Featured News
Latest News
Latest News
Showing 1-5 of 100
Press Release
The National Geographic Society and PepsiCo Fund Global Research to Help Accelerate Regenerative Agriculture
The grants support on-farm research by scientists across four countries to strengthen soil resilience in critical food crops, supporting farmers with evidence-based solutions that aim to benefit people and planet
Today, the National Geographic Society and PepsiCo announced five new grants funding on-farm research to support practical advancements in regenerative agriculture, from rewilding prairies to leveraging AI technology to translate complex genomics into tangible farming guidance. The research will target critical food crops in climate-stressed production hot spots around the world. The scientists were selected from a highly competitive pool of talented researchers with proposals in 140 countries. They join a global community of National Geographic Explorers — scientists, conservationists, educators and storytellers who illuminate and protect the wonder of our world.
The research is funded as part of Food for Tomorrow, a collaboration between the Society and PepsiCo which aims to harness the power of science, storytelling and education to inspire positive change throughout the global food system, with a focus on regenerative agriculture. Launched in 2025, the pilot supports an inaugural set of 10 Explorers diving into the future of food: their efforts encompass on-farm scientific research, breathtaking imagery and powerful stories of regenerative farmers leading change in their communities. An interactive data visualization tool will also be released later this year.
“For over a century, the Society has been funding innovative science to better understand our world. Regenerative agriculture is an exciting new area of focus for us,” said Ian Miller, chief science and innovation officer at the National Geographic Society. “This work is deeply interconnected with many longstanding issues that we tackle: safeguarding freshwater and coastal ecosystems; restoring landscapes to support biodiversity, reduce our carbon footprint, and secure irrecoverable carbon reserves, and more.”
Food and drink company PepsiCo has been working to scale regenerative agriculture globally and recently expanded a global goal to spread the adoption of regenerative, restorative or protective practices across 10 million acres by 2030.“The global food system is under increasing pressure from climate change and extreme weather, and meeting this moment requires supporting the people at the heart of it - the farmers,” said Jim Andrew, executive vice president and chief sustainability officer at PepsiCo. “Farmers get one chance each season to make a crop succeed. That’s why strong, science-backed practices matter. By continuing to demonstrate what works, we can give farmers the confidence that regenerative agriculture not only helps build a more resilient food system but also strengthens their livelihoods.”
Over the next two years, these Explorers will conduct research in real-world contexts and aim to find solutions that can help scale tailored regenerative agricultural practices. Targeted crop systems include wheat, maize/corn, potato, soy and coffee.
- In climate-stressed Spain, Ahan Dalal will partner with wheat and maize farmers to test locally rooted, regenerative agriculture practices such as biochar, cover crops and beneficial microbes under normal watering and drought scenarios, developing a blueprint for resilience that can spread across the Mediterranean.
- In the birthplace of coffee, Hewan Degu’s work aims to protect its future — building the microbial evidence base for regenerative coffee and potato intercropping systems in Ethiopia and learning alongside farmers to guide on-farm application and uptake.
- On Indonesia’s depleted maize fields, Al Greeny S. Dewayanti will test the soil regeneration benefits of intercropping sacha inchi, an omega-3-rich vine, while also incorporating DNA metabarcoding and an early-stage AI-powered farmer app combining indigenous knowledge with modern science and digital tools.
- Across maize, soy and wheat farmlands of southwestern Wisconsin, Omar de Kok-Mercado is rebuilding biodiverse corridors through a connected ‘wild grid’ of native prairie plantings on marginal farmland. The project blends ecological data with art and storytelling to advance evidence-based, landscape-scale regeneration.
- In Wisconsin, a critical hub for potato production in the U.S., Jamie Spychalla’s on-farm research will study the benefits of integrating nitrogen-fixing alfalfa as a rotational, harvestable cover crop to mitigate climate-induced moisture stress, regenerate soils, and improve yields - engaging farming communities along the way.
The scientists join five other Food for Tomorrow storytelling-focused Explorers, who since mid-2025 have traveled the globe (12 countries and counting) capturing the challenges, successes and perspectives of real people on farms large and small and at various stages of their transition to regenerative agriculture. To date, these storytellers have conducted fieldwork at farms across 13 diverse crop systems (including wheat, rice, strawberries, lettuce and coffee), as well as livestock. Later in 2026, they will begin rolling out multimedia photo exhibitions, community engagement forums, journalistic articles, engaging social campaigns, short- and long-form videos, and more.
From profiles of changemaking farmers and ranchers transitioning to regenerative agriculture, to conducting rigorous scientific research in climate-stressed hubs for key crops, to large-scale tree planting efforts to claw back the desert, these Explorers aren’t just telling the story of regenerative agriculture: they are helping shape its future.
To learn more, visit us here and engage with @insidenatgeo on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Media Contact
General Media Contact
If you are a member of the media with an inquiry or interview request, please call during regular business hours or email
pressroom@ngs.org
pressroom@ngs.org
(202) 857 7027
Olivia Tarantino
Manager, Strategic Communications,
otarantino@ngs.org
otarantino@ngs.org
Katie O’Mahony
Media Relations, PepsiCo
katie.omahony@pepsico.com
katie.omahony@pepsico.com
About The National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society is a global nonprofit organization that uses the power of science, exploration, education and storytelling to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world. Since 1888, National Geographic has pushed the boundaries of exploration, investing in bold people and transformative ideas, providing more than 15,000 grants for work across all seven continents, reaching 3 million students each year through education offerings, and engaging audiences around the globe through signature experiences, stories and content.
To learn more, visit www.nationalgeographic.org or follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Back to Top