Inside McCain Foods and its Push for Sustainability

McCain Foods collaborates with a global network of 4,400 farmers who supply the potatoes that form the foundation of its operations.

Across this farming network and the broader value chain, the company is focused on embedding sustainable practices, including regenerative agriculture techniques, responsible water use and emissions reduction.

Now the company has released its 2025 Global Sustainability Report, which outlines its progress towards its objectives alongside its global regenerative farming programmes.

Accelerating adoption

McCain's sustainability strategy is organised through its "pathways to sustainable resilience", encompassing smart and sustainable farming, thriving communities and resource-efficient operations.

The company aims to accelerate the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices towards 100% acreage implementation and reduce on-farm emissions aligned to Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) targets.

To support this, it plans to reduce emissions across its entire value chain, improve water use efficiency in its facilities, minimise food waste and use responsible packaging.

According to the 2025 report, McCain saw a 19% improvement in water use efficiency in water-stressed regions, compared to its 2017 baseline.

Charlie Angelakos, Vice President, External Affairs and Sustainability at McCain Foods, says: "We are pleased with our progress, with nearly 70% of our global acreage onboarded to McCain's Regenerative Agriculture Framework, reducing our absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 28% since 2017 and supporting more than 18,000 vulnerable farmers and families through community development programmes since 2018."

Charlie adds: "As we look to 2030 and beyond, we recognise the years ahead will bring challenges and the journey will not be easy. We must build on our lessons learned as well as deep partnership and collaboration with our partners across the value chain to ensure we deliver sustainable progress and create a resilient business."

Supporting farmers through regenerative agriculture

Central to McCain's sustainability journey is its regenerative agriculture programme, which aims to drive progress and support its global network of farmers.

The company provides financial support to its farmers through key financing opportunities and grant funding solutions, as well as partnering with academic institutions to carry out research and provide technology, training and support.

McCain views regenerative agriculture as an ecosystem-based approach to farming that could improve farm resilience, crop yield and quality by improving soil health, optimising water use and enhancing biodiversity.

The company states that transforming the food system is a shared responsibility, which involves collaboration across the entire value chain and food production sector.

Philippe Thery, Chief Agriculture Officer at McCain Foods, says: "The future of our business depends on the future of farming. Our goals of protecting soil health and building resilience against climate change are essential to continuing to produce the potatoes which are at the heart of McCain.

"That's why we have invested in this work and in supporting our farmers – because this transition matters."

Expanding innovation farms

According to the report, McCain's 2025 sustainability highlights include 30 innovation farms for regenerative agriculture being established since 2022.

This includes its third location as part of its Farm of the Future programme, which is set to launch in 2026 in North Yorkshire, near McCain GB's headquarters.

The UK Farm of the Future will focus on developing and researching strategies including controlled traffic farming, year-round soil cover and biodiversity building.

In collaboration with the University of Leeds, the project will investigate how pig manure can be used to enrich soil and reduce waste. The site will also be used to demonstrate how mixed farming systems could improve soil health and biodiversity while lowering emissions from the agriculture sector.

Max Koeune, President and CEO of McCain Foods, says: "Farm of the Future UK marks an important step in how we are scaling regenerative agriculture across our global Farms of the Future effort.

"Each site helps us test real solutions with farmers, understand what works and share that knowledge across our grower network. This is how we strengthen the resilience of our farms, support our partners and build a more sustainable food system for the long term."