Danone North America has revealed the year five results of its multi-year, multi-million dollar regenerative agriculture program, which includes both dairy milk and almond milk sourcing. Since its launch in 2017, the program has expanded its reach to 144,771 acres.
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Highlights from the year five assessment include:
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and sequestering carbon: Regenerative management practices on dairy farms cut 51,200 tons of CO2e and sequestered more than 14,227 tons of carbon.
- Protecting and restoring soil: Farmer partners placed cover crops—which protect the soil and increase crop yields—on 69% of the program’s acreage. In addition, 370,963 tons of natural manure fertilizer and 516 million gal of natural manure effluent were applied, providing nutrients for crops and reducing the need for synthetic fertilizer use.
- Fostering biodiversity with species, varieties, and wildlife: Danone North America farmer partners in the program grew more than 30 species of cover and cash crops. Danone North America is working with almond farming partner Harris Woolf to develop a 10-acre pollinator garden, which will live among an on-farm array of solar panels.
- Preserving and protecting water systems: In year five, Danone North America partner McCarty Family Farms reused 20 million gal of water extracted by its milk condensing plant for irrigation needs. In addition, 57 soil moisture probes have been put into place across farms in the program to reduce excessive water use and maximize efficiency.
Approximately 2.4 billion lb of dairy milk has been sourced from acreage within the regenerative agriculture program, representing 75% of Danone North America’s dairy milk volume. Farmer partners in the program support sourcing for brands including Oikos, Two Good, Horizon Organic, Silk, and more.
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