Food For Tomorrow: A Program To Protect Soil And Inspire Change

Image Source: PepsiCo

Food sustains us, and farmers face many challenges in producing it. One of the biggest challenges that makes farming difficult is degraded soil. It’s sad to know that UNESCO’s estimate on soil degradation predicts almost 90% of the planet’s soil will be degraded by 2050. If current agricultural trends continue, it will be a serious problem for the next generations, with a population expected to reach 10 billion.

National Geographic and PepsiCo, the world’s second-largest food producer, have launched Food for Tomorrow, a program to shine a light on sustainable agriculture among farmers, with a focus on regenerative agriculture. In this program, science and storytelling come together as a tool to document the best practices in farming.

Part of this program is sharing global regenerative agriculture stories, with the hope of spreading awareness and building a more sustainable agricultural future for the planet. Food for Tomorrow will also fund scientists and researchers with innovative projects that support farming communities.

The Importance of Soil for a Sustainable Future

Degraded soil means soil that has lost its health and ability to support plants properly. Soil becomes degraded when its nutrients, structure, and microorganisms get damaged, and it can happen because of things like overfarming, deforestation, chemical overuse, or erosion. As a result, degraded soil can’t hold water well, grows weaker crops, and takes a long time to recover naturally.

Farmers face serious challenges when growing crops, and it doesn’t end there. Healthy soil helps prevent desertification and, more importantly, naturally stores carbon underground, which can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Food for Tomorrow is a mission to implement regenerative agriculture practices, which help improve soil health and also reduce water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

How Regenerative Agriculture Works

Regenerative agriculture is a set of practices that help farmers take care of soil, protect water, and support biodiversity. These practices combine traditional knowledge with modern science and technology, and bring years of experience from people who know the land best.

As Margaret Henry, Vice President of Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture at PepsiCo, explains, “Regenerative agriculture means you’re using the natural ecosystem to make the land better. At its heart, it’s about helping farmers thrive so they can keep on farming.”

The Food for Tomorrow program highlights farmers, communities, and researchers around the world who are putting regenerative agriculture into action using techniques like:

• Cover crops that keep soil covered, protect roots, and reduce plowing.
• Intercropping, or planting different crops together that help each other grow.
• Using compost instead of chemical fertilizers.
• Saving and using water more efficiently.
• Rotating livestock between pastures.
• Agroforestry, or growing trees and crops together.

Working Hand in Hand for a Sustainable Future

Iowa is often called the heart of farming in America, but climate change and extreme precipitation storms have made farming challenging. 

Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) is a farmer-led nonprofit that received funding from PepsiCo’s $216 million investment to help farming groups grow regenerative agriculture across the United States. The organization works directly with farmers to build stronger farms and more resilient communities. They focus on practices such as planting cover crops and adding more variety to crop rotations. These methods help keep living roots in the soil throughout the year and improve its health over time.

One Farmer’s Path to a More Sustainable Future

Wendy Johnson owns a family farm called Center View Farms Co. in Charles City, Iowa. Wendy was already practicing no-till farming, but she wanted to do more.

With support from PFI and PepsiCo, Johnson planted her first cover crop. She started with oats and later tried rye. Now, corn is her main crop, and the farm’s cover crops include oats, rye, canola, camelina, radish, turnip, kale, millet, red clover, white clover, sorghum, sudangrass, barley, winter peas, and cowpeas.

Johnson also took part in the field days hosted by PFI. These events bring farmers together to share ideas and learn from one another. “I loved those field days and meeting other farmers,” she said. “The open-minded knowledge sharing was completely different from what I grew up with. PFI brings together farmers who believe the land provides—that how we treat it matters, because it affects our communities, our finances, and the world beyond farming.”

Johnson kept looking for new ways to farm. While her parents’ farm, Center View Farms Co., remains the main source of income, she started Jóia Food & Fiber Farm, a certified organic farm focused on testing climate-friendly and restorative practices. After learning about organic hog raising at a PFI field day, she began raising heritage pigs, sheep, turkeys, guinea fowl, chickens, and a small herd of cattle for local markets. She also grows fruit and nut trees, manages her pastures with adaptive grazing, and plants small grains like Kernza.

Growing a Healthier Future Together

The collaboration between National Geographic and PepsiCo through the Food for Tomorrow program is more than a campaign about farming. It’s a reminder of how connected we are to the land and to one another. This program raises awareness about how our food choices affect the planet by sharing real stories and supporting farmers who care for the soil.

Healthy soil means a healthier future for farmers, communities, and the next generations who will inherit this Earth. When science, storytelling, and compassion come together, change becomes possible.

PepsiCo and National Geographic visited farms in Iowa, Thailand, and Brazil to share the stories of farmers using regenerative practices. Read the stories here.