Louis Dreyfus Co. and Nature Conservancy Collaborate on Regenerative Agriculture Program

As part of a shared goal to reduce the carbon footprint of the food and agriculture industries, Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) plan to work together to promote and implement practices such as improving soil health, restoring aquifers and promoting biodiversity in strategic agricultural supply chains. 

"In a context of accelerating climate challenges affecting crops and farmer livelihoods worldwide, the long-term resilience of global food and agricultural supply chains requires a transition to sustainable practices where the food system begins - at the farm level," said Michael Gelchie, LDC's Group CEO. "As a leading global merchant and processor of agricultural goods, our strategic position in the value chain means we have a key role to play to incentivize and support this transition, including by driving adoption of regenerative agriculture, helping to reduce emissions, conserve ecosystems and natural resources, and drive climate resilience in farming communities."

The collaboration will first focus on the grains and oilseeds chains, using two main areas as guideposts: regenerative agriculture and deforestation-and conversion-free production. 

Regenerative Agriculture
Goals for this area include:

• Focus on a set of large-scale, strategic efforts in the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Argentina.
• Implement LDC's regenerative agriculture strategy, programming, financing and impact accounting in line with leading methodologies.
• Complete joint assessments of ongoing regenerative agriculture projects to find areas for collaboration.
• Target a minimum of 3 million acres by 2030

"As we pursue our regenerative agriculture strategy, we are thrilled to be working with TNC, which brings a science-based approach and decades of experience in building and scaling resilient food systems that benefit both people and the planet," said Axelle Bodoy, head of regenerative agriculture at LDC. "Through large-scale projects at landscape level around some key LDC facilities, we intend to aggregate cross crop rotation and cross value chain collaboration with like-minded partners up- and downstream. With TNC's support, we are ideally positioned to understand farmers' needs and support adoption of relevant innovations, co-design programs with farmers and other value chain partners to lead the development of more resilient, future-proofed agronomic systems, and provide robust, credible and ambitious ESG impacts for our supply chain partners."

Deforestation-and Conversion-free Production
Goals for this area include:

• Focus on developing incentive mechanisms to farmers and improving monitoring of and reporting on implementation.
• Build on LDC's existing commitment to eliminate deforestation and conversion of native vegetation that are of high conservation value for agricultural purposes from its supply chains by the end of 2025.

The companies say their combined efforts will help accelerate on-the-ground implementation and create a shift toward a net-zero, nature-positive role for agri-commodities. 

"A successful transformation of the global food system is imperative to address the climate crisis and halt biodiversity loss," says Jennifer Morris, CEO of The Nature Conservancy. "In order to see real change the full value chain needs to be engaged - from farmers to traders to retailers. We are inspired by the steps that LDC has already taken and look forward to scaling these practices to eliminate deforestation and habitat conversion from commodity production on a global scale. Collective action in this sector is imperative to unlock benefits for both people and nature."