Nestlé’s Agricultural Involvement and Regenerative Commitments in 2025
Abstract
Agriculture remains central to Nestlé’s global food and beverage operations. In 2025, the company intensified its engagement in regenerative agriculture, climate-smart farming, and rural development across various regions.
Through partnerships, investments, and farmer-centered interventions, Nestlé seeks to promote sustainability, enhance smallholder resilience, and mitigate the effects of climate change. This article examines Nestlé’s agricultural involvement in 2025, focusing on its strategic priorities, global partnerships, and regional interventions, with a particular emphasis on its contributions in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.
Introduction
Agriculture is the foundation of global food systems and the livelihood base for millions of small holder farmers. However, challenges such as soil degradation, climate change, and unsustainable farming methods threaten the stability of these systems. To address these challenges, Nestlé—the world’s largest food and beverage company—has redefined its agricultural agenda around regenerative agriculture, climate-smart production, and sustainable sourcing.
In alignment with its global sustainability roadmap, Nestlé has pledged to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to ensure that 20% of its key ingredients are sourced through regenerative agricultural practices by 2025, scaling up to 50% by 2030 (Nestlé Middle East and North Africa, 2025a). These commitments demonstrate the company’s focus on creating long-term value for both people and the planet.
Advancing Regenerative Agriculture
Regenerative agriculture forms the centerpiece of Nestlé’s agricultural transformation in 2025. The approach focuses on practices that improve soil fertility, restore biodiversity, enhance water efficiency, and build climate resilience. According to Nestlé (2025b), regenerative agriculture represents not only an environmental obligation but also a business necessity that ensures future raw material supply and food security.
In the United States, Nestlé has expanded regenerative practices through its DiGiorno Wheat Supply Chain Project, in collaboration with agricultural suppliers such as ADM and Ardent Mills. The initiative promotes reduced fertilizer use, soil enrichment, and carbon sequestration across wheat farms in states including Kansas, North Dakota, and Missouri (PR Newswire, 2025).
Beyond North America, Nestlé continues to advance its Forest Positive strategy—an integrated approach toward achieving deforestation-free supply chains. In 2025, the company partnered with Barry Callebaut and re.green in Brazil to restore cocoa and coffee landscapes, planting millions of native trees and improving ecosystem services (Reuters, 2025a).
Partnerships and Farmer Empowerment in Africa
Nestlé’s agricultural work in Africa exemplifies its commitment to inclusive and sustainable development. Partnerships with organizations such as the World Farmers’ Organization (WFO), Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and TechnoServe play a critical role in promoting climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods.
In Nigeria, Nestlé launched the Strengthening Farmers’ and SMEs’ Resilience through Climate-Smart Grain Production and Accessing the Structured Markets (StreFaS) project, in collaboration with AGRA and TechnoServe. The initiative, spanning 2024–2027, targets over 25,000 smallholder farmers and eight aggregators in Kaduna and Nasarawa States. It promotes regenerative farming practices for staple crops such as maize, rice, soybean, and sorghum while linking participants to structured markets (Nestlé Central and West Africa, 2025a). Nestlé Nigeria has committed over US$1 million to support the programme, which emphasizes soil health, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity conservation (Nestlé Central and West Africa, 2025b).
Additionally, Nestlé has strengthened Nigeria’s dairy sector by supporting local milk producers through training, cooperative formation, and infrastructure provision, such as boreholes and water troughs (The Guardian Nigeria, 2025). These efforts are part of a broader regional drive to improve agricultural productivity and empower rural women and youth through skills acquisition and enterprise development.
The NESCAFÉ Plan 2030 and Coffee Regeneration
The NESCAFÉ Plan 2030 remains one of Nestlé’s flagship agricultural sustainability programmes. By 2025, the plan has expanded its reach across Africa, Latin America, and Asia, engaging coffee farmers in regenerative practices such as intercropping, agroforestry, and organic composting. More than 20 million trees have been planted under the plan, contributing to soil restoration and carbon sequestration (Nestlé Central and West Africa, 2025c).
The initiative further provides technical training, financial inclusion opportunities, and access to climate-resilient coffee varieties. Nestlé’s long-term goal is to ensure that all coffee is produced with minimal environmental impact while securing better incomes for farmers.
Sustainability Challenges and Strategic Outlook
Despite its significant achievements, Nestlé faces ongoing challenges in implementing regenerative agriculture at scale. The complexity of global supply chains, coupled with the need for effective monitoring and verification, poses difficulties in ensuring that all raw materials are sourced from deforestation-free areas (Nestlé Middle East and North Africa, 2025b).
Moreover, smallholder adoption of regenerative practices often requires upfront investment, access to credit, and consistent technical support. Nestlé’s efforts to address these constraints include premium pricing, farmer training, and partnerships with development organizations. However, structural challenges such as climate shocks, weak infrastructure, and policy inconsistencies in some developing regions continue to affect progress.
In addition, Nestlé and other multinational corporations have expressed concern that regulatory delays—such as those affecting the European Union’s anti-deforestation laws—could slow down global forest protection and sustainable sourcing commitments (Reuters, 2025b). Nonetheless, Nestlé’s sustained engagement through science-based targets, innovation, and stakeholder collaboration provides a model for achieving systemic agricultural transformation.
Conclusion
Nestlé’s agricultural engagement in 2025 underscores the company’s leadership in advancing sustainable food systems. Through regenerative agriculture, farmer empowerment initiatives, and ecosystem restoration, the company is redefining how global agribusiness can align profitability with environmental stewardship.
In Nigeria and other parts of Africa, programmes such as the StreFaS initiative demonstrate that corporate investment in agriculture can drive inclusive growth, enhance resilience, and promote sustainability. By integrating technological innovation, partnerships, and local capacity-building, Nestlé’s agricultural agenda serves as a blueprint for achieving both economic viability and ecological regeneration in the 21st century.
References
Nestlé Central and West Africa. (2025a). AGRA and TechnoServe launch groundbreaking climate-smart agriculture initiative. Retrieved from https://www.nestle-cwa.com
Nestlé Central and West Africa. (2025b). Nestlé invests in climate-smart agriculture to support smallholder farmers. Retrieved from https://www.nestle-cwa.com
Nestlé Central and West Africa. (2025c). NESCAFÉ Plan 2030: Driving regenerative agriculture and reducing emissions. Retrieved from https://www.nestle-cwa.com
Nestlé Middle East and North Africa. (2025a). Advancing regeneration through sustainable sourcing. Retrieved from https://www.nestle-mena.com
Nestlé Middle East and North Africa. (2025b). Forest positive and deforestation-free supply chains. Retrieved from https://www.nestle-mena.com
PR Newswire. (2025). Nestlé advances efforts to source key ingredients grown with regenerative agriculture practices. Retrieved from https://www.prnewswire.com
Reuters. (2025a). Nestlé, Barry Callebaut, and re.green restore cocoa and coffee regions in Brazil. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com
Reuters. (2025b). Nestlé, others warn EU law delays endanger forests worldwide. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com
The Guardian Nigeria. (2025). World Milk Day: Nestlé, FG partner on dairy skills programme. Retrieved from https://guardian.ng
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