Salisbury, N.C. and Minneapolis — Recognizing the importance of collaboration across the value chain, Ahold Delhaize USA and General Mills have teamed up to create an innovative approach to address Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions within their shared value chain.
Through co-investments in priority supply sheds — or geographic growing regions where key ingredients are sourced — the two companies will support farmers as they adopt regenerative farming practices. Utilizing expertise from Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC), a nonprofit member-based consortium, farmers will receive technical and financial support to implement techniques like cover cropping and nutrient management, and a combination of field sampling and modeling will estimate net greenhouse gas emissions.
“This relationship emphasizes how strategic collaboration is essential for addressing climate impacts and creating positive environmental outcomes,” says Marc Stolzman, chief sustainability officer, Ahold Delhaize USA. “Ahold Delhaize USA looks forward to the learnings from this supply shed collaboration and using the findings to drive progress across the supply chain.”
By the end of 2025, ESMC along with local implementing partners will help advance regenerative agriculture management on over 70,000 acres of farmland in Kansas and Saskatchewan in Canada. The scale of this effort represents the approximate number of acres General Mills engages to source key ingredients, like wheat and oats, for its products sold at grocery stores operated by Ahold Delhaize USA’s brands: Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop.
“In 2019, General Mills became one of the first companies to commit to helping advance regenerative agriculture,” says Mary Jane Melendez, chief sustainability and global impact officer, General Mills. “We champion a farmer-centered approach across key regions where the ingredients we source are grown, aiming to produce positive environmental, social and economic outcomes. Ahold Delhaize USA is a natural fit for collaboration with shared goals of creating a more healthy and resilient food system.”
ESMC will facilitate the program and oversee impact measurement. Greenhouse gas reductions and soil carbon sequestration will be verified by an independent third-party verification organization, ensuring transparency and accountability. This collaboration is a continuation of General Mills and ESMC’s multi-year partnership, which began in 2020, rewarding farmers for beneficial environmental outcomes from regenerative agriculture.
“ESMC’s ongoing partnerships with General Mills and Ahold Delhaize USA continue to leverage our collective investments and generate shared outcomes. By creating opportunities for co-investing in regenerative agricultural solutions, producers win, corporations win and consumers win,” says Debbie Reed, executive director of ESMC. “These verified improvements in agricultural production systems increase on-farm resilience for producers and build resilience throughout the supply chain.”
This program highlights the importance of prioritizing industry collaboration to scale sustainability initiatives by maximizing efforts and extending shared impact across the value chain. This is Ahold Delhaize USA’s second farmland-focused Scope 3 pilot this year, and its first collaboration taking a supply shed approach.
Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of global food retailer Ahold Delhaize, is part of the U.S. family of brands. The companies of Ahold Delhaize USA comprise the largest grocery retail group on the East Coast and the fourth largest grocery retail group in the nation. For more information, visit www.adusa.com.
General Mills has a portfolio of beloved brands, including Cheerios, Nature Valley, Blue Buffalo, Häagen-Dazs, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Totino’s, Annie’s, Wanchai Ferry, Yoki and more. For more information, visit www.generalmills.com.
Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC)/Ecosystem Services Market Research Consortium (ESMRC) is a nonprofit agricultural supply chain market program. Eco-Harvest, ESMC’s voluntary market program, is an accredited end-to-end digitized solution to decarbonize agriculture. For more information, visit www.ecosystemservicesmarket.org.
SOURCE: Ahold Delhaize USA