13 September2023
By Noah Rohlfing

PepsiCo, Walmart announce regenerative agriculture plan, but will it matter?
PepsiCo and Walmart announced a new joint venture aimed at putting substantial
 money toward regenerative agriculture in the United States and Canada.

PHOTO: SARA RUBINSTEIN

PepsiCo and Walmart announced in July 2023 a new joint venture aimed at putting substantial money toward regenerative agriculture in the United States and Canada. The collaboration is scheduled to last seven years and cost an initial $120 million, with the goal of working on more than 2 million acres of farmland to reduce 4 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

"Successful sustainability starts and ends with trust. At PepsiCo, we work very hard to earn the trust of farmers so they understand that we are investing in their legacy and they can hand their farm down to the next generation," said Jim Andrew, chief sustainability officer at PepsiCo.

"Farmers know their business better than anyone else, and what we hear from them is that for regenerative agriculture to make business sense, three things need to happen,” Andrew said. “They need economic support, social and cultural support, and agronomic support. This strategic collaboration with Walmart will advance our shared goal to have farmers' backs as they transform farming in a way that benefits the planet and people."

PepsiCo and Walmart say the program will support farmers crucial to their business models, with supply chains stretching across the United States and ranging from potatoes to corn and oats. The companies are pitching it as a “voluntary, flexible approach to regenerative agriculture,” and said they want to give farmers a seat at the table during the program.

Farming is not “one size fits all,” they said, but PespiCo’s involvement in the project is part of the pep+ (PepsiCo positive) plan. By 2030, the company says it is aiming to help drive the use of regenerative practices in up to 7 million acres of farmland while attempting to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40%. The pep+ plan also strives to reach net-zero emissions by 2040.

AgAmerica’s senior director of partner relations, Curt Covington, expressed skepticism in the actual impact this seven-year investment would have on farmers. He said it was not likely to tip the scales in favor of widespread or long-term regenerative agriculture practices.

“It’s not much money [per farmer],” Covington said. "It's naive to think that their investment is large enough to make a sizable impact on the industry.”

Two big corporations attempting to invest in regenerative agriculture is not something Covington thinks will be a positive in the end, especially if there is no additional investment made after the initial $120 million.

He has concerns about whether or not Walmart or PepsiCo would give farmers the requisite time and resources to make the change to regenerative farming, which he said was an expensive change that takes time to implement. For regenerative agriculture to be viable and meaningful in the future, he said, funding would need to be increased — whether that is public or private funding. Covington said it concerns him that some parts of this investment could end up being “surface-level” in nature to keep investors happy.

“I think for smaller farmers working in specialty crops, for example, I think it probably makes total sense and can work in conjunction with or side-by-side with conventional,” Covington said. “To take it ‘to the next level’ is perhaps another story.”
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