Wasa partner with Indigo and Svensk Kolinlagring to enlist farmers in carbon farming
14 October 2020
- 3-year carbon farming pilot project to support rye farmers in Germany and Sweden in adoption of regenerative agriculture practices
- Identify opportunities to further reduce Wasa’s field to shelf emissions
- Aligned with Indigo’s and Svensk Kolinlagrings objective to support and incentivize farmers in Europe to sequester carbon in the soil
Wasa, the world’s largest producer of crispbread and renowned for its simple products made with authentic ingredients, today announced a partnership to enlist German and Swedish farmers in a 3-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 has made significant progress using green energy and train transportation. 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 total field to shelf emissions.
As part of its ambition to support and incentivize farmers to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the pilot will enable Indigo to test and tailor its Carbon program in Europe following its launch in the United States last year. Indigo will work with 10 rye farmers in Wasa’s supply chain in Germany while Svensk Kolinlagring will support the 2 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.
In making today’s announcement, Katarina Waak, Wasa’s Global marketing manager, said “Wasa was born more than 100 years ago in the north of Sweden. All these years, we have being surrounded by the beautiful raw nature of Sweden, with its transparent water and its thick forests so nature is an integral part of what we are: we always say we owe everything to nature as without its water and rye we are nothing. Now 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, project leader of Svensk Kolinlagring said, “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 said, “We strongly believe in the potential of regenerative agriculture practices to improve the health of famers’ soil, the planet, and their bottom line. We are delighted to be working with Wasa on this pilot which will play an important part in testing the Indigo Carbon program in Europe. Through the pilot in Germany and Sweden we will seek to demonstrate the full range of regenerative agriculture benefits as well as understanding any challenges in grower adoption and what it will take to scale this program.
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”.
ABOUT INDIGO AGRICULTURE
Indigo improves grower profitability, environmental sustainability, and consumer health through the use of natural microbiology and digital technologies. The company’s scientific discoveries and digital platforms benefit tens of thousands of growers across millions of acres. Working across the supply chain, Indigo is furthering its mission of harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet. Ranked #1 on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list, Indigo is headquartered in Boston, MA, with additional offices in Memphis, TN; Research Triangle Park, NC; Buenos Aires, Argentina; São Paulo, Brazil; and Basel, Switzerland. For more information please visit the About Us page, or follow Indigo on Twitter and Instagram.
ABOUT WASA
Founded in 1919 Wasa is the largest crispbread baker in the world, selling its products in 40 different countries, from Sweden to America. In 1999 Wasa became part of the Barilla Group together with many other bakery brands such as Mulino Bianco, Harry’s and Pavesi. The Wasa Bakeries are located in Filipstad Sweden, and in Celle Germany. From these two locations we bake crispbread and other products for many countries around the world. The largest markets for the Wasa brand outside Sweden are the other Nordic countries and Germany closely followed by the Netherlands, France, USA, Poland & Italy.
ABOUT SVENSK HOLINLAGRING
"Svensk Kolinlagring (Swedish Carbon Sequestration) - agriculture as a carbon sink"; is a platform that brings together all relevant stakeholders around the goal to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into Swedish farmer’s agricultural lands.
Svensk Kolinlagring is a R&D project led by the not-for-profit company Miljömatematik, in collaboration with farmers, researchers, companies from the food sector and other important players. Eventually the platform will become a non-profit organization. In 2019, the initiative received funding from the Swedish Innovation Agency; now it has funding from the Swedish Board of Agriculture under the auspices of the European Innovation Partnership, EIP.
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