McCain’s Farms of the Future
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
In recent years, McCain Foods has taken a big step toward reshaping the future of potato farming alongside its grower partners. They’re putting real investment behind the idea—starting with their Farms of the Future model, says their manager of research and innovation, Dr. Michelle D’Souza.
D’Souza… “So in 2021, McCain made a bold commitment to partnering with growers to reimagine how we can grow potatoes. And this is coming through a very strong commitment in implementing regenerative agricultural practices across a hundred percent of potato acres worldwide by the end of 2030. In order to take this on, they have invested in Farms of the Future. So three specifically, the first was initiated at Lawrenceville, New Brunswick, and it's really this playground where McCain gets to live what they are asking its growers to do with practices that provide support to really four key outcome areas or impact areas. So soil, health, water, biodiversity, and climate. You know, McCain developed a regenerative agricultural framework around some key principles that they knew that they wanted to impact, and then created indicators underneath those that were more tied to practices. So, you know, it was a very thoughtful process with a lot of consultation.”
Dr. D’Souza says the purpose of Farms of the Future is to embrace risk and invite people to solve complex issues.
