b"SHARING THE BIGGER PICTUREWHEN IT COMES TO REGEN AGWith big splashy headlines about regen ag, growers are concerned the fundamentals of the work theyve been doing for years is being forgotten. BY: ASHLEY ROBINSONTWO YEARS AGO, when McCain Foods announced its ambitious plan for all potatoes used by the food processing company to be grown with regenerative agriculture practices by 2030, growers were surprised. At the time, some growers hadnt heard anything from their contacts at the processing company alluding to a change of this magnitude.My initial thought would be that they're sort of rushing into things. Were involved in doing some work with (McCain) to try a few different trials and things like that. I do see some potential still, agriculture is always evolving. But what I had to keep driving home is I've been doing this myself for 25 years, Paul Adriaansen says in a Zoom interview.Adriaansen runs Spud Plain Farms in the Wellwood, Man.Adriaansen isnt the only grower who was concerned by how area. The potato farm grows processing potatoes for McCainsMcCain is approaching its regen ag goals. Kirk Davison with and J.R. Simplots Manitoba plant, along with growing their ownDavison Farms in the Wellwood area grows processing spuds for seed potatoes. Simplot has also made sustainability pledges, justMcCains and feels McCains rushed the announcement. not as publicly as McCain. Simplot plans to reduce its energy andIf we go rushing into this too quickly, we're going to take one step water usage by 15 per cent by 2030, along with other targets for itsforward for the environment and two steps back economically. Some facilities. of the trials are already showing that we're hurting yield, he explains McCain did do some outreach before the big announcement,in a Zoom interview. We can't afford to lose any more yield if we're according to Spencer Karabelas-Pittman, the companys Northgoing to keep going, we have to have a more with less goal here and American agriculture sustainability manager. The plan for theregenerative ag needs to get on board with that first.announcement was run by select growers from each growing region.Karabelas-Pittman says the response to the regen ag pledge has Local field teams also conducted wider grower outreach ahead of thebeen varied with growers. Some have been excited about it, while announcement. others have been apprehensive about what it could mean for their Weve maintained transparency and open communication withoperations and relationships with consumers. our growers throughout this process and we know they are the mostIt comes down to just being able to run and work at a field-by-field important stakeholders in the regenerative transition, he added inlevel. We don't want to put forward any practice that's going to be a phone interview. I think every one of our field managers wouldeconomically and socially unviable, he explains. It is really difficult have gone out and spoken to different growers. to create a program that works across every geography and across 18SPUDSMART.COMSummer 2023"