Philanthropic Partners: Including The Platform for Agriculture and Climate Transformation (PACT) and the PepsiCo Foundation, providing catalytic funding and strategic insight.
Farmer Facing Support Partners: Phase I will include South East Research Farm (SERF), supporting farmers throughout the Canadian Prairies, and Practical Farmers of Iowa, supporting farmers across western Canada and the US, and Farm Advisor, a farmer-led, Indiana-based initiative that pairs experienced conservation farmers with peers to accelerate the adoption of soil health practices through mentorship, education, and on-farm support.
Over the next two years, STEP up for Ag will aim to facilitate peer learning, host annual in-person workshops and develop shared tools and resources to scale impact.
Looking ahead, STEP up for Ag is launching its first European pilot with the farmer-led cooperative Garlan in Spain. Over the next year, Garlan – supported by the Earthworm Foundation– will design its own regenerative agriculture program to offer to farmers, improving access to high-quality guidance and advice on regenerative practices. This pilot builds on earlier engagement in Türkiye, where EIT Food hosted a regional workshop that brought together farmer support organisations, corporate partners, and NGOs to explore how STEP Up for Ag could take shape locally. Together, these efforts mark the start of a broader push to strengthen advisory ecosystems and scale regenerative agriculture across Europe and other global landscapes.
Through this partnership – and with the potential future involvement of additional major organisations – this growing network aims to help drive meaningful, long-term progress toward a more sustainable agricultural future.
With its ambitious climate protection strategy, the KHS Group is steadily driving the reduction in its carbon emissions. One key milestone here is its recent validation by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi). On this basis, the company is now implementing specific measures to cut emissions.
Following confirmation by the SBTi of the climate goals it shares with parent company Salzgitter AG, the Dortmund systems supplier has set itself a number of ambitious targets. For example, it has now pledged to reduce its direct and indirect Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 36 % in the near future – by 2028. Moreover, the emissions generated throughout its entire value chain (Scope 3) are to drop by 20 %. “Our responsibility goes beyond our own production plants. We supply our customers with holistic solutions that measurably improve their climate footprint,” says Kai Acker, CEO of KHS GmbH.
The key: efficient and renewable energies
KHS has already fully converted to green electricity at all of its German production sites and is continuously optimising its infrastructure. Measures such as efficient heating and lighting systems, use of waste heat, heat-efficient factory doors and intelligent building automation have in part already been implemented. At the company headquarters in Dortmund, Germany, for instance, modern, sensor-controlled LED technology is cutting electricity consumption. Parallel to this, the vehicle fleet is being switched over to electric models. KHS is also replacing fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy: for the plants in Dortmund and Worms, the engineering company is even planning to introduce its own heating networks in order to do away completely with gas and oil. In addition, photovoltaic systems at various German facilities are helping to reduce the amount of energy and CO2 consumed. Further PV setups are also in the pipeline at KHS’ international locations.
Innovations for more climate-friendly production
Besides cutting its own carbon emissions, KHS is also helping its customers to cut theirs. One good example of this is the new generation of InnoPET Blomax stretch blow molders. With its optimised Double Gate heating system, it lowers energy consumption by up to 40 % compared to single-lane stretch blow molders of the same capacity. The Innopas SX pasteuriser considerably reduces water consumption by making use of optimised heat recovery systems. Furthermore, KHS’ Bottles & Shapes™ service enables extremely light PET bottles to be designed that use less material. This means that customers save on precious resources.
Net zero by 2050 at the latest
Above and beyond its short-term targets, together with Salzgitter AG KHS pledges to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest, with this date even brought forward to 2045 as regards its Scope 1 and 2 emissions. “The next few years are key to us firmly staying the course we’ve embarked on and becoming climate-neutral in production in the long term,” says Acker. “I’m absolutely convinced that we’ll meet our ambitious climate goals.”
In Egypt, SIG is launching ‘Recycle for Good’, an innovative recycling initiative to enable direct household and food service industry collection of used aseptic carton packs through tech-based solutions. This initiative involving SIG and Tagaddod is the first of its kind in the Egyptian market.
Consumers can use a mobile app to arrange for their used cartons to be collected from their homes or workplace in exchange for rewards. The project aims to incentivise recycling of used beverage cartons, ensuring high-value resources remain in circulation while benefitting local communities.
SIG is working with Tagaddod on this project. They are leading the collection of the cartons. Tagaddod is the first company in Egypt to enable direct household and food service industry waste collection through tech-based solutions. Its app allows consumers and businesses in the food service industry to arrange collection of their used beverage cartons in exchange for rewards. The initiative uses Tagaddod’s existing logistics network, and household brand Green Pan to collect the cartons.
Recycling SIG carton packs keeps high-quality renewable materials in circulation for longer. All the materials used to make aseptic carton packs – paperboard, aluminium and polyethylene – can be recycled as valuable resources that can be used to create new products.
Only around 60% of the waste Egypt generates annually is collected currently, and less than 20% of this is properly disposed of or recycled. With no segregation of waste at household level, there is a huge need for collection initiatives such as this one.
SIG is committed to partnering with others to increase the collection and recycling of used beverage cartons, supporting the shift towards a circular economy. Recycling of packaging is an industrywide issue, and SIG partners on this with many different stakeholders, including industry peers, customers, consumers, and national and local governments. As recycling rates, regulations and infrastructure vary widely in different countries and municipalities, SIG take a tailored approach through local roadmaps in priority countries.
The Interprofessional of Lemon and Grapefruit of Spain has also requested “the application of ethylene in citrus” in organic production “because unlike what happens in other fruits or vegetables, does not induce ripening but only to change the color of the skin”.
Both comments have been submitted as part of the consultation period that the European Commission has opened on the draft regulation authorizing products and substances to be used in organic production.
The Interprofessional Association of Lemon and Grapefruit of Spain (AILIMPO) has submitted a proposal to the European Union for the food industry BIO products to replace the use of citric acid (E-330) by organic lemon juice “for being a totally effective and natural alternative“. The proposal has been presented by AILIMPO in the framework of the consultation period that the European Commission has opened on the Draft Implementing Regulation authorizing certain products and substances for use in organic production and establishing their lists.
(Photo: Zumo)
“We have requested the elimination of the authorization of this substance (citric acid E-330) as a preservative in food additives because it is perfectly substitutable in the processes by organic lemon juice whose main component is natural citric acid, whose production in Europe fully guarantees its availability “, said from AILIMPO, while recalling that Spain is a community leader in production and processing of lemon.
AILIMPO, in favor of using ethylene in organic citrus
In addition, AILIMPO has also submitted an observation to be able to use ethylene. The draft regulation establishes an important limitation for its use in organic citrus. This substance is used so that, once the internal maturity of the fruit is reached, the skin changes its green color to the characteristic color of the species and variety. This process is called degreening.
Since its use is restricted to organic citrus as part of a fruit fly prevention strategy, it could not be used for degreening. However, “the application of ethylene in citrus, unlike what happens in other fruits or vegetables, does not induce ripening but only to change the color of the skin,” clarified from AILIMPO whose position is not to limit the use of ethylene in organic citrus.
“AILIMPO has an important commitment to sustainability as is being made visible through the Welcome to the Lemon Age campaign,” they remind. The organic production of lemon and grapefruit has great relevance in its activity, hence the involvement of interprofessional in defending the interests of this sector. Therefore, AILIMPO has already moved this position also to the European organization FRESHFEL EUROPE, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the citrus Autonomous Communities, and the Councils of Organic Agriculture involved in order that their contributions to this draft implementing regulation take into account the considerations of the sector.
Below are the links to AILIMPO’s contributions to the public consultation of the Regulation.
About AILIMPO AILIMPO is a national interprofessional, based in Murcia, officially recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Spain and the European Commission, which represents the economic interests of producers, cooperatives, exporters and processors of lemon and grapefruit in Spain, a sector in which Spain is a world leader in fresh exports and ranks second in the ranking of processing countries, with an annual turnover of 700 million euros, generating 20,000 direct jobs and a turnover in ancillary industries of more than 250 million euros.
The Company joins RE100 and commits to transition to 100 % renewable electricity by 2050
As a major step toward fulfillment of its pledge to the RE100 initiative, which focuses on accelerating the transition to zero carbon grids at global scale, Crown Holdings, Inc. has signed a 15-year Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) with Longroad Energy to utilize wind power in all of its U.S. and Canadian beverage can plants starting on July 1, 2020. The new program will rely on a wind farm based in Knox County, Texas to generate over 400,000 MWhs of electricity. The renewable power will offset 100 % of the energy usage within Crown’s U.S. and Canadian beverage plants, which account for over 20 % of the Company’s global Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions. This transition serves as the first phase of Crown’s RE100 plan, which anticipates that the Company will run 100 % renewable electricity by 2050. The RE100 initiative is led by The Climate Group and CDP.
One of the first milestones on the Company’s journey will be achieving 30 % renewable electricity by 2020. To accomplish this goal, Crown is exploring renewable options in other countries, including Mexico, which runs on a different electricity grid than the U.S. and Canada and would serve as the final portion of a complete North American renewable energy program by RE100 standards. The Company’s next goal will be reaching 50 % renewable energy utilization by 2030.
“Completely transitioning our U.S. and Canadian beverage can plants to renewable electricity is the latest example of our willingness to take action when it comes to sustainability,” stated Timothy J. Donahue, President and Chief Executive Officer of Crown. “From innovations to our products, which use infinitely recyclable materials, to our industry-leading rankings with CDP, to our manufacturing processes, we will continue exploring opportunities that allow us to make meaningful progress.”
The adoption of wind power also supports Crown’s ongoing 2020 sustainability goals, which use 2015 production levels as a baseline year from which to reduce energy consumption by 5 % and emissions by 10 % per billion standard units produced. Crown has already met its energy goal and is well on its way to meeting its emissions goal, achieving 76 % of the goal within two years.
Sustainability has long been an important aspect of corporate governance at the Hamburg-based ingredients specialist Bösch Boden Spies – for example in its selection of suppliers. Now the company intends to systematize and further expand its efforts. To this end, the raw materials expert has launched an inhouse sustainability initiative. Its cornerstones are membership in the ZNU (Centre for Sustainable Management) of the University of Witten/Herdecke, and the appointment of Dorota Kollien (32), Director Quality Management, as Sustainability Officer.
The Hamburg company already obtained an initial overview of its status quo in matters of sustainability in April by performing the “ZNU Sustainability Check” at company level. It evaluates existing activities and highlights potential for improvement and possible courses of action. Based on these findings, all business processes across the entire value chain will now be reviewed in detail in the months ahead, and optimized and systematized with a view to a more sustainable business management. The aim is to identify areas with optimisation potential and to stimulate a continuous improvement process there, also in dialog with customers, suppliers and service providers. As a trading agency, Bösch Boden Spies wishes to take responsibility and contribute to a more sustainable handling of social, economic and ecological issues.
This initiative is being managed and driven forward by Sustainability Officer Dorota Kollien in close coordination with Managing Director Dirk Schmidt, who oversees this area within the company. Kollien, who heads the Quality Management department at Bösch Boden Spies, is currently undergoing training at ZNU to become certified as a sustainability manager.
Approximately 60 companies in the German food industry are members of the ZNU sustainability network. Bösch Boden Spies joined the network in May 2018.
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Regenerative agriculture can be a powerful tool to promote healthier soil, as well as to reduce agricultural emissions, enhance biodiversity and watershed health, and help raise the standard of living for farmers and farming communities. It’s why PepsiCo – which sources approximately 50 key agricultural crops and ingredients from more than 60 countries around the world – has a goal to drive the adoption of regenerative agriculture, restorative, or protective practices across 10 million acres by 2030.