AgMission and PepsiCo Seek Regenerative Agriculture Research to Bolster Climate Resilient Farms and Value Chains

PepsiCo and the AgMission™ initiative, co-founded by the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO), are issuing a request for applications (RFA) to accelerate the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices that incorporate regenerative agriculture principles to support resiliency of on-farm production and commodity value chains in North America, Europe, South Africa and Australia.

Climate-smart and regenerative agricultural systems help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt production systems to the stresses caused by extreme weather events and climatic shifts. Benefits can include enhanced soil health and fertility, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, increased soil organic carbon, reduced fertilizer loss and increased biodiversity on working lands. However, current adoption of these practices is low, due in part to incomplete or hard-to-access information on how to effectively implement these practices, as well as a lack of rapidly attractive value propositions.

PepsiCo and AgMission are seeking research that identifies climate-smart and regenerative practices that enhance farmer resiliency to extreme weather in specific cropping systems and regions, while monitoring for any impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Submitted proposals should also include a comparison of the climate-smart and regenerative practice system to alternative practice systems representing current or historical management in the region. Specifically, AgMission is interested in projects that drive practice adoption across additional lands and document the impact on farm economic and environmental resilience.

“Keeping farmers farming in the face of climate change and other social and environmental challenges is a critical ambition of our PepsiCo Positive ambitions,” said Margaret Henry, senior director, Sustainable Agriculture Strategy & External Engagement at PepsiCo “To create a resilient food system we need to partner with farmers and implementers and learn from the research to find impactful and scalable solutions to aid the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices.”

Research should focus on agricultural systems that include corn, wheat, oats, canola, soy or sugar beets in North America, Europe, South Africa and Australia.

“Investing in climate-smart agriculture practices that are in use and accelerating the adoption and scale-up of new ones is crucial to support the growing need for on-farm resiliency and activate agriculture’s true potential to mitigate and adapt to climate change,” said the WFO Secretary General Arianna Giuliodori. “Filling the gap between farmers and science globally in the spirit of farmer-centricity and co-creation, starting from the needs and expectations on climate-smart agriculture of producers across the globe, is the real value of the AgMission research agenda.”

AgMission and PepsiCo are awarding up to $6 million through this RFA, with individual awards eligible to receive up to $1.5 million. Pre-proposals are due February 22, 2023. Applicants are not required to secure matching funds for this opportunity, as AgMission Founding Partners are contributing the match. Additional information, including details on how to apply, are available on the AgMission Regenerative Agriculture Research Open Opportunity webpage.

Register to attend an informational webinar about this RFA on January 26, 2023 at 10 am EST.

AgMission welcomes applications from domestic and international project implementers, higher education institutions, non-profit and for-profit organizations, and U.S. government-affiliated research agencies. Collaborative multi-institution applications are encouraged.

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AgMission™

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) established AgMission, a global collaboration of farmers, ranchers and scientists mobilizing data and partnering together to accelerate collaboration, develop science-based solutions and expand innovation and research that powers adaptation and adoption of climate-smart solutions. AgMission is empowering the agriculture sector to become net-zero for greenhouse gas emissions.

To learn more visit: agmission.org