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PepsiCo investing to decarbonise crop production

PepsiCo has signed a four-year agreement with Spanish fertiliser specialist Fertiberia aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of its potato and corn production across Europe.

The collaboration builds on a successful trial between the companies in Spain and Portugal where carbon emissions were cut by up to 20% across corn farming and 15% across potato farming.

400,000 acres of farmland

The agreement will see Fertiberia's hydrogen-based fertiliser Impact Zero used progressively across 400,000 acres of European farmland over the next four years, through to 2030. Farmers will also benefit from technical guidance and digital precision agriculture tools that use data to optimise application and track implementation.

The farmland selected for the programme features crops that are key for PepsiCo's global snacking portfolio, such as potatoes, corn, sunflower, sugar beet, and rapeseed. Starting in France, Romania, Serbia, Greece, and Turkey, PepsiCo anticipates a wider European roll-out in “the near future”.

Archana Jagannathan, chief sustainability officer at PepsiCo Europe, Middle East and Africa, said regenerative agriculture is a core focus for the company and described the partnership as “ambitious”.

“Switching to low-carbon fertiliser is one of the strongest levers we have to reduce agricultural emissions, and use of digital technology can complement this journey towards food system transformation,” Jagannathan said.

Fertiliser impact

Globally, nitrogen synthetic fertilisers used in agriculture contribute about 2% of total greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report published in Nature in 2022. And the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) said the production of mineral fertilisers alone contributes to an estimated 1.3% of global CO2 emissions, largely because of how carbon-emitting and energy-intensive the process to make ammonia is. Ammonia is the starting point for all mineral nitrogen fertilisers.

For PepsiCo, the production and use of fertilisers is currently responsible for around half of its total average potato carbon footprint in Europe. Fertilisers therefore represent “one of the biggest opportunities for PepsiCo to reduce its agricultural emissions”, it says.

Fertiberia has been developing lower-carbon hydrogen-based fertilisers – produced using renewable hydrogen feedstock – since 2022, along with accompanying technologies it considers crucial in the wider push to transform European agriculture.

“Today, this journey takes on greater meaning thanks to the trust of partners like PepsiCo, with whom we are collaborating to help decarbonise agri-food value chains,” said David Herrero, chief operating officer at Fertiberia. “This is not just about fertilisers; it's about demonstrating the importance of collaboration and showing that innovation, when shared, can drive both climate action and food security across Europe.”

When combined with PepsiCo's existing supplier agreements, the Fertiberia collaboration is expected to bring the share of low-carbon fertiliser used in PepsiCo's European supply chain to around 50% by 2030. Farmers already using the Impact Zero fertiliser describe it as a drop-in replacement for traditional fertilisers, with no impact to daily operations, according to the supplier.

PepsiCo’s low-carbon fertiliser deals

PepsiCo's agreement with Fertiberia is not the only deal signed in recent months.

In April, the food and beverage signed a commercial agreement with agricultural fertiliser major CF Industries in the US for the supply of lower-carbon urea ammonium nitrate. The fertiliser will be supplied to farmers growing potatoes for PepsiCo's Frito-Lay range across the US, with PepsiCo stating it formed part of an overarching focus on crops to build a “more resilient, low carbon food system”.

In May, PepsiCo also signed an agreement with ag-tech firm TalusAg to source 30,000 tons per year of low-carbon ammonia. PepsiCo said this deal aimed to create a “strong demand signal for low emissions ammonia” to ultimately help decarbonise fertilisers.

“Decarbonising fertiliser is important to advancing climate progress at scale, but it should be done in a way that works for farmers,” said Margaret Henry, vice president of sustainable and regenerative agriculture at PepsiCo.