General Mills Accelerating Regenerative Ag

In 2015, General Mills became the first company to announce a full value chain greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target. Four years later, in 2019, it also made a commitment to advance regenerative agriculture as a means of achieving its goal of reducing emissions by 30 percent by 2030, and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.

During the pandemic, however, the company’s business grew significantly as at the same time supply chain disruptions caused widespread inefficiencies. As a result, its GHG emissions for fiscal 2020/21 increased by 2 percent. Of the company's total emissions, it stated that more than 90 percent came from upstream activities in agriculture.

As such, General Mills leadership stated that they are accelerating the adoption of regenerative agriculture, which is expected to be the largest contributor to meeting its GHG reduction goals. The company has committed to advancing regenerative ag on 1 million acres by 2030, and is currently 20 percent of the way toward meeting this goal.

To help speed up adoption, General Mills will focus on education for growers, and the building of community around regenerative ag.

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