The Positive Agriculture Outcomes Accelerator
will now catalyze more than $30
million in investments to support nearly 40 agricultural
projects through 2028
PURCHASE, N.Y., Nov. 21,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP) today
announced the third year of its global agriculture program, the
Positive Agriculture Outcomes (PAO) Accelerator, by backing eight
new innovation projects across nine countries. PepsiCo's continued
investment aims to address some of the most urgent challenges
facing agriculture today, while moving the company's pep+ (PepsiCo
Positive) agenda forward.
PepsiCo's PAO Accelerator offers local farming communities
co-investment to accelerate diverse and results-driven
Positive Agriculture projects, as well as funding for ag-tech
start-ups that offer proven products or technology with the
potential to scale. This year's innovations will build resiliency
through climate related analysis, improve soil health, and
strengthen farms' climate resilience – engaging farmers in
Australia, Colombia, Egypt, India,
Iraq, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, and the United Kingdom.[1]
"We can't motivate systemic change on our own, and our PAO
Accelerator continues to provide a forum for farming communities to
bring forth ideas and opportunities, and receive the funding needed
to get promising innovation off the ground," said Margaret Henry, Vice President, Sustainable and
Regenerative Agriculture at PepsiCo. "With this latest round of
projects, we're not only fostering this powerful network of
innovators across global farmland, but growing closer to achieving
a more regenerative future, with farmers' insight at the
forefront."
Among the roster of 2023 projects, will be a project with
Australian grain growers to test and validate soil health
management practices to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions
on-farm. In Colombia, funding will
support increasing potato crop quality and yield by installing
sprinkler irrigation systems that will also reduce water use. And,
in collaboration with 3Keel, a UK-based landscape innovation firm,
funding will help connect Europe-based organizations interested in
supporting regenerative solutions with local farmland managers who
can deliver measurable, sustainable outcomes.
"Investing in pioneering agriculture projects is a key action in
combatting the evolving climate crisis and setting farmers around
the world, up for long-term success," shared Tom Curtis, Director, 3Keel Group Ltd. "Support
from PepsiCo's PAO Accelerator will powerfully enable our team to
work with local farmers across Europe to further broker the partnerships
needed to accelerate climate action on the ground to strengthen
agricultural supply chains for the long-term."
Since its launch in 2021, the PAO Accelerator has supported
diverse projects – from adopting efficient irrigation systems in
response to increased drought, developing kilns to turn
agricultural waste into fertilizer, improving soil health, and
more.
"Speaking from experience, prioritizing and investing in
climate-smart innovation can uncover solutions for our entire
global agricultural supply chain," said Chris Seymour, Seymour Farms, Canada, and 2022 PAO Accelerator funding
recipient. "With support from PepsiCo's PAO Accelerator, my team
gained new insights that helped improved soil health and
profitability for my business, even as weather conditions became
more unpredictable over time."
As part of its pep+ transformation, PepsiCo's Positive
Agriculture agenda prioritizes investment, innovation, and robust
collaboration with our farming partners to deliver impact around
the world. The scalable outcomes and ongoing investments in
agricultural innovation via PepsiCo's PAO Accelerator continue
to support the company's goal to spread the adoption of
regenerative farming practices across 7 million acres by 2030,
improve the livelihoods of more than 250,000 people in its
agricultural supply chain, and sustainably source 100% of its key
ingredients.
Learn more about PepsiCo's Positive Agriculture commitments
here.
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by
consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200
countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more
than $86 billion in net revenue in
2022, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods
portfolio that includes Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade,
Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product
portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages,
including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail
sales.
Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to be the global leader in
beverages and convenient foods by winning with pep+ (PepsiCo
Positive). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that
puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how we will
create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries
and inspiring positive change for planet and people. For more
information, visit www.pepsico.com, and follow on Twitter,
Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @PepsiCo.
Media Contact:
mediarelations@pepsico.com
Editor's Footnote:
[1] 2023 projects as follows:
PROJECT
NAME
|
COUNTRY
|
PROJECT
DESCRIPTION
|
Cool Soil
Initiative
|
Australia
|
Extending PepsiCo's
Cool Soil Initiative to support West Australia's oat sourcing
region – testing and validating sustainable practices aimed at reducing
greenhouse gas emissions on-farm, improve sustainability, yield,
and profitability.
|
Improved soil health
with
new cover crops
|
Colombia
|
Identifying how cover
crops can improve soil erosion, soil fertility and fixation of
nitrogen, to help reduce emissions and improve
biodiversity.
|
Sprinkler irrigation
system
installation
|
Colombia
|
Improving farmers'
yields by increasing the amount of viable planting areas on
farms and water reduction efforts by introducing low-pressure,
sprinkler irrigation
systems.
|
Precision fertilizer
use
|
India
|
Driving adoption of
precision fertilizers to improve soil health and support
potential
greenhouse gas emissions reduction within the market's potato
supply chain.
|
Water availability
analysis
|
Iraq
|
Conducting a water
availability study to map current risks and build an action
plan
for 2030 building resiliency to the potato supply chain
|
Guidance for
smallholder
farms transitioning to
sustainable sourcing
|
Egypt
|
Introducing new ways of
working to benefit local smallholder farmers and enable
100% sustainable sourcing for direct potato and corn by
2030.
|
"Weather Station"
installation
|
Pakistan
|
Improving grower
resilience and timely decisions by deploying "weather station"
technology on-site to deliver more accurate data to strengthen
farming operations.
|
Accelerating
regenerative
agriculture practices by
building our partners
capabilities
|
Romania, Poland,
UK
|
In collaboration
with 3Keel, a UK-based landscape
innovation firm, funding will
help connect Europe based organizations interested in supporting
regenerative
solutions with local farmland managers who can deliver measurable,
sustainable
outcomes.
|
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SOURCE PepsiCo, Inc.