Carbon reductions and water quality improvements
Ingredion – which has just completed a lifecycle assessment exploring the relative environmental impact of its stevia products compared with each other and with sugar and high fructose corn syrup – is working on multiple sustainability initiatives, said Utterback.
“One example is a partnership with PepsiCo and Nutrien Ag Solutions where we all chipped in money to incentivize growers on cropland in northern Illinois to plant cover crops, reduce their tillage, and reduce their inputs to make carbon reductions and water quality improvements.
“I don't think it's fair to go to farms and say we need you to reduce the carbon output from your farm and we're not going to incentivize you, because it might be three to five years before your soil becomes more productive, and [the impact of using] less fertilizer is offset by your other practices. So we need to support farmers in that interim time where they might not be making as much per acre because we're asking them to change their practices.”
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