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With climate change constantly forcing farmers to adapt and evolve, food safety remains a concern globally. Arsira Thumaprudti, head of business development at Acclym, explains how farmers can unlock the power of regenerative agriculture to avoid supply chain issues, create a more reliable food system and help the environment recover.

Climate change is hitting farmers hard. Supply chains keep breaking down. Environmental rules are getting tougher every year. These challenges threaten the very way food and beverage companies do business, forcing them to rethink long-term sustainability and sourcing strategies.

Regenerative agriculture has emerged as a promising solution. What was once a nice-to-have sustainability programme has become essential to staying competitive and keeping consumer products on store shelves. Regenerative practices actively restore soil health, enhance biodiversity and sequester carbon – fostering more resilient, environmentally-friendly supply chains that produce nutritious food.

Industry pioneers are proving that regenerative agriculture can align environmental goals with business performance – yet significant hurdles remain before these practices become widespread, scaling across the global food system.

Regenerative Agriculture gains ground

Major food and beverage companies are recognising the strategic value of regenerative agriculture, investing in programmes that go beyond sustainability to actively restore ecosystems.

McCain Foods, one of the world's largest producers of frozen potato products, has committed to implementing regenerative agricultural practices across all its potato acreage by 2030. Their framework for potato growers includes armouring soil with living plants, rotating crops, minimising tillage, reducing agro-chemical inputs and water usage and more. McCain has reported improved crop resilience and reduced input costs in their pilot programmes.

Similarly, Nestlé aims for 50% of its key ingredients to come from farmers adopting regenerative agriculture practices by 2030. They are working closely with more than 500,000 farmers and 150,000 suppliers, as well as local communities, to reduce tillage and chemical inputs and implement crop rotation, mulching and organic fertilisers. Nestlé is investing 1.2 billion Swiss francs over a five-year period to support farmers in their transition.

These investments and pilots show that regenerative agriculture is becoming an industry priority – but they also underscore the significant resources and long-term commitment needed to scale it.

Persistent industry challenges hinder widespread adoption

Despite growing momentum among food and beverage leaders, several key barriers prevent regenerative agriculture from becoming standard practice across the industry, including:

1. Farmer hesitation

Perhaps the most human challenge in scaling regenerative agriculture is overcoming resistance to change. Farming practices evolve over generations, with time-tested methods passed down for their ability to produce consistent yields. Asking farmers to abandon these proven approaches for new methods that may initially reduce productivity requires building trust and providing robust support systems.

While awareness of regenerative agriculture among farmers has reached an all-time high, adoption rates remain stubbornly low. This gap reflects both practical concerns about economic viability and deep-rooted cultural attachments to traditional farming identities.

2. Investment and time constraints

Even if farmers see the long-term vision, the transition to regenerative practices demands both financial commitment and patience. Farmers often face substantial upfront costs for specialised equipment and new technologies, while simultaneously weathering potential yield reductions during the transition phase. For smaller producers already operating on tight margins, these initial investments can be particularly daunting.

The full benefits take three-five years to materialise. During this period, farmers are rebuilding soil organic matter, restoring microbial communities, and re-establishing natural ecosystem functions. Only after this rebuilding phase do operations typically see returns of 15-25% on their investment. This extended timeline creates tension with traditional business planning cycles and tests the patience of stakeholders focused on quarterly results.

3. Quantification and measurement difficulties

Beyond time and money, the complexity of measuring regenerative agriculture’s impacts is also a barrier. Unlike conventional agriculture, where success metrics focus primarily on yield and cost, regenerative practices produce multiple interwoven benefits that are difficult to isolate and quantify.

Historically, the industry has relied on rough estimates and qualitative assessments rather than rigorous data collection.

This approach has hampered efforts to prove the business case for regeneration to sceptical stakeholders. Questions persist about how to establish reliable key performance indicators for soil health, biodiversity gains and carbon sequestration across diverse agricultural landscapes.

4. Lack of standardisation

Regenerative agriculture is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Practices that work brilliantly in the American Midwest may prove ineffective or counterproductive in tropical regions. For global companies with complex supply chains spanning multiple continents, this variability presents significant challenges for establishing consistent protocols and expectations.

Each crop, region and farming system requires carefully adapted approaches that respect local ecological conditions, traditional knowledge and economic realities. This complexity makes it difficult to scale programs quickly or implement standardised training across diverse supplier networks.

The Path Forward

For regenerative agriculture to achieve its transformative potential, stakeholders throughout the food system must collaborate to address these challenges systematically.

Farmer training and education

Successful transition requires more than just technical information about new practices; it demands ongoing mentorship, peer learning networks and regular access to experts who can help troubleshoot challenges as they arise. Educational approaches must respect farmers' expertise while introducing new principles. Field days, demonstration farms and farmer-to-farmer training programmes have proven especially effective at bridging knowledge gaps and building trust in new methods.

Economic incentives and financial support

To overcome the financial barriers to transition, innovative funding mechanisms are essential. These might include transition subsidies, payment for ecosystem services, carbon credit programmes, preferential procurement policies and premium prices for regeneratively produced ingredients. The European Union's Common Agricultural Policy reforms provide an instructive example of how policy can accelerate adoption. By shifting subsidies toward outcome-based incentives rather than acreage-based payments, the EU is creating powerful economic drivers for regenerative practices.

Standardised metrics and data-driven tools

For regenerative agriculture to move beyond early adopters, the industry needs agreed-upon metrics and efficient measurement tools. Emerging technologies show promise for streamlining data collection and creating transparency throughout supply chains. Collaborative industry initiatives to establish common frameworks for soil health assessment, biodiversity monitoring and carbon accounting – that are adaptable for diverse locations – will be crucial for building credibility and enabling meaningful comparison across different programmes.

Beyond ESG: The business case for scaling regeneration

Regenerative agriculture isn’t just a climate or sustainability solution – it’s a strategic advantage. Beyond environmental benefits, regenerative agriculture can deliver significant economic benefits, such as reduced input costs, premium pricing opportunities, enhanced brand reputation, stronger supplier relationships and greater resilience to climate-related disruptions and regulatory changes.

With sustained investment and collaboration, regenerative agriculture can shift from isolated pilot projects to a scalable industry-wide standard, strengthening supply chains, empowering farmers and securing a more sustainable food future.