Somerset House's SOIL: The World At Our Feet exhibition has inspired support from a wide range of partners, from individual Soil Champion patrons to the World Living Soils Forum by Moet Hennessy.
Somerset House is proud to be working with Mars as Associate Sponsor of the exhibition, especially as change requires multinational companies operating at scale to play a decisive role.
Mars is supporting the In Focus zones interwoven throughout the exhibition and the partnership reflects Mars’ commitment to global soil health and its mission to transition to one million acres of regenerative agriculture by 2030.
Mars is investing in scaling up new climate smart and regenerative agriculture to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its full value chain by 2050, while also doing its part to protect soil health. Practical examples of Mars' work include the following:
Europe: Mars x Cargill, ADM, Biospheres, Horta, Agreena, and Soil Capital
- Mars is partnering with Cargill, ADM, Biospheres, Horta, Agreena, and Soil Capital to transition thousands of hectares of farmland in Poland, Hungary, and the UK to more sustainable practices. Farmers will receive financial support and guidance to implement techniques such as crop rotation, minimal tillage, and cover cropping. These methods aim to improve soil health, reduce erosion, boost biodiversity, and sequester carbon. Mars is committed to addressing barriers to adoption while generating both environmental and economic benefits.
Germany: Mars x FrieslandCampina
- A leading collaboration with dairy cooperative FrieslandCampina, including Mars’ pilot “net zero” dairy farms with the DMK Group, to commit $47M over 3 years. The initiative focuses on making dairy farming sustainable and economically viable, with plans to refine and scale new practices and technologies.
Australia: Cool Soil Initiative
- In Australia, Mars is working with industry peers and Charles Sturt University on the Cool Soil initiative – a farmer-focused, scalable framework for emission reporting through the supply chain. This initiative works to enable a scientifically credible framework for the Australian food industry to support farmers to deliver healthy, sustainable products into the future. After two years of research by the Cool Soil Initiative, the Cool Farm Alliance developed a regional version of the Cool Farm Tool for Cool Soils specifically for Australian growing conditions.
Thailand: Sustainable Aromatic Rice Initiative
- Launched in 2018, the Sustainable Aromatic Rice Initiative (SARI) is a collaboration between Mars, the German development agency GIZ, and other partners, to promote sustainable rice production aligned to the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) standard in Thailand. The initiative has trained 1,450 farmers, 70% of whom are women, across two provinces in Thailand. Concluding last year, rice farmers across both provinces have benefitted from increased rice production, and reduced water usage as a result.
You can find out more about Mars’ commitments here - https://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/sustainability-report-progress
