UK | Mars, Incorporated has announced significant collaborations to scale regenerative agriculture practices across its pet nutrition business in Europe.
Multiyear collaborations have begun with suppliers, including Cargill and ADM, and technical experts in Biospheres, Horta, Agreena, and Soil Capital in Europe.
Through these partnerships, farmers in Poland, Hungary, and the UK will receive financial incentives and expert advisory services to support adopting regenerative agriculture practices, including crop rotation, minimal tillage, and cover crops.
The programmes will support farmers in investing in new methods and offer training to build knowledge and confidence while reducing barriers to adopting regenerative agriculture practices.
Implementing regenerative practices aims to deliver benefits such as increased yields, lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through reduction and carbon sequestration, improved water quality, enhanced soil health, and improved biodiversity.
Adopting regenerative agriculture across the Mars supply chain contributes to reducing carbon in scope 3 as part of the Mars Net Zero Roadmap.
“At Mars, we know businesses like ours play a key role in securing a sustainable future for pet food. Healthy soil is the backbone of a resilient food system,” said Deri Watkins, Regional President of Mars Pet Nutrition Europe.
“Through these partnerships, we’re extremely proud to be playing our part in driving regenerative agriculture practices across Europe, restoring soil health, cutting carbon and building a stronger and more sustainable supply chain for farmers and future generations of pets and pet parents.”
Mars will track the impact of the various projects through robust measurement, reporting, and verification systems to ensure transparency. It will focus on enhancing soil health and reducing GHG emissions.
Through multi-year collaborations, Mars will work with partners to implement regenerative agriculture in the UK, Hungary, and Poland, promoting ecosystem resilience, supporting local economies, and securing a sustainable pet food supply for the future.
This effort also contributed to Mars’ work to scale climate-smart agriculture in its value chain, which will help deliver more than one million acres of regenerative agriculture practices across the globe by 2030.
Recently, Mars, Incorporated released the 2023 Mars Sustainable in a Generation Report, announcing a record 8 percent reduction in GHG emissions. This doubled Mars’ total GHG reduction across its full value chain and delivered its most considerable GHG reduction against a 2015 baseline.
With almost 60 percent of the company’s value chain GHG footprint from agricultural ingredients, Mars has scaled up climate-smart agriculture initiatives to drive continued decarbonisation.
