The progress McCain Foods is making towards its sustainability commitments was announced with the release of the company’s annual Global Sustainability Report, which includes results from the 2023 fiscal year. 

With a goal of implementing regenerative agriculture practices across 100 per cent of the global acreage that grows potatoes for McCain products by the end of the decade, McCain is proud to announce that it is well on its way to reaching this milestone, with 51 per cent of McCain’s global potato acreage onboarded within McCain’s Regenerative Agriculture Framework, and 28 per cent moving up the framework towards more comprehensive adoption of regenerative practices.

“As one of the most vulnerable sectors impacted by climate change, the food system is one of the most important levers to help drive a sustainable and resilient future,” says Max Koeune, president and CEO of McCain Foods.

McCain is accelerating the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices through its direct relationships with farmers— a network of 3,500 partners around the world — by providing technical and educational assistance and developing innovative financing solutions to offset costs associated with making changes in farming practices and adopting new technologies.

As part of the 2023 Sustainability Report, McCain details a typical year in the regenerative agriculture cycle at Farm of the Future Canada. This deep dive brings the regenerative transition to life and parallels learnings with those in the Southern hemisphere at Farm of the Future Africa. 

By trialling, testing, and learning from the outcomes of implementing regenerative agriculture practices, McCain has supported farmers to become more resilient and competitive for the long term. This continued focus on innovation in agriculture reinforces McCain’s role as a global leader in food production.

In the 2023 Global Sustainability Report, McCain highlights the following results across four key pillars.

Smart and sustainable farming

McCain has completed its first season at Farm of the Future Africa and third season at Farm of the Future Canada, improving water-use efficiency in water-stressed regions by 9.4 per cent, delivering more than 23,500 hours of training to farmers and has achieved its goal to ensure 21.9 per cent of the potatoes grown for McCain are water stress-tolerant varieties.

Resource-Efficient Operations

More than 21 per cent of the electrical energy used by McCain was from renewable sources and absolute carbon emissions (Scope 1 and 2) reduced by 9.8 per cent from 2017. McCain has also achieved a 16.3 per cent improvement in water-use efficiency in priority plants. Additionally, 98.5 per cent of McCain’s paper packaging and 87.8 per cent of its plastic packaging are designed for recycling.

Good food 

McCain launched new global policies for clean ingredients and nutrition, while maintaining 100 per cent Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) certification at all McCain owned facilities — and 96 per cent GFSI certification of all Tier 1 ingredient supplier facilities.

Thriving communities

In 2023, McCain employees provided more than 17,000 volunteer hours through the McCain Chips In initiative, reached 2,716 new beneficiaries with development programs and partnerships and donated the equivalent of 11.9 million meals.

Source: McCain Foods January 24, 2024 news release