This Thanksgiving, your pumpkin pie might have a lower carbon footprint. Farmers in central Illinois who supply 85% of the world’s canned pumpkin are adopting regenerative techniques to reduce emissions, attract bees and other pollinators and improve soil health.
Libby’s parent, the Swiss conglomerate Nestle, is one of a growing number of big food companies supporting the transition to regenerative farming in the U.S., with the goal of letting soil thrive by reducing plowing and keeping bugs, carbon and other nutrients in the ground. Other regenerative farming practices include rotating crops or using fewer synthetic chemicals and fertilizers that can degrade soil over time.
In 2019, General Mills set a goal of adopting regenerative practices on 1 million acres of farmland by 2030; so far, the company says 225,000 acres have enrolled in its programs, including one that pays farmers for credits they earn when they increase soil carbon or improve water quality. “They finally realize that they can no longer ignore the climate impacts of their supply chain,” Sharma said.
But farmers need financial support to make the transition, the USDA said, because it can take three to five years of trial and error and upfront expenses before they begin to see a payoff. Bill Sahs, who grows pumpkins for Libby’s in Atlanta, Illinois, has been farming for 47 years. He joined the regenerative farming program in 2021, and now works with scientists from Nestle and EcoPractices — an environmental consulting firm — to test his soil and try new methods.
“Everybody’s getting into the environmental act, and you’ve just got to change,” Sahs said. “If you can’t change, then you won’t be around very long.”
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