Collaborating to support regenerative wheat agriculture

CHICAGO, Sept. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- How can food companies around the world help build a more sustainable food value chain? How do they include every part of the supply chain? What does collaboration look like?

These are the questions Kellanova and its partners, Ahold Delhaize USA, Bartlett, and Arva Intelligence, helped to answer at a recent interactive event during Climate Week NYC. Guests sampled food and heard from wheat farmers and other stakeholders involved in the partner's regenerative agriculture pilot program. The program, the first-of-its-kind for Kellanova, aims to highlight the importance of collaboration, education, and outcome measurement to reduce Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from wheat farming across the value chain and improve farm and supply chain resiliency.

From farm to shelf

The pilot program, launched this summer, leverages financial investments from Kellanova, Ahold Delhaize USA, and Bartlett to support the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices among wheat farmers in North Carolina. The wheat harvested and milled from these farms will be used alongside conventionally grown wheat to produce Kellanova's iconic Cheez-It® crackers. These products will be sold at the local brand stores of Ahold Delhaize USA in 2025.

Regenerative agriculture focuses on soil conservation and improvement, creating a unique farming approach specific to the crop, climate, and land:

• Farmers grow regenerative wheat in Eastern North Carolina. Bartlett's certified crop advisors will work with these farmers, providing technical assistance for implementing conservation practices to improve soil health, which improves water quality and helps reduce emissions.
• Bartlett combines the regenerative wheat with conventional wheat then mills it into flour at its recently expanded facility in Wilson's Mills, N.C.
• Kellanova bakes the wheat into Cheez-It® crackers at its state-of-the-art facility in Cary, N.C.
• Ahold Delhaize USA brands sell the crackers across their more than 2,000 local stores beginning in 2025.

Measurement and education

In addition to the regenerative wheat, a key output of this program will be agronomic insights on farm and supply chain resiliency. Arva Intelligence, whose mission is to empower farmers to grow their business, while driving a larger environmental asset economy, will use their CropForce™ platform, to measure, report, and verify impacts to the partners' respective emissions reductions, providing scalable knowledge each company can potentially take forward into the development of other Scope 3 initiatives. 

Creating #BetterDays for people and planet

This is a unique program with stakeholders from across the supply chain – from field to mill to manufacturing facility to shelf – collaborating to improve the livelihood of U.S. farmers while reducing GHG emissions. It is also a first-of-its-kind program for Kellanova.

As part of our ambitious Kellanova Better Days™ Promise, we've committed to both reducing our emissions and advancing the wellbeing of people, including farmers, across our food value chain. Through programs like this one, we're harnessing the power of innovation and collaboration to create #BetterDays for our people and the planet.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/collaborating-to-support-regenerative-wheat-agriculture-302255776.html

SOURCE Kellanova