Regenerative Agriculture
Regenerative agriculture is increasingly regarded as a valuable approach to farming that supports long-term adaptation to climate variability.
With climate challenges affecting crops and farmer livelihoods worldwide, the long-term resilience of global food and agricultural supply chains requires a transition to sustainable practices where the food system begins – at farm level.
At LDC, our ambition is to be at the forefront of the transition to regenerative agriculture practices that help future-proof agronomic systems, reducing agricultural emissions, conserving natural resources and preserving ecosystems, while enhancing the climate resilience and welfare of farming communities connected with LDC’s supply chains.
Our Ambition
This ambitious goal is testament to LDC’s ongoing commitment to reducing its Scope 3 (indirect) emissions, and conserving and enhancing biodiversity in its supply chains, while enabling food and agriculture value chain customers to source ingredients produced through sustainable and regenerative practices.
Interest is growing across the entire agriculture value chain to accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture, for which collaborative investment and operational cooperation are key. As a leading global merchant of agricultural goods, LDC is ideally positioned to drive multi-stakeholder collaboration toward more resilient, future-proofed agronomic systems, with robust ESG impacts across our supply chains.
Our Approach
As members of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform, we endorse the SAI Regenerative Together framework in our regenerative agriculture metrics monitoring and reporting systems to achieve measurable outcomes.
Regenerative agriculture represents a set of farming practices that are locally relevant and adapted to individual farming systems that focus on the restoration of ecosystem services provided by healthy soils and biodiverse farming systems.
The Six Principles of Regenerative Agriculture
Our Strategy
Our regenerative agriculture strategy focuses on supporting farmers in our key supply sheds with the implementation of regenerative agriculture practices. It aims to scale-up swift, beyond-pilot initiatives, while we co-design and implement landscape-level projects with our partners.
This approach is built around two pillars:
Our Programs
Around the World
LDC has initiated several regenerative agriculture pilot projects around the world, some of which are highlighted here. Going forward, we aim to expand on these, as we scale up our regenerative agriculture efforts in key supply sheds.
US
Brazil
Argentina
India
Indonesia
US
In 2023, we developed a program with 25 US cotton growers farming approximately 50,000 acres, to evaluate the commercial opportunities for participating in carbon emissions reduction initiatives and regenerative agriculture certification programs, monitoring their environmental performance via the US Cotton Trust Protocol.
In 2024, we launched a regenerative agriculture program for soy and corn in the US with key regional agri-food sector actors. This initiative includes technical and financial assistance to growers, data collection of environmental impacts and quantifying improvements on environmental metrics.
Brazil
In our Brazilian orange groves, we are actively testing innovative technologies and practices with the potential to support more sustainable fruit production through regenerative agriculture principles.
Argentina
In 2024, we launched a collaborative regenerative agriculture program in Argentina, involving various agricultural value chain stakeholders with a common goal to help reduce carbon emissions, conserve natural ecosystems and resources, and boost climate resilience in agricultural communities, while continuing to meet growing demand for sustainably produced agricultural goods. Focusing on soy, corn and camelina crops, the regenerative agriculture program aims to cover 205,000 hectares and involve 400 farmers in the country by 2030.
India
Participating farmers in our regenerative agriculture initiative in Maharashtra were selected with Better Cotton, and have been regenagri© certified by Control Union.
Farmers are being trained in a range of regenerative agriculture techniques, including irrigation structures and water storage, with a focus on managing changing rainfall patterns. The project also seeks to advance farmers’ financial literacy and improve their access to financial services, including credit, through the formation of farmer group structures. The aim is to produce regenagri© certified bales, helping the farmers to realize a market premium for their goods.
Indonesia
Since 2015, our coffee program in Indonesia has empowered 13,800+ smallholder growers across Sumatra to leverage regenerative agriculture techniques that reduce the use of agrochemicals and enhance soil health. The program also facilitated the planting of 618,000+ native fruit and vegetable trees to nourish soils, boost biodiversity and capture greenhouse gases from the air, acting as a carbon sink.
Our Coffee Platform is also pursuing its Stronger Coffee Initiative around the world, which develops programs fostering regenerative agriculture practices.
Farmer Stories
Regenerative agriculture has allowed us to continue farming, ensuring the legacy of our farm.
By incorporating practices like no-till, cover crops, and improved irrigation management, we’ve seen remarkable improvements, particularly on farms with sandier soil.
Reid Nichols
Cotton Farmer in Southwest Oklahoma and Northeast Texas
Farmer Stories
I’m a fifth-generation cotton farmer in Southwest Oklahoma, working alongside my father and brother-in-law.
Reid Nichols
Cotton Farmer in Southwest Oklahoma and Northeast Texas