In the United Kingdom, big retailer Target and one of the world’s largest agricultural processors and food ingredient providers, Archer Daniels Midland Company, both joined Ceres and World Wildlife Fund’s AgWater Challenge.
Ceres and WWF first launched the AgWater Challenge to encourage better water stewardship among the world’s most influential food and beverage companies. Target and ADM join seven participating companies who have made commitments to better protect freshwater resources in their agricultural supply chains. With the global food sector using 70 percent of the world’s freshwater supply, food and beverage companies play an important role in protecting water quality and quantity.
By adding a major food retailer operating in every U.S. state and a global food processing conglomerate, the AgWater Challenge significantly increases the acreage farmed with water stewardship in mind. Target’s commitments include promoting sustainable water management in California and supporting future development of small grains and cover crops grown in rotation with corn and soybeans, as part of a collaboration with Practical Farmers of Iowa and Sustainable Food Lab. ADM’s commitments include ensuring that by 2022 at least 10 percent of U.S. wheat processing volume comes from farmers who are measuring and monitoring the environmental footprint of their farming practices, among other commitments.