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Campbell’s Grower Grants: Regenerative agriculture in action

Sustainability

Our tomato and potato farmers have long been stewards of their land—and we know that our long-term success depends on healthy soil. That’s why we have been evolving our sustainability initiatives to more closely partner with our farmers on regenerative agriculture.

What is regenerative agriculture?

Regenerative agriculture (regen ag) is an approach to farming that ensures land stays healthy and productive long-term. Although there is no single definition of regen ag, there is agreement on the important principles and that best practices will vary by farm.

Campbell’s regen ag work aligns closely with the USDA’s definition and emphasizes improving soil health, promoting natural resources, and strengthening farm resilience.

Campbell’s Grower Grants: How we support our farmers

Being good stewards of the soil can be challenging for farmers due to cost, logistics, and lack of information on best practices and benefits. That’s why we created the Campbell’s Grower Grants fund, which complements our other regen ag programming. Over half of our tomato and potato farmers have participated in a grant project so far.

How Campbell’s Grower Grants work: Farmers apply to trial a new practice or to scale a trusted one on new acres. We then facilitate financial and technical support to help farmers build knowledge, reduce costs, and limit risk.

Campbell’s Grower Grants helped us plant wildlife habitat seed in our dry land corners, turning otherwise unused ground into a beneficial space for wildlife and pollinators. We appreciate Campbell’s continued support of growers and the positive impact these programs have on farms like ours.”

– Kyra Bula of Signature Farms

Learn how some of our farmers are using their grants to implement regenerative practices:

Regen ag at E&H Farms: Soil moisture sensors and compost to improve tomato farming

E&H Farms in Oakdale, California is a third-generation operation run by Chris Gnos. Every year, he and his team have used Campbell’s Grower Grants to trial practices like plant tissue analysis for efficient fertilizer use, soil moisture sensors for precision irrigation, and compost applications for soil health.

Regen ag at Signature Farms: Drones and cover crops to enhance potato crop protection

At Signature Farms, growing potatoes runs in the family, which is why Kyra Bula decided to work with her dad on their Wisconsin farm. She has been leading several sustainability initiatives through the support of Campbell’s Grower Grants. These include the use of a drone to more efficiently apply crop protection products, and trialing mustard cover crops as a biological method for pest management. Kyra and her dad learned about the latter idea at Campbell’s potato summit.

Regen ag at CSS Farms: Improved nitrogen and energy management to boost potato sustainability

CSS Farms grows potatoes for Kettle Brand and Cape Cod potato chips in Pasco, Washington and Bliss, New York. They have implemented a range of regenerative practices including incorporating diversity through crop rotations and cover crops. As participants in the three-year Campbell’s Ahold Delhaize USA partnership, CSS has adopted a few new practices, including utilizing nitrogen stabilizers and replacing diesel with solar panels to power irrigation systems.

By partnering with growers to advance regenerative practices, we’re helping farmers to increase their efficiency and resilience —so we can continue making food people trust for generations to come.

Regenerative Agriculture FAQs

What is regenerative agriculture?

Regenerative agriculture (regen ag) is an approach to farming that ensures land stays healthy and productive long-term. Although there is no single definition of regen ag, there is convergence on the important principles and agreement that best practices will vary by farm. Campbell’s regen ag work aligns closely with the USDA’s definition and emphasizes improving soil health, promoting natural resources, and strengthening farm resilience. We are supporting the adoption of practices that advance the four principles of soil health. We also continue to support important complementary practices that reduce inputs, like pesticides, fertilizer, water, and fossil fuels. We refer to this combined set of practices as regenerative agriculture because, together, they help to protect and restore ecosystem health and services.

Why does Campbell’s focus on regenerative practices?

Our business is rooted in agriculture and built on long-standing partnerships with farmers. We understand our long-term success is inseparable from the health of the land. That’s why, for more than a decade, we’ve partnered with farmers on sustainable agriculture projects that improve efficiency and reduce impacts associated with inputs like water and fertilizer. Recognizing that we can go even further, in 2023 we began evolving our work into a regenerative ag strategy.

What is Campbell’s regenerative agriculture strategy?

Campbell’s facilitates grower support to advance regenerative agriculture practices that generate value for Campbell’s stakeholders.

What types of regenerative agriculture practices are Campbell’s growers using?

Over 50% of our tomato and potato growers have used a grower’s grant to trial or expand the use of a regenerative agriculture practice including:
  • Automated irrigation
  • Biochar
  • Biologicals
  • Compost applications
  • Conservation tillage
  • Cover cropping
  • Crop residue management
  • Drone use for crop protection
  • Fertility testing and planning
  • Food loss reduction
  • Low‑emissions fertilizers
  • Manure applications
  • Nitrogen production on‑farm
  • Nitrogen stabilizers
  • No‑till
  • Pollinator habitat
  • Soil moisture sensors
  • Solar panels
  • Tissue sampling
  • Water nitrate testing

What are Campbell’s Growers Grants?

We understand that soil health practices can be challenging for farmers due to cost, logistics, and lack of information on best practices and benefits. We created Campbell’s Grower Grants to help solve these challenges. Farmers apply to receive financial support to trial a new practice or to scale a trusted one on new acres. Grower Grants are just one part of our broader regen ag program. We additionally support research, enhanced measurement, and share new insights with farmers. We also help farmers gain access to incentives and tools that mitigate the costs and risks of new practices.

How does Campbell’s account for regional differences in its regenerative agriculture programs?

Regenerative agriculture is not a one-size-fits-all approach. The specific practices that make sense for a California tomato farm will be different from those that work best for a potato grower in the Northeast or a wheat farmer in the Great Plains. Campbell’s works with farmers and local experts – like land grant university researchers and extension, resource conservation districts, and other trusted advisors – to support regenerative agriculture practices that are appropriate for each crop, farm, and agroecological context. For example, in the Sacramento Valley where we source and process tomatoes, we focus on water quantity and unique aspects of California soil types. We have been focusing on practices that show the most promise for this context, like the use of soil moisture sensors to more efficiently use water and the application of carbon amendments to build soil health. In contrast, in our wheat programs across the Great Plains, priorities may include practices such as reduced tillage and cover cropping, supported through partnerships with local agronomic experts and trusted advisors. These differences reflect our belief that regenerative agriculture solutions should be tailored to each crop, farm, and region.

Does Campbell’s collect and monitor field-level regenerative agriculture data?

We annually collect farm-level data through our tomato, potato, and wheat regenerative programs. In the case of tomatoes, and for some potato metrics, data is collected at the field level. These data are collected in partnership with our growers and governed with high standards. In addition to reporting to our stakeholders, the data is used to understand baselines, identify continuous improvement opportunities, inform smart program design, support grower decision-making, benchmark progress against goals, and quantify the impacts of our work.

How does Campbell’s measure progress toward improved soil health?

Improving soil health is a long-term process but important to measure alongside practice adoption and other outcomes. Working with our growers and independent labs, we use the Soil Health Institute’s leading indicators to baseline and monitor soil health on the farms growing our tomatoes and potatoes. Our goal is to understand baseline conditions, prevent degradation, and track improvements over time as growers adopt regenerative agriculture practices. We also compare field results with nearby reference sites to better understand soil health potential and guide continuous improvement.

How does Campbell’s facilitate technical support to its growers?

We recognize that adopting regenerative agriculture practices requires access to technical expertise, training, and peer learning opportunities. Our programs aim to facilitate technical support through a variety of means. For example, we have an ongoing partnership with UC Davis to produce new research on best management practices for processing tomato farms. At our tomato and potato summits, we share information, organize grower panels, and host talks by technical experts. Our potato growers also have access to continuing education resources through Potato Sustainability Alliance (PSA) events and its learning portal. Across our wheat program, geography-specific partnerships incorporate local trusted advisors that help farmers interpret data and try new practices. Collaborating with other companies in the Trusted Advisor Partnership, we are helping to build the capacity of independent, certified crop consultants who serve wheat farmers in the northern Great Plains.

Does Campbell’s support the development and use of technology to measure regenerative agriculture outcomes?

Yes. Campbell’s invests in technologies that help to implement and measure regenerative agriculture. For example, we have provided Grower Grants to enable our tomato and potato farmers to trial soil moisture and crop sensors, soil and tissue analysis, drone and satellite monitoring, and other tools. In these programs, we have also invested in data platforms to improve the efficiency and value of sustainability data. In our wheat program, remote sensing technologies are leveraged to help verify practice adoption. By investing in such technologies, we aim to improve data quality, reduce farmers’ reporting burden, unlock opportunities for new practices, and strengthen our understanding of their impacts.

Want to learn more about our approach to regen ag?

Check out our 2026 Corporate Responsibility Report.

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