Advancing farming practices that aim to restore the land
We work with farmers and partners across key sourcing regions (or supply sheds) to build healthy soil, improve water quality and resilience, and strengthen the ecosystems that make agriculture possible.
To continue making food for generations to come, we depend on the health of the land and farmers that grow it. Regenerative agriculture is how we work to strengthen it.
In 2019, we invested in this farmer-led movement and committed to advance regenerative agriculture on 1 million acres of farmland by 2030.
Understanding regenerative agriculture
Regenerative agriculture is a principles-based approach to farming and ranching that focuses on improving soil, water and long-term resilience. It's relevant to all types of farms, large and small, conventional and organic, and its principles have roots in Indigenous agricultural traditions that have sustained land for generations.
How we work at local and landscape levels
Our approach is centered on farmers and shaped by geography. We focus on key sourcing regions, what we call supply sheds, rather than narrowing our work to only the ingredients we source. Change at the landscape level benefits everyone who depends on that land, not just General Mills.
Within those regions, we provide farmers with practical support: one-on-one coaching, customized implementation plans, soil health testing and farmer networks. Transitioning to a new farming system carries real agronomic, economic and social challenges. Our programs are built around helping farmers work through all three.
We also partner with local organizations that understand their communities from the inside. The programming they run is designed and led locally, because a solution developed in Minneapolis rarely fits the realities of a farm in the Northern Plains or Southern Oklahoma.
