Nestlé today unveiled plans to accelerate the transformation of the systemóin food to regenerative – i.e. such thatóre aimed at protecting and restoring the environment to its optimum state and improving conditions for theóin the life of the farmerów and the agricultural community. Activities in this area are implemented globally, including róalso in Poland.
Nestlé will supportón cooperation with partners, including more than 500,000. farmeróin and 150 thousand.suppliercóin order to advance regenerative agriculture practices. The company will initiate new programs thatóre will help meet the social and economic challenges of the transition. The plans are being announced on the eve of the UN Climate Change Summit at the UN. Systemóin Food in New York as part of Nestl's contributioné in achieving the Goal ofóin ZróThe following are the results of the work of the Commission on Sustainable Development until 2030. They are also spójn line with the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is sounding the alarm about the escalating climate crisis.
„We know that regenerative agriculture plays a key role in improving soil health, restoring circulationóin water and increasing biorós biodiversity in the long term” – said Paul Bulcke, Chairman of the Nestl Supervisory Boardé. „These elements form the basis of zrósustainable food production and, importantly, contribute to róAlso to achieve our ambitious goalsóin climate”.
As early as December 2020, Nestlé, As one of the first to spód signatories to the UN Business Ambition for 1 declaration.5°C, presented a detailedólion action plan as part of this commitment. The company is taking steps thatóre will allow it to halve its CO emissions by 20302 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
„Through long-standing partnerships with farming communities around the world, we aim to strengthen the commitment to environmentally and people-friendly agricultural practices” – said Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé. „In the spirit of ensuring a just transition, it is important to support farmersów around the world – as theypay the risks and costs associated with the transition to regenerative agriculture”.
Nestlé will invest CHF 1.2 billion over 5 years in programs to popularize regenerative agriculture throughout the company's supply chain. This will include 3 groups of activities to encourage the farmerów to regenerative practices:
- Cutting-edge science and technology, technical assistance: using an extensive network of expertóin the field of regenerative agriculture. research and development and agronomistóin, Nestlé is developing high-yielding coffee and cocoa varieties with lower environmental impact. The company is analyzing innovative solutions to reduce emissions in the product supply chainóin dairy. Nestlé will offer training and help farmers share information and best practices for local implementation of.
- Investment support: transitioning to regenerative agriculture initially involves risks and new costs. Nestlé will support farmerów, współ by financing investments, facilitating equipment lending or helping to obtain credit. The company will supportóWork with partners to fund pilot projects aimed at wyppróbanding optimal regenerative agriculture solutions.
- Premiums for regenerative agriculture products: Nestlé will offer a premium for many rawóin produced using regenerative agriculture practices. The company will be acquiring more of them. This means rewarding farmersów not only for the quantity and quality of cropsóin agriculture, but also for the benefits they will provide to the environment through soil conservation, water management and carbon sequestration.
Nestlé identifies the most important practices of regenerative agriculture, whichóre will promote. These include m.in. To increase the takeós biodiversity, soil conservation, circulation regenerationóin water and manage animal husbandry and crop farming so that they complement each other. Agriculture is responsible for nearly2/3 of total gas emissionsóin greenhouse gases in the Nestl supply chainé, Of which nearly half are dairy and livestock emissions. For this reason, Nestlé analyzes the latest developments in science and technology to reduce emissions at the farm level. The company will establish a cooperativeóCooperation with 30 reference farms specializing in dairy production from 12 countries. The aim of the wspóhe collaboration will implement scalable, climate-friendly, regenerative agricultural practices thatóre will help achieve zero gas emissionsóin net greenhouse. Nestlé wspóThe company is also working with farmers to select and grow nutritionally balanced and tasty varieties of legumes, with which itórities to create alternatives to milk.
Supporting agricultural communities through new sources ofósources of incomeóThe aim of the program is to improve the quality of the soil in the production processów
Regenerative agriculture supports a regenerative food system, whichóry should be fair and transparent for all participantsów. Nestlé, Through its programs zrósustainable development, contributes to higher and zróof differentiated incomeóin the farmerów. In order to make agriculture more attractive, the company will implement new programs to obtain incomeóin farmersóin its value chain. Later this year, Nestlé will present specific plans for the chainóin the supply of coffee and cocoa.
In turn, in order to support young farmersów, Nestlé will launch a new training platform in November. Its goal will be to attract and train the next generation of farmersów. Training will focus on regenerative agriculture practices and improving farm resilience to climate change.More than 40,000 farmers will take part in theseów.
Regeneration initiatives in Poland
Activities to support the development ofóregenerative systemsóIn addition, the local level is also being implemented in the food sector. In Poland, the company is already implementing projects in regenerative agriculture, protecting bioróThe company's efforts to improve biodiversity or restore theóin water.
We inóhe company, in cooperation with experts from the Agricultural University in Krakow and the Institute of Agricultural and Forest Environment of the Polish Academy of Sciences, is conducting a pilot program to study the emissions of gasóin greenhouse gases at one of the farms, thanks to whichórm will define good practices for implementation on other partner farms. Supportóln conjunction with farmers, solutions to improve soil quality are also being implemented – research and analysis using precision agriculture tools, fertilizing with natural humic acids or using phacelia as a cover crop. These practices make it possible not only to increase soil health, but also to reduce emissions and improve water retention.
Nestlé It is also encouraging young people to run their own farms by providing modern management tools and training courses – This year their themes were safe crop protection and access to subsidies.
A popular area of activity is róAlso conservation of bioróin order to support young farmers. To this end, local teams not only put up hives, but róThey also support wild bees by building nests for them – Such an initiative has been implemented in Rzeszow. Flower meadows are also being sown locally and shrubs and trees are being planted. For example, the Kalisz factory crew has been planting trees and shrubs in the city for more than a decade – So far, 650 of them have already been planted, most of them honey lime trees.
An important focus of activities in Poland is also the restoration of resourcesóin water. In the Nestl bottling regioné Waters in Naleczow the company is running m.in. microbiological studies of the Bystra River or invests in sewage infrastructure in the village of Zinców. Nestl production facilitiesé are leading róAlso a number of projectsóin whichóThe goal of these programs is to save water used in the production process by, for example. closing its circulationów.
All of Nestl's activitiesé in the field of regeneration, addressed to farmersów, young people, consumersów and employeeóin companies, will be implemented as part of the coólnitiative „Generation Regeneration”.