Regenerative agriculture, key to reducing the greenhouse effect

Companies of the food sector drive in Latin America regenerative agricultural practices to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions greenhouse effect coming from the agriculturewhich represent 24% of global emissions.

That is why, within the framework of World Energy Saving Day and World Day against Climate Change, which are celebrated on October 21 and October 24 respectively, PepsiCo announced in a statement that it will use this type of initiatives in almost he 100% of the land that farmers use to grow crops and provide inputs to the American company worldwide.

In this sense, the objective of the company that produces and markets food and beverages is to adopt regenerative agricultural practices on 2.8 million hectares, with the countryside as the starting point of efforts to counteract damage to the environment.

Greenhouse gas reduction

The company’s efforts become relevant since the 24% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, the same activity that uses 70% of fresh water in the world and that, its production is forecast to grow by up to 14% in the coming years, according to data cited by the company.

Latin America alone produces food for 1.3 billion people, which is equivalent to one in every six inhabitants on the planet.

In this sense, by 2031 it is expected that a 18% of world food exports come from the Latin American region.

Regenerative practices

Among the regenerative agricultural practices promoted by PepsiCo Latin America are the efficient use of water, soil conservation actions, the use of high-tech fertilizers with a low carbon footprint, and technology to help reduce the carbon footprint in the agriculture.

It has also managed to reduce its emission of greenhouse gases from the cultivation of potatoes, one of its most important ingredients, achieving a reduction of these gases by 27% between 2015 and 2022.

PepsiCo Latin America, with whom EFE has a content dissemination agreement, has indicated that it is also working to achieve these results in wheat cultivation in the region by promoting the Bajío Sustainable Agriculture (Agriba Sustentable) program, together with the Trimex Group and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

This project aims to promote the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices among wheat producers from the Bajío de México, located in the Mexican states of Guanajuato and Michoacán, which are key suppliers of Gamesa products, PepsiCo’s satellite brand.

Results

From August 2022 to July 2023 alone, Agriba Sustentable generated benefits for more than 289 producers through 379 plots, constituting a positive impact on a total of 4,936 hectares in the Bajío region, with an average saving of 37% in production costs for each hectare.

Likewise, the adoption of regenerative agriculture techniques resulted in a reduction in 34.5% of greenhouse gas emissions, along with a decrease in 23% in fuel consumption and 7% in water use per kilogram of wheat produced.