In partnership with United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI), the Climate Collaborative is thrilled to share a new case study featuring a company that is part of the UNFI Climate Action Partnership. Lundberg Family Farms is dedicated to growing the highest quality rice using organic and regenerative farming practices. For generations, the family has been driven by the belief that the health of our bodies and our planet depends on how we steward the land. This commitment traces back to 1937 when Albert and Frances Lundberg left Nebraska because of the Dust Bowl. This environmental disaster, caused by the drought and destructive farming practices, prompted them to move to California with their four sons-Eldon, Wendell, Harlan, and Homer-a flatbed Chevy truck, a Farmall tractor, and a new philosophy: "Leave the land better than you found it."

In partnership with United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI), the Climate Collaborative is thrilled to share a new case study featuring a company that is part of the UNFI Climate Action Partnership. Organic Valley, the largest organic farmer-owned cooperative, is on a mission to save, serve, and safeguard small organic family farms. The brand's products are ethically sourced: They are raised on organic farms where families manage the daily care of the animals and the earth. These farms adhere to the USDA National Organic Program and the cooperative's high standards, which are designed to promote the principles of organic agriculture. These principles include respect for the dignity and interdependence of human, animal, plant, soil, and global life. Founded in 1988, the cooperative is now owned by over 1,600 organic family farms. 

We are taking stock of climate action in 2020 and what's ahead for the industry through a series of interviews with the 2020 National Co+op Grocers Climate Collaborative Awards winners. This week we sat down with Britt Lundgren, Director of Organic & Sustainable Agriculture at Stonyfield, winner of the 2020 Outstanding Company Award. (View our previous interviews with Numi Organic Tea and Outpost Natural Foods).

In 2018, we shared details on Happy Family Organics’ regenerative agriculture farmer training pilot (see the full blog here). The program set out to provide free technical support and guidance to farmers in Happy Family Organics’ supply chain on how they could shift to practices that can help store more carbon in the soil, improve watershed health, support biodiversity while also improving overall soil health and land productivity. The project fit into the brand’s larger ambition to help reverse the climate crisis through supply chain reductions and on-farm carbon sequestration.

Two years later, they've completed a second pilot and have now launched a Regenerative Farmer Fund to provide ongoing support to farmers in their supply chain. We sat down with their Sustainability Director, Katie Clark, to learn more.

Mary Jane Melendez Chief Sustainability and Social Impact Officer, General Mills

Our Director Erin Callahan caught up with Mary Jane Melendez from General Mills about their regenerative agriculture work and their plans for the future! Read their conversation below.

Nutiva was one of the first companies to join the Climate Collaborative in 2017 and has made five climate action commitments, to: Regenerative Agriculture, Energy Efficiency, Food Waste, Packaging, and Transportation. They are also a champion-level donor, helping catalyze action and resource provision to our network of 660 companies. We sat down with them to check in on their climate action, detailed in their new 2019 Impact Report.

You can download a version of this case study here.

The Climate Potential of Food Waste Reduction

A third of all food produced globally goes to waste, accounting for 4.4 gigatonnes of GHG emissions. If food waste were its own country, it would rank third-highest in emissions of all the countries on Earth![1]

Food waste emissions are created through the process of growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, and refrigerating food, then transporting it again to its final resting place—the landfill—where it rots, creating more GHG emissions. Food waste also represents a tremendous waste of resources including water, cropland, fuel, fertilizer and human labor, making it not only terrible for the environment but also a significant financial loss for brands, retailers and consumers!

Situated between producers, distributors and consumers, retailers have a unique potential to impact emissions both upstream and down, by working with all of these parties to minimize food loss and waste. BriarPatch Food Co-op, a community-owned business in Grass Valley, California, has pioneered a successful effort to minimize waste at the source by working with local producers.

You can download a version of this case study here.

The Power of Carbon Farming to Mitigate Climate Change

Agriculture accounts for 15% of global emissions, and carbon farming practices such as composting, cover cropping, and rotational grazing have significant potential to start reversing that number. Project Drawdown has shown that carbon farming or regenerative agriculture practices are the 11^th most powerful tool in humanity’s tool kit to mitigate global warming.

As of this writing, 151 companies have committed to implement these practices through the Climate Collaborative. Many of those companies are struggling with how to engage farmers in their supply chains to begin a shift toward adopting carbon building practices. This is, in part, because while the climate case is clear, the business case is still being developed.

Straus Family Creamery— a pioneer in carbon farming and many other sustainable practices— set out to change that. Straus has started to build an unprecedented financial case for carbon farming and ranchland management.