Kellogg Company Partners with Regrow to Launch InGrained Program

Kellogg Company, a food company famed for its Rice Krispies^Ⓡ brand cereal, has committed to reducing scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 15% by the end of 2030. In order to achieve this goal, the company will need to work with stakeholders across its supply chain, identifying the most efficient areas for emissions reduction and adjusting processes and practices to optimize emissions reduction.

This is no easy task. However, there’s one supply shed that can make a significant impact in achieving this goal: U.S. rice farmers. 

The Kellogg company is working with Regrow and other partners to incentivize rice farmers in the company’s primary sourcing region (the Lower Mississippi River Basin) to adopt climate friendly practices — specifically, those related to building soil health and reducing the greenhouse gasses emitted from rice production.

Rice is an ingredient for some of Kellogg’s most iconic foods, like Rice Krispies and Special K cereals. Reducing emissions in this area could have a significant effect on the greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere.

The 5-year program is called Kellogg’s InGrained™, and Regrow will contribute to the scientific modeling, calculation and verification of the methane emissions reduced through the program.

Regrow’s contributions come in the form of our MRV platform (measurement, reporting and verification for ecosystem markets). 

In addition to reducing emissions, Kellogg’s InGrained™ will ensure that rice farmers have the resources they need to transition to climate-smart practices while improving financial stability for their operations.

‍Why Rice?‍

Rice is the fourth largest crop grown across the world. Farmers in the United States alone contribute 20 billion pounds of rice to our global food supply and U.S. rice production is valued at more than $2.4 billion.* While rice is not as environmentally taxing as meat, dairy and vegetable production, methane from rice productions contributes 1.5% of our global GHG emissions each year.**

As such, reducing our rice-based emissions and transitioning to climate-smart farming practices can make a significant impact on the future of our planet.

By adopting soil health practices, farmers can help pull greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere and store them in the soil, where plants can utilize them for development.

‍Regrow’s Role‍

Stakeholders across the supply chain must be involved in this program to ensure its success. Rice farmers must have the data they need to make smart decisions for both the climate and their operations, and Kellogg Company must have trusted scientific data to ensure emissions reductions and to reward farmers for their success. Kellogg Company is offering farmers a payment for their methane reductions — meaning the company needs an accurate way to quantify those emissions. 

Regrow is facilitating these needs with our Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) Suite. 

Within the program, Regrow will model the emissions outcomes of specific farm management practices, such as irrigation and fertilizer optimization and soil health management. Regrow makes these assessments using data specific to each farmer’s location, soil type, crop variety, weather data and other factors. This hyper-specific data allows farmers to choose the soil health practice(s) that will best serve their operations, both environmentally and financially.

Then, Regrow will quantify the impact of those changes on methane emissions. We do this using our industry-leading soil carbon model, DNDC. Regrow will also verify those practices, so that Kellogg Company can confidently compensate  farmers for their emissions reductions.

‍The Future of Rice Production‍

‍Kellogg’s InGrained™ contributes to the company’s goal of reducing scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 15%. By incentivizing farmers to adopt climate-smart practices, Kellogg Company is accelerating our transition to regenerative agriculture across regions and crop types. 

Regrow’s mission is to make regenerative agriculture ubiquitous on a global scale, and we’re proud to work with Kellogg Company in achieving our goal. We look forward to years of progress in regenerative agriculture, and to reducing emissions within food supply chains across the globe.

Learn more about Kellogg’s InGrained™, and explore our other initiatives.

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References

*Tribe, Bright. “U.S. Rice Fact Sheet.” The U.S. Sustainability Alliance, 26 Aug. 2021, https://thesustainabilityalliance.us/u-s-rice-fact-sheet/. 

** Searchinger, Tim, and Richard Waite. “More Rice, Less Methane.” World Resources Institute, 16 Dec. 2014, https://www.wri.org/insights/more-rice-less-methane.  

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