Another food manufacturer plans to invest in no-till crops and regenerative agriculture practices for its ingredient supply.
In an interview with the Food Manufacture podcast, Blanco Niño CEO Philip Martin says sustainability is the company's no. 1 concern. The Irish company makes tortilla chips. He's prioritizing sourcing corn from no-tillers because they're reducing damage to the ecosystem by eliminating tillage and saving energy and fuel with fewer passes on the field.
"We're moving to the no-till farming practices for corn," Martin says. "It's going to probably take a few years to do in a complete and comprehensive way, but it's something that we, especially I, feel quite passionate about. It's one of those things that can really turn the needle if more people move to no-till farming, rather than conventional tillage."
Listen to the full podcast interview here.
Blanco Niño joins a number of food manufacturers turning to no-till to help advance their sustainability goals. In 2019, General Mills committed to "advance regenerative agriculture practices" on 1 million acres of farmland by 2030. The company planned to partner with oat, wheat, corn, dairy feed and sugar beet farmers to implement the regenerative practices. Steps in the program included pilot projectswith Kansas wheat growers to improve soil health and water quality in the Cheney Reservoir region andthe Michigan dairies that supply milk for its yogurt products.
Flour-miller Ardent Mills committed to enrolling 250,000 acres of spring and winter wheat into its regenerative agriculture program by 2022, with the goal of advancing regenerative practices and building its grower based.
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