Wasa Creates Partnership to Promote Carbon Farming
Wasa, one of the world’s largest producers of crispbread, recently announced a partnership to enlist German and Swedish farmers in a three-year pilot aimed at increasing the adoption of regenerative farm practices, reducing carbon emissions during cultivation and sequestering carbon in the soil. Wasa will cooperate with Indigo Agriculture, a company dedicated to harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet, and Svensk Kolinlagring (Swedish Carbon Sequestration) a not-for-profit that supports Swedish farmers to take on-farm measures to increase soil organic carbon, with reimbursement from food companies.
Wasa already rigorously calculates and compensates for 100% of its field to shelf emissions and in line with the European Union’s ambition for a more sustainable agriculture system, it now wants to understand how to reduce emissions in the cultivation of rye, a core ingredient in the company’s crisp bread, which accounts for over 25% of the total field to shelf emissions.
As part of its ambition to support and incentivize farmers to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, Indigo will work with 10 rye farmers in Wasa’s supply chain in Germany, while Svensk Kolinlagring will support the two rye farmers in Sweden.
Starting with this autumn’s crop plantings, the pilot growers farmers will transition approximately 400 hectares of farmland in Germany and Sweden to regenerative agriculture practices and start to measure the change in soil organic carbon. Throughout the pilot, participating farms will be provided with specific guidance on how to best implement new practices based on their unique circumstances such as soil type, weather and current cropping practices.
Katarina Waak, Wasa’s global marketing manager, said: “We feel it’s our time to give back or, as we say, to step up for the planet. We started compensating for our emissions but we want to do more. Through this pilot, we hope to understand how we can further lower our emissions and even sequester carbon back into the soil.”
Jessica Johansson, the project leader of Svensk Kolinlagring added: “We are very glad to partner with Wasa and Indigo Agriculture in this mission. We believe that the joint commitment from all important actors in the food system is the way to deal with the urgency of the climate crisis”.
Georg Goeres, Indigo Agriculture’s head of Europe commented: “We strongly believe in the potential of regenerative agriculture practices to improve the health of famers’ soil, the planet, and their bottom line. […] Our approach is backed by technology, driven by innovation and supports sustainability across the supply chain. It is also uniquely underpinned by new and rigorous methodologies for greenhouse gas accounting that are being developed by Verra and Climate Action Reserve”.