Margaret Henry, VP of Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture at PepsiCo, shares how STEP Up for Agriculture – the company’s collaborative regenerative farming initiative – is helping create resilient support networks for farmers worldwide.
Q&A WITH MARGARET HENRY, VP, SUSTAINABLE AND REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE, PEPSICO
Firstly, why is now the right time to launch a programme like STEP Up for Agriculture?
Margaret Henry, VP of Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture (MH): The momentum behind the transition to regenerative agriculture is accelerating, but the systems and structures needed to support farmers have not kept pace. Many farmer support organisations, which are the primary advisers’ farmers trust, lack knowledge of regenerative practices or the ability to scale their impact.
STEP Up for Agriculture responds directly to this gap. By strengthening these organisations now, the programme can help enable faster, more local and effective adoption of regenerative practices on the ground, at a time when climate, soil health, and supply chain pressures are intensifying globally.
For example, organisations like FarmAdvisor in the US have used STEP Up for Agriculture’s support to hire additional staff and secure funding partnerships, unlocking their ability to reach more farmers and expand their programmes.
It is about unlocking scale where it matters most – at the intersection of farmer trust, technical support, and real-world implementation.
It is about providing targeted support to the unsung hero enablers of this regenerative transition – those who act as the connective tissue between corporate ambitions and on-the-ground impact.
What was the key motivator for PepsiCo to get involved? How does it complement your existing sustainability programmes?
MH: PepsiCo’s sustainability ambitions depend on daily practice at farm level. We have rapidly expanded our work and now support tens of thousands of farmers implementing regenerative practices.
Through this experience, we have learned that lasting change requires strong local partners who keep the realities of their communities at the forefront.
STEP Up for Agriculture complements our existing efforts by focusing on how delivery happens. It builds the capacity of trusted advisers who already work with farmers, strengthens systems such as measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV), training and implementation, creates a more reliable pathway from corporate goals to on-the-ground outcomes, and formalises mentorship networks between local farmer advisory organisations.
In practice, this means investing in organisations like the Ontario Soil Network, where STEP Up for Agriculture funding is helping strengthen human resources and financial systems – foundational capabilities that enable long-term organisational growth and stronger farmer support.
Rather than launching standalone projects and pilots, this approach strengthens the ecosystem that underpins regenerative agriculture programmes, making landscape impact more scalable, credible, and durable.
“Through this experience, we have learned that lasting change requires strong local partners who keep the realities of their communities at the forefront”
Margaret Henry, VP of Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture at PepsiCo
Why has strengthening farmer-facing organisations become the critical lever for accelerating regenerative agriculture?
MH: Farmer-facing organisations are the bridge between ambition and action.
Farmers rely on these trusted advisers for guidance on practices, risk, and investment decisions. When those organisations lack regenerative capability or capacity, whether in staffing, systems, or funding, programmes struggle to scale.
STEP Up focuses on strengthening this backbone because one organisation can influence hundreds, or even thousands, of farmers. It also enables the consistent delivery of training, data collection, and support, whilst creating long-term local capability that persists beyond any single project.
In short, scaling regenerative agriculture is not just about farmers; it is about scaling the systems that support them.
How do you balance corporate sustainability targets with the realities and risks faced by farmers on the ground?
MH: At the core of STEP Up for Agriculture is the recognition that regenerative progress must be practical, scalable, and self-sustaining – not simply aspirational.
The programme bridges this gap by investing in advisory organisations that understand local realities and can tailor support to farmers’ needs. This includes delivering practical, field-level guidance, helping farmers navigate risks and trade-offs, and strengthening incentive models and engagement strategies.
For example, in Australia, STEP Up for Agriculture is supporting the Cool Soil Initiative to refine its farmer incentive programmes and improve data systems, helping make participation more accessible and valuable to farmers whilst also improving emissions tracking.
“Farmer-facing organisations are the bridge between ambition and action”
Margaret Henry, VP of Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture at PepsiCo
What does success look like for STEP Up for Agriculture?
MH: Success is measured through both organisational strength and on-the-ground outcomes.
For farmer support organisations, success means stronger business and strategic plans, expanded teams, improved training capacity, robust MRV systems to track sustainability outcomes, and a greater ability to scale and reach more farmers with the latest information and innovation.
Across the broader system, it means increased adoption of regenerative practices by farmers, more resilient local agricultural economies, faster and more reliable delivery against sustainability goals, and self-sufficient agronomic advisory infrastructure and ecosystems.
Ultimately, success is achieved when organisations supporting farmers become self-sustaining engines of change.
Why is collaboration so important to sustainability progress?
MH: Scaling regenerative agriculture requires collaboration across a wide range of stakeholders.
STEP Up for Agriculture demonstrates the value of collaboration by pooling resources to strengthen shared local partners, reducing duplication of effort across the same landscapes, and creating space for shared learning and innovation.
This model enables companies to deliver greater impact whilst reducing costs and improving efficiency.
How will MRV systems evolve to support credibility and scalability across such a diverse global supply base?
MH: MRV systems are evolving from fragmented, project-level approaches to more standardised and scalable systems.
STEP Up for Agriculture supports this by building MRV capability directly within farmer support organisations, ensuring internal systems and processes align with evolving industry standards, developing tools that improve data quality, consistency, and efficiency, and enabling organisations to meet increasing reporting requirements whilst reducing administrative burden.
For example, support from STEP Up for Agriculture has enabled organisations to hire staff dedicated specifically to MRV and reporting, helping them meet increasing requirements whilst improving efficiency.
What feedback have you received from your partners and suppliers about the programme?
MH: Early feedback highlights STEP Up for Agriculture as both a capacity-building engine and a shared-value platform. Whilst it has delivered value for member organisations, it has also benefited wider system actors and collaborators, including governments, academia, civil society, and agricultural retailers.
Farmer support organisations are using the programme to expand teams, strengthen systems such as MRV, and reach more farmers, directly increasing their ability to deliver on-the-ground impact.
For member organisations, this translates into faster progress towards sustainability goals through stronger advisory networks, greater confidence in delivery through more reliable partners and clearer data, and lower costs with less duplication through shared investment in the same organisations.
In practice, companies are not simply funding projects; they are strengthening the systems that make them successful.
Foundation and non-profit organisations also recognise the value of this systemic approach. Partners such as the PepsiCo Foundation and The Platform for Agriculture and Climate Transformation (PACT) are supporting STEP Up for Agriculture to empower local organisations and communities.
What challenges arise when trying to align multiple stakeholders – corporates, non-governmental organisations, and farmer-led organisations – under one operating model?
MH: Bringing together corporates, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and farmer-led organisations inevitably introduces complexity.
The main challenges include balancing different priorities and timelines, accommodating varying levels of organisational maturity and capability, and aligning data standards, funding models, and programme design.
STEP Up for Agriculture addresses these challenges through neutral conveners, including Sustainable Food Lab and Earthworm Foundation, which facilitate alignment, foster honest dialogue, and help co-create solutions across partners.
Finally, looking ahead, how could STEP Up for Agriculture reshape how global food and beverage companies think about supply chain responsibility?
MH: STEP Up for Agriculture represents a shift from individual company programmes to shared system investment.
Looking ahead, it could redefine supply chain responsibility by encouraging investment in the systems that enable farmers, not just the farmers themselves.
It could also encourage a shift from isolated sustainability projects to collaborative, landscape-level change, create a replicable model for collaborative action across global supply chains, and improve the stickiness of the regenerative transition by building landscapes with self-sustaining advisory infrastructure.
By strengthening the organisations that underpin agricultural systems, STEP Up helps the industry transition from short-term initiatives to long-term, scalable impact.
This executive interview was produced by the editorial team at Sustainability Outlook, a publication within the Outlook Publishing global network of B2B industry magazines.
Outlook Publishing features leadership insights and company stories from organisations shaping sectors including sustainability, energy transition, manufacturing, mining, construction, supply chains, healthcare, and food production.
Sustainability Outlook explores the organisations, initiatives, and leaders driving sustainability and environmental innovation across global industries.
