KIND Snacks launched a three-year pilot project in regenerative agriculture, the KIND Almond Acres Initiative. This initiative builds off KIND's announcement last year of progress made to its prior commitment to source 100% of its almonds from bee-friendly farms by 2025. The KIND Almond Acres Initiative will expand the brand's sustainable almond sourcing journey and provide key insights to help inform how it can source 100% of its almonds from orchards leveraging regenerative agriculture practices on a mass balance basis by 2030. These two commitments work hand in hand to better all aspects of almond farming, from the soil to the bees, and of course, almonds.
Almonds are KIND's number one ingredient, the lead ingredient in over forty-five KIND products. KIND purchases millions of pounds of almonds each year, and this is why they have decided to test and learn how to grow its number one ingredient more sustainably by launching the KIND Almond Acres Initiative.
The KIND Almond Acres Initiative will introduce a mix of new technologies with best practices from regenerative agriculture across 500 acres in California, where 80% of the world's almonds are grown. Implementing the practices on the ground is KIND's partner, olam food ingredients (ofi), a global leader in food and beverage ingredients, which owns the almond trees on the project acres. Throughout this pilot, KIND hopes to gather the data and learnings needed to find the best combination of practices that will provide measurable benefits to the soil, the farm as a whole and the planet. The learnings from this pilot will help set environmental targets and help inform how KIND will reach its goal by 2030.
Strategically chosen by ofi and KIND, the practices on the ground include:
- Cover crops: Using a blend of five cover crops to test how introducing this practice can build soil structure, increase soil carbon levels, create pollinator habitats, and help the land become more resilient in the face of a changing climate.
- Subsurface Irrigation: The California almond community has committed to reducing the amount of water used to grow a pound of almonds by an additional 20% by 2025. To understand the best way to achieve this, KIND is investigating technology like subsurface irrigation. This is an irrigation system that should allow growers to ensure more of the water applied is used directly by the tree.
- Whole Orchard Recycling: Dedicating 38 acres to testing whole orchard recycling's effect on soil health.
- Compost and Biochar: Testing if adding compost and biochar can increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil, decrease the need for excess fertilizer and improve soil water retention.
- Off-Ground Harvesting: Collecting the almonds off trees instead of off the ground decreases soil disturbance and reduces the amount of dust in the air during harvest, which could improve air quality and carbon sequestration.
In tandem with the KIND Almond Acres Initiative pilot project, KIND is investing in the next generation of sustainable change agents by working with local UC Merced, an HSI (Hispanic-serving Institution) and one of the most sustainable universities in the country, to award the first-ever "KIND to the planet" scholarship.
