Tate & Lyle has established a new regenerative agriculture programme to support corn suppliers in France to farm more sustainably.
Developed with farming cooperatives, representative groups and Regrow Ag, the programme will help participating farmers measure and understand the impact of adopting regenerative agricultural practices.
In turn, Tate & Lyle will monitor the environmental improvements it is supporting on thousands of acres of corn used to make many of its speciality ingredients.
From farm to fork, the provision of food is responsible for around one-third of greenhouse gas emissions.
To satisfy the demands of a growing global population, society must produce much more food and so reducing the climate impact of the end-to-end food value chain will be critical to solving the climate crisis.
Practices to support soil health prioritised in the programme include: low and no till, which minimises soil disturbance; cover crops, which support soil health; and nitrogen management to reduce the use of synthetic fertilisers.
Tate & Lyle and its partners will use Regrow’s AI-driven software platform to quantify environmental impacts and monitor trends in participating farms.
Regrow and local agronomists are partnering to support farmers with data entry and analysis to inform farm planning and integrate into Tate & Lyle and its customers’ environmental reporting.
This programme builds on Tate & Lyle’s existing, more mature regenerative agriculture programmes, which support corn growers in the US and stevia growers in China.
Tate & Lyle maintains acres equivalent to the volume of corn it buys annually in its regenerative agriculture programmes.
Nick Hampton, Chief Executive at Tate & Lyle, said: “Regenerative agriculture is at the heart of our approach to sustainability, because helping farmers to become more resilient to the impacts of increasing climate change-related events also enables our customers to feed a growing population - a win-win."
"For businesses in the food chain, flooding, droughts and severe temperatures that affect harvests and the use of natural resources are a shared challenge."
"Through our more mature, science and tech-driven regenerative agriculture programmes in the US and China, we’ve demonstrated that these programmes can materially improve yield and crop quality for farmers and the businesses they supply."
"This new programme in France is about supporting farmers and it also makes perfect business sense as it helps to make our supply chain more resilient.”
Dr Anastasia Volkova, CEO and co-founder of Regrow Ag, said: “Tate & Lyle’s leadership is helping accelerate the adoption of regenerative practices where it’s needed most: in Europe’s critical corn-growing regions."
'"By pairing local agronomic expertise with credible, AI-powered measurement and monitoring, this programme is demonstrating how collaboration and data transparency can drive meaningful climate action across supply chains.”
Franck Camet-Lassalle, Market Development Manager, Euralis, said: “As a major player in agriculture in south-west France, our commitment to regenerative agriculture is central to our strategy of supporting our member farmers towards more resilient and sustainable production."
"We are very proud to participate in this new programme with our long-standing partner Tate & Lyle, in conjunction with Regrow Ag."
"This initiative allows us to accelerate the adoption of soil conservation practices among our waxy corn producers."
"It is a concrete step that not only protects our natural resources but also strengthens the performance and sustainability of our farms in the face of climate challenges."
"This partnership is further proof of our collective ambition for a more responsible and future-oriented food value chain.”
Christophe Bonno, CEO of Maïsadour, said: “We are very pleased to collaborate with Tate & Lyle as part of this ambitious programme, which aims to accelerate the adoption of regenerative practices on waxy corn, particularly through the implementation of cover crops."
"This initiative strengthens our regenerative agriculture production offering, launched this year and fully aligns with our AMBiTiON 2030 strategy."
"As a committed cooperative, we firmly believe that regenerative agriculture represents a concrete and sustainable response to today’s agricultural challenges."
"Working alongside an international player such as Tate & Lyle allows us to empower our members to take action and innovate for a more responsible and sustainable agriculture.”