Alpro’s Regenerative Agriculture Journey
Supporting farmers in their transition to regenerative practices
Alpro has long been a leader in the plant-based food sector, championing healthier eating and sustainable living by encouraging a switch to more plant-based eating. Following the 2018 study (see Alpro: setting science-based targets for nature), Alpro, together with a key almond sourcing partner, Unió, initiated its Regenerative Agriculture project in Catalonia, Spain. This project helped Alpro engage with its almond suppliers to identify farm-level regenerative practices for almond farms, highlight opportunities and challenges in the implementation of regenerative practice, and develop a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework for measuring regenerative agriculture impacts and outcomes.
- Clients: Alpro
- Partners: Unió, OCT- Observatorio Cultura Del Territorio, CERAI
- Date: March 2022
Our current global food system contributes to the transgression of several planetary boundaries
Transforming the food system by implementing practices that help to regenerate ecosystems is a decisive step for tackling the most urgent environmental challenges today. The current system operates in a way that pushes the planet’s natural environmental limits beyond safe boundaries. Yet achieving a sweeping change of our food system cannot be accomplished without the engagement of all stakeholders (i.e. farmers and suppliers) to ensure a holistic approach for mapping opportunities and tackling key barriers. This project therefore was informed by input from key players.
Opportunity mapping for Regenerative Agriculture in Alpro’s almond value-chain
An important landscape for Alpro is in the region of Catalonia, Spain, where it sources almonds for the production of its core range of almond drinks. We supported Alpro in engaging with a group of almond farmers and their cooperative to assess the current practices occurring at the farm-level, while discussing the challenges and opportunities in moving towards a more regenerative agriculture approach. We identified the regenerative practices most applicable to this cropping system and landscape, and defined a monitoring and evaluation framework to help guide farmers in their journey to a more regenerative model, and mapped business cases for how various practices could create additional value for farmers.Scaling regenerative agriculture across Alpro’s almond suppliers
Through this engagement with Unió and the farmers, we were able to support Alpro in their journey to regenerative sourcing of its ingredients. We delivered a framework for what regenerative agriculture looks like for almond production in Spain, and used this as a conversation starter for farmers and suppliers in the region.
With insights from our interviews and conversations with the farmers, we were able to better identify priority areas for action as well as areas where additional support is needed. Moving forward this information was useful in defining a roadmap for Alpro to continue supporting their almond suppliers on their regenerative agriculture journey.
Director
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