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Ahold Delhaize USA is collaborating with General Mills to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within their shared value chain, through supporting regenerative agriculture practices.
The retailer and food giant will co-invest in ‘priority supply sheds’ – growing regions where key ingredients are sourced – to support farmers as they adopt regenerative agriculture farming practices.
Farmers will receive technical and financial support to implement techniques such as cover cropping and nutrient management, gaining access to expertise from non-profit member consortium Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC). A combination of field sampling and modeling will be used to estimate net greenhouse gas emissions.
ESMC and local implementing partners will help to advance regenerative agriculture management on over 70,000 acres of farmland in Kansas, US, and Saskatchewan, Canada by the end of 2025.
This represents the approximate number of acres that General Mills uses to source its key ingredients, such as wheat and oats, for its products sold at grocery stores operated by Ahold Delhaize USA’s brands – Food Lion, Giant Food, The Giant Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop.
The collaboration is a continuation of General Mills and ESMC’s multi-year regenerative agriculture partnership, which began in 2020.
ESMC will facilitate the programme and oversee impact measurement. An independent third-party organisation will verify greenhouse gas reductions and soil carbon sequestration to ensure transparency and accountability.
Marc Stolzman, chief sustainability officer at Ahold Delhaize USA, said: “This relationship emphasises how strategic collaboration is essential for addressing climate impacts and creating positive environmental outcomes”.
He added: “Ahold Delhaize USA looks forward to the learnings from this supply shed collaboration and using the findings to drive progress across the supply chain”.
Mary Jane Melendez, chief sustainability and global impact officer at General Mills, commented: “We champion a farmer-centered approach across key regions where the ingredients we source are grown, aiming to produce positive environmental, social and economic outcomes. Ahold Delhaize USA is a natural fit for collaboration, with shared goals of creating a more healthy and resilient food system.”
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