McCain Foods says it is making progress with its regenerative agriculture sustainability goals.
With a goal of implementing regenerative agriculture practices across 100% of the global acreage that grows potatoes for McCain products by the end of the decade, the company says it is well on its way to reaching this milestone, with 51% of McCain’s global potato acreage onboarded within McCain’s Regenerative Agriculture Framework, according to a news release.
Twenty-eight percent of the acreage has moved towards more comprehensive adoption of regenerative practices, the release said.
“As one of the most vulnerable sectors impacted by climate change, the food system is one of the most important levers to help drive a sustainable and resilient future,” Max Koeune, president and CEO of McCain Foods, said in the release. “That is why sustainability is at the heart of our purpose as a business. We are pleased to share an update on how we are making strides towards our goals in key areas that will ensure we have resource-efficient operations, are farming in a smart and sustainable way, and are contributing to building thriving communities in the areas that we operate, all while we continue to produce good food.”
McCain is accelerating the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices through its direct relationships with farmers — a network of 3,500 partners around the world — by providing technical and educational assistance and developing innovative financing solutions to offset costs associated with making changes in farming practices and adopting new technologies, the release said.
As part of the sustainability report, McCain details a typical year in the regenerative agriculture cycle at Farm of the Future Canada. This deep dive brings the regenerative transition to life and parallels learnings with those in the Southern Hemisphere at Farm of the Future Africa, according to the release.
By trialing, testing and learning from the outcomes of implementing regenerative agriculture practices, McCain has supported farmers to become more resilient and competitive for the long term, the release said.
In the 2023 global sustainability report, McCain highlights the following results across four key pillars, underscoring its ongoing commitment of prioritizing sustainability across its global operations, the release said:
- Smart and sustainable farming — In addition to progressing on commitments towards regenerative agriculture, McCain has completed its first season at Farm of the Future Africa and third season at Farm of the Future Canada, improved water-use efficiency in water-stressed regions by 9.4%, delivered more than 23,500 hours of training to farmers and has achieved its goal to ensure 21.9% of the potatoes grown for McCain are water stress-tolerant varieties.
- Resource-efficient operations — More than 21% of the electrical energy used by McCain was from renewable sources, and absolute carbon emissions (scope 1 and 2) were reduced by 9.8% from 2017. McCain has also achieved a 16.3% improvement in water-use efficiency in priority plants. Additionally, 98.5% of McCain’s paper packaging and 87.8% of its plastic packaging are designed for recycling.
- Good food — McCain launched new global policies for clean ingredients and nutrition while maintaining 100% Global Food Safety Initiative certification at all McCain-owned facilities — and 96% GFSI certification of all Tier 1 ingredient supplier facilities. Sodium was reduced by 6.6% in McCain-branded appetizer products, and the company has continued to remove artificial ingredients from key products.
- Thriving communities — In 2023, McCain employees provided more than 17,000 volunteer hours through the McCain Chips In initiative, reached 2,716 new beneficiaries with development programs and partnerships and donated the equivalent of 11.9 million meals.
“While we are proud of how far we have progressed towards our goals, we recognize there is more to be done,” Koeune said in the release. “But we know this is not something we can do alone. Partnership and knowledge are crucial to move forward. We will continue to look to stakeholders —‚ from our farmers, to government, to financial institutions, NGOs, suppliers, customers and other players in the food system — to collaborate on this journey towards planet-friendly food.”
Read McCain’s 2023 global sustainability summary report here.
