Revolutionizing farming: Circular and regenerative agriculture in focus

Regenerative agriculture, biodiversity monitoring, and circular production are reshaping food and supplement supply chains — cutting emissions, restoring soil, and empowering farmers toward a climate-positive, future-proof system. Leaders at Unibar Corporation, FrieslandCampina Ingredients, and Bioiberica tell Nutrition Insight about their sustainable farming and production practices. 

Sevanti Mehta, president of Unibar Corporation, says: “Agriculture and food production have a massive environmental impact, accounting for over 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions.” 

“Even more alarming, if current practices persist, 90% of the earth’s soil could be degraded by 2050. Recognizing this urgent challenge, we’ve partnered across our supply chain to implement eco-friendly agricultural practices aimed at reducing environmental impact.”

Unibar: Regenerative farming and empowering farmers

Mehta highlights that Unibar’s sustainability initiatives involve partnerships across supply chains, prioritizing its farmers in collaboration and support.

“A key stakeholder in our success is the farmers. Our sustainability initiatives are only possible thanks to our supply chain partners and their partnerships with the local farming communities that help us harvest marigolds, chili peppers, and other crops that we transform into plant-based nutrition for optimal vision health.” 

“Farmers are at the heart of our sustainability efforts,” he continues. “This is why, in collaboration with our supply chain partners, we provide farmers with high-quality seeds, training in sustainable farming practices, and other key resources, all of which have led to optimal yields while helping maintain the biodiversity of the soil.” 

By employing regenerative agriculture techniques, Mehta assures farmers who help produce Unibar’s ingredients that their harvested crops will be bought back at fair market prices, guaranteeing income stability and promoting economic advancement. “Sustainable sourcing initiatives such as these have led to improved wages and the betterment of over 4,000 farming families worldwide.”

Unibar empowers farmers with training and fair prices, benefiting 4,000+ families (Image credit: Unibar Corporation).“Our partners actively train the farmers to leverage integrated pest management (IPM) techniques, such as using microorganisms, beneficial insects, and other non-chemical methods, to reduce reliance on harmful pesticides and enhance soil health. By prioritizing IPM, we help ensure that our farming practices are not only environmentally responsible but also improve the quality and safety of agricultural produce,” says Mehta.

FrieslandCampina Ingredients: Cover crops, tillage, and reduced fertilizers

Kyle Brookmeyer, head of Sustainability at FrieslandCampina Ingredients, highlights the importance of biodiversity and regenerative agriculture, which can reduce environmental impact, lower operational costs, and increase yields.

“With the global population expanding and the threat of climate change intensifying, it will become even more important to embrace sustainable farming practices. Action is needed now to address the challenge of food security — with minimal environmental impact. In the dairy industry, most greenhouse gas emissions occur at farm level, so it’s important we look at on-farm initiatives first.” 

“That’s why we’re big believers in the power of regenerative agriculture in helping to reduce our environmental impact. As well as improving biodiversity on farms, regenerative agricultural practices can benefit farmers by potentially lowering long-term operational costs by reducing chemical and water inputs and even increasing yields,” comments Brookmeyer.

To enhance soil health, he says FrieslandCampina Ingredients encourages its farmers to employ regenerative agricultural techniques, such as growing cover crops, minimizing tillage, and using fewer pesticides and fertilizers. “This helps regulate the atmosphere, supporting carbon and nitrogen cycles, while mitigating on-farm emissions.” 

FrieslandCampina boosts biodiversity and cuts emissions through regenerative agriculture practices.“Planting herb-rich grassland acts as a carbon sink and provides an ideal environment for insects, small animals, and birds. Keeping track of biodiversity can be challenging, however. We developed a pioneering biodiversity monitor for dairy farmers to address this issue, enabling them to measure improvements on their farms and make practical changes to meet sustainability goals.”

Brookmeyer adds: “It’s an innovative scheme that awards farmers with a financial incentive for performing well on biodiversity, aligning with guidelines set by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO-LEAP), and we’re excited to see how it could be rolled out at scale.”

Bioiberica: Circularity and sustainability standards

Luis Solera, CEO at Bioiberica, underscores how circular practices enable the transformation of biological raw materials into high-quality ingredients.

“Sustainable production practices and circularity are at the heart of everything we do. Bioiberica’s business model was built around the circular economy, so ultimately, we take by-products derived from raw materials of biological origin and transform them into high-quality ingredients that support the health and well-being of millions worldwide.”

“For over 50 years, we have been focused on reducing our environmental impact — from our pioneering approach to raw material valorization to our ongoing initiatives to improve water and energy conservation,” Solera highlights. “Today, 25% of the water used at our Palafolls facility is sourced via our recovery and reuse system, and plans are already in motion to boost this percentage in the coming years.” 

Bioiberica transforms by-products into ingredients, targeting a 30% carbon cut by 2050.He acknowledges that commitments are only as strong as the procedures used to assess them. Bioberica follows the European Sustainability Reporting Standards, enabling comprehensive assessment covering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts.

“Many of our benchmarks also align with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, holding us accountable to widely recognized standards across each key development area. Ultimately, all these efforts contribute toward our ‘headline’ target of a 30% reduction in total carbon emissions by 2050, for the benefit of the generations we serve today and many more to come,” says Solera.

Bioberica’s climate-positive production is proven by its certifications. “Our integrated management system has been certified in ISOs 14001, 50001, and 45001 — we have actually held ISO 14001 for more than 25 years.”

“We’re also involved in the SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative), within which companies across the globe commit to reducing scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. Commitments like this are key in ensuring progress toward climate-positive production. One of our main distinguishing features is that our standard certification includes everything from our R&D innovation process to the sale of our final product, so we cover the entire life cycle of our products.”