Positive Agriculture

Helping growers farm better

PepsiCo works with UK growers to support better decision-making through crop science, in-field agronomy support and digital tools. These tools help growers understand what is happening in the field, track crop development and respond to pressures such as resource use, crop quality and changing climate.

Developing innovative tools

• Cool Farm Tool: We have partnered with the Cool Farm Alliance to use the award-winning Cool Farm Tool. The tool helps growers understand greenhouse gas emissions and supports work to reduce the impact of farming practices.
• CropTrak: Alongside partners, we developed CropTrak, an innovative system that measures agronomy practices, including monitoring the growing crop. We monitor over 250,000 field data points a year from 900 fields, allowing us to work with growers to improve quality and the environment by aiding reductions in water usage and carbon emissions.
• Oat Growth Guide: We developed science-based crop intelligence to support sustainable Quaker oat production, culminating in the launch of the UK’s first Oat Growth Guide in 2019. Designed to help farmers grow the perfect oat, it aims to deliver a 5-10% increase in yield and create a more sustainable crop.
• Opti-Oat: The Opti-Oat Crop Intelligence platform provides Quaker growers with science-based insights to support sustainable oat production. The platform provides yield and development predictions based on crop physiology, weather data, climate projections, and satellite-enabled remote sensing of crop status, with the aim of improving yields by up to 10% within our existing sourcing footprint.
• NIAB Oat Lab: We also have a dedicated oat research lab located at NIAB (National Institute of Agricultural Botany). Home to state-of-the-art grain quality testing facilities, expert crop researchers test and analyse thousands of oat samples from agricultural research trials. Data collected will be used to support our UK Quaker Oats growers to optimise their management practices to improve yields and efficiency, ensuring a more sustainable, high-quality supply of oats. Read more.

 

Soil health and resilient crops

Healthy soil is central to resilient farming. PepsiCo is working with growers on practices that help protect soil, improve crop resilience and reduce the impacts of intensive cultivation.

• Low tillage farming: We’re leading Potato-LITE, a cross-industry consortium project working to develop novel machinery and cultivation practices for UK-based potato growers to optimise tillage intensity, improve soil health and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The research insights from this multi-year project will be made publicly available to all UK potato growers and producers. Read more.
• Cover crops: To help keep the soil healthy for the crops that we grow our products in, we are aiming to increase the number of cover crops grown in the fields before each season’s potato crop is planted, capturing important nutrients in the process. Our ‘Living Roots’ project is aimed at improving soil health on some of the fields where we grow potatoes used to make Walkers crisps. We are providing growers with seeds to grow different species of radishes; these naturally release chemicals that, at low doses, help reduce the amount of soil-borne pests. This helps keep the soil healthier in preparation for potato planting

Lower emissions farming

We know that climate change isn't something we alone can solve, so we've partnered with peers from across the food & drink industry and a clean-tech firm to help reduce our impact on the planet.

Reducing carbon emissions

• Lower emission fertiliser: Across PepsiCo Europe, we've partnered with Yara to help farmers adopt lower emissions fertiliser, covering around 1,000 farms and 128,000 hectares across the EU and the UK, doubling use of these fertilisers in 2025. The partnership also provides farmers with best-in-class crop nutrition products and advice, as well as precision farming digital tools. This will allow them to increase nutrient use efficiency, boost yields and reduce the carbon footprint of their crops. Read more.

Biodiversity and nature on farms

Productive farming and nature can work together. PepsiCo is supporting projects that help create habitats for wildlife while maintaining productive farms.

• Biodiversity in Scotland: PepsiCo is helping Quaker Oat growers in Scotland maintain a productive farm, whilst improving biodiversity and enhancing wildlife habitats. The project brings together farming and wildlife experts to create a science-based approach and recommendations which work both for the grower and for wildlife. Learn more about this project here.

• Biodiversity flower mixes: We also encourage our growers to plant wildlife-friendly biodiversity mixes - loved by bees and other flying insects alike - around fields and on land not used to grow our potatoes. Learn more about this project here.