Our Approach
Over time, the quality and availability of the earth’s natural resources have declined, while the need to provide for a growing population has increased.
We believe regenerative agriculture is one of the most meaningful ways we can help people and the planet. We advocate for a collaborative approach to regenerative agriculture to create and accelerate meaningful systems-level change. As part of this approach, we invest in regenerative agriculture in the places our business depends on — and we can’t do it alone.
Why We Support Regenerative Agriculture
Healthy Soil
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Clean and abundant water
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Greater biodiversity
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Profitable and resilient farms
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Thriving communities and resilient food systems
Aim
LandscapeResilient agricultural systems and communities through improved ecosystem health & function- Supply ShedsWidespread adoption of RA in regions where we source key ingredients.
- General MillsGeneral Mills grows capacity for positive impact
Approach
LandscapeFoster coordination among public and private sectors, work toward shared goals for nature, climate, and farmers- Supply ShedsMulti-faceted support to farmers to overcome agronomic, economic, and social/cultural barriers to adoption
Build capacity of local organizations to enable local ownership and leadership of programs
Advance science to understand context-specific impacts of RA - General MillsActivate the creativity and know-how of our employees by integrating our RA commitment across internal operations, for example through brand activations
Actions
Fund partnerships and advocate for public sector policies that catalyze systems change.
Implement programs with partners and farmers focused on supply sheds.
Experiment to design effective pathways for climate and nature resilience.- Advance scientific understanding of outcomes and adoption of regenerative agriculture.
Support organic agriculture and related brand activations.
Landscape aim and approach
Landscapes can be defined by ecological boundaries like a watershed, or a jurisdictional boundary like a state or country. Within landscapes, the activities of farms, nonprofits, government agencies, agribusinesses, food companies, and other sectors overlap and interact with agricultural and other ecosystems. Landscape approaches can help reconcile siloed and often competing objectives among multiple stakeholders and enable diverse groups to work together toward common goals. Through landscape approaches, we strive to align goals and coordinate action across the public and private sector to maximize collective impact. It is also at this scale that we consider structural forces like markets and policy and work to create enabling conditions for positive change at the level of agricultural and food systems.
Supply shed aim and approach
When implemented across crop rotations and at scale by many farms in a landscape, regenerative agriculture can help address significant challenges like biodiversity and water quality decline. We focus on accelerating momentum across key geographical sourcing regions, or supply sheds, rather than focusing on only the ingredients we source. The supply shed approach supports change at the level of farming communities and landscapes and benefits all stakeholders who depend on that place. Where business and local context support it, supply chain actions can enhance and complement supply shed impact.
Through a farmer-centered approach, we aim to provide tailored resources that help farmers overcome the agronomic challenges of implementation, the economic challenges of transitioning to a new system, and the social and cultural challenges of breaking the status quo.
Because each supply shed is unique, we invest to build capacity of local organizations who deeply understand the needs and opportunities in their community, and we support their programming that is designed and led at the local level.
As we work to advance adoption of regenerative agriculture, we also work to advance the science, partnering with researchers in a variety of regions and agricultural systems to understand the context-specific impacts of regenerative agriculture on outcomes.
Through a farmer-centered approach, we aim to provide tailored resources that help farmers overcome the agronomic challenges of implementation, the economic challenges of transitioning to a new system, and the social and cultural challenges of breaking the status quo.
Because each supply shed is unique, we invest to build capacity of local organizations who deeply understand the needs and opportunities in their community, and we support their programming that is designed and led at the local level.
As we work to advance adoption of regenerative agriculture, we also work to advance the science, partnering with researchers in a variety of regions and agricultural systems to understand the context-specific impacts of regenerative agriculture on outcomes.
General Mills aim and approach
We also work to grow General Mills’ own capacity for positive impact over time. In addition to commitment ownership by senior leadership on our Global Impact Governance Committee, our Global Impact Business Integration team seeks to activate the creativity and know-how of our employees by engaging multiple functions across the company in supporting our commitment to regenerative agriculture. This can take the form of new sourcing partnerships with ingredient suppliers, or product activations led by marketing teams to promote regenerative agriculture through individual brands.
Our organic brands play an important role in our regenerative agriculture approach. We believe organic is a regenerative approach to farming. As one of the largest producers of certified organic packaged food in the United States, General Mills recognizes the environmental and social benefits of organic agriculture as a regenerative approach to farming. We value organic farming as a system managed to respond to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance and conserve biodiversity. Research has shown that organic farming practices can lead to positive outcomes for soil health, water, on-farm biodiversity, and farmer profitability. By creating a market for farmers to sell their certified organic crops, while also providing additional resources to farmers in the regions from which we source organic grains, fruits and vegetables, our Annie’s and Cascadian Farm businesses contributed more than 90,000 acres toward our 1 million acre regenerative agriculture goal in 2024.
Impactful change within the food system requires an integrated approach and innovative collaboration. We can best serve people and our planet through coordinated investment that centers local expertise and context.
Our organic brands play an important role in our regenerative agriculture approach. We believe organic is a regenerative approach to farming. As one of the largest producers of certified organic packaged food in the United States, General Mills recognizes the environmental and social benefits of organic agriculture as a regenerative approach to farming. We value organic farming as a system managed to respond to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance and conserve biodiversity. Research has shown that organic farming practices can lead to positive outcomes for soil health, water, on-farm biodiversity, and farmer profitability. By creating a market for farmers to sell their certified organic crops, while also providing additional resources to farmers in the regions from which we source organic grains, fruits and vegetables, our Annie’s and Cascadian Farm businesses contributed more than 90,000 acres toward our 1 million acre regenerative agriculture goal in 2024.
Impactful change within the food system requires an integrated approach and innovative collaboration. We can best serve people and our planet through coordinated investment that centers local expertise and context.
Our evolving, collaborative strategy to advance regenerative agriculture
From our initial investments in soil health programs in 2016, to our 2019 commitment to advance regenerative agriculture, and the over 75 projects underway today, our approach has been shaped by insights from farmers and our experiences with on-the-ground partners. We’re continuously adapting our approach to meet the needs of ecosystems, communities, and businesses, while incorporating insights and inspiration from leading organizations advancing the regenerative agriculture movement.
Our integrated approach incorporates actions designed to deliver impact at multiple levels of agriculture and food systems – our business and brands, key supply sheds, and broader landscapes that many stakeholders depend on.
Our integrated approach incorporates actions designed to deliver impact at multiple levels of agriculture and food systems – our business and brands, key supply sheds, and broader landscapes that many stakeholders depend on.
Research Strategy
With research partners at universities, nonprofits, other companies, and the public sector, we study how soil health, carbon sequestration, water quality and conservation, insect and bird biodiversity, and farm economics improve as farmers adopt regenerative agriculture systems.
Because measuring regenerative agriculture outcomes at scale often requires a prohibitive amount of time, manual field sampling, and expensive data analysis, we invest in research and provide thought leadership to enable better protocols and technology for measuring impact. In addition to farm and plot-level research, we deploy technologies like satellite imagery and modelling that allow us to quantify trends in regenerative agriculture adoption and environmental impacts across entire regions.
We support partners in publishing and sharing their research so everyone can benefit from the insights.
Because measuring regenerative agriculture outcomes at scale often requires a prohibitive amount of time, manual field sampling, and expensive data analysis, we invest in research and provide thought leadership to enable better protocols and technology for measuring impact. In addition to farm and plot-level research, we deploy technologies like satellite imagery and modelling that allow us to quantify trends in regenerative agriculture adoption and environmental impacts across entire regions.
We support partners in publishing and sharing their research so everyone can benefit from the insights.
Systems-level research
On-farm research examines how regenerative agriculture holistically impacts outcomes within different agricultural contexts and enables farmers to learn about the effects of regenerative agriculture more quickly.Scaled-up monitoring
Development of approaches helps track trends in agricultural practices and outcomes across programs and supply sheds.Social science
Better understanding farmers’ needs and assessing the effectiveness of our approaches helps us continuously enhance our impact.
