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McDonald’s Canada and McCain create Future of Potato Farming Fund

McDonald’s Canada and McCain Foods Limited have formed a new partnership to create the Future of Potato Farming Fund by investing $1 million in education, demonstration and cost-sharing grants to support potato farmer adoption of regenerative practices and technology. The new fund’s goals are building soil health and farm resilience as Canadian potato farmers face the escalating impacts of climate change on yield and crop quality.

Canadian farmers are already seeing the impacts of a changing climate. This overwhelmingly impacts financial sustainability on the farm, while threatening food security and crop quality in Canada. The fund aims to safeguard Canada’s farming industry through supporting farmer adoption of regenerative practices that improve soil health and build critical resilience on the farm.

“Climate change continues to impact the crop and our potato growing communities. To address this, McCain has pledged to implement regenerative agricultural practices across 100 per cent of its potato acreage by 2030,” said Jeremy Carter, director, agriculture, Western Canada, McCain Foods in a statement. “Through our shared vision with McDonald’s Canada, we are focused on supporting our growers in accelerating the transition to the key principles of regenerative agriculture like maintaining living cover, reducing tillage intensity, diversifying rotations, reducing the intensity of chemical applications, and enhancing biodiversity. Education, demonstrations, and direct grower funding of practice adoption through this Fund may lead to achieving healthier Canadian soils while creating delicious, planet-friendly food.”

The fund will be open to more than 130 Canadian farmers, who represent more than 76,000 acres of potato farmland. It will consist of two rounds of grants for growers to implement established regulatory practices to build soil health and resilience starting in August 2022. Growers can apply to the Fund for cost-sharing from a list of priority regenerative practices and technologies, such as cover crop seed, flower strip seed, lower intensity tillage equipment, decision support systems, organic soil amendments and more.

Funding decisions will be made jointly by an expert selection committee comprised of representatives from McDonald’s Canada, McCain Foods, The Soil Health Institute and a representative from a national potato farming association. McDonald’s Canada and McCain Foods will work with the Soil Health Institute to measure progress throughout the program, specifically increased soil organic carbon and total nitrogen, increased bulk density and aggregate stability and plant available water and better drainage capacity.