For all the momentum behind regenerative agriculture, a persistent gap remains between bold corporate commitments and what can realistically be delivered on farms. Geneva-based SAI Platform believes it has moved a step closer to closing that gap.
The industry-led, not-for-profit organisation has completed a global pilot phase for its Regenerating Together Programme, validating a strengthened four-step framework designed to help food and agriculture companies transition their supply chains towards regenerative practices. More than 35 pilot initiatives were carried out across 25 countries and 23 production systems, spanning arable crops, dairy and beef.
The results, and the feedback gathered from farmers and major agrifood businesses, mark a key milestone ahead of the programme’s formal public launch next year. Crucially, SAI Platform says the pilots demonstrate that regenerative agriculture can be guided by a common process while remaining adaptable to local conditions.
A four-step framework built for flexibility
First released in 2023, the Regenerating Together framework was conceived as a clear, four-step process that companies could use across diverse supply chains. The pilot phase was designed to test whether that structure could hold up in practice – across different crops, climates, farm sizes and geographies – without becoming overly rigid.
According to SAI Platform, the answer was yes. The pilots helped refine the framework so it can be applied at a global scale, while still making sense at the individual farm level.
“Large supply chains need consistency, but farming is inherently local,” the organisation said. “The pilot phase has shown that a common definition and process can be used across those differences, while allowing for local adaptation.”
That balance between clarity and flexibility is increasingly critical as companies face pressure to demonstrate credible progress on sustainability, while farmers often push back against one-size-fits-all requirements that fail to reflect on-the-ground realities.
Testing regenerative claims on real farms
Some of the world’s largest food and beverage businesses took part in the pilot phase. SAI Platform members involved included Nestlé, Wildfarmed, Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) and McCain.
With Nestlé in Canada, the programme’s verification system was tested across 25 oat farms, validating how outcomes can be assessed consistently. In the UK, Wildfarmed applied the framework across wheat, oats and barley on around 150 farms, stress-testing it in a commercial regenerative grain supply chain.
Longer-term, multi-stakeholder pilots are also under way, including projects in India focused on potato smallholder farming, in Denmark covering arable systems, and in Argentina centred on peanut production.
Collectively, these initiatives were intended not just to test the technical criteria of regenerative agriculture, but to understand how programmes can work economically and operationally at scale.
Providing confidence for global supply chains
For SAI Platform, completing the pilots is about more than proof of concept. Director General Dionys Forster said the work provides an evidence base that can give companies confidence to act.
“Completing these pilots has been critical to developing the Regenerating Together Programme ahead of the upcoming launch,” Forster said. “We’ve now seen the programme tested across a wide range of production systems, geographies and value chains, with input from farmers and major food businesses working in very different conditions.”
That diversity, he added, has helped shape an approach that is “clear enough for companies to act on, but flexible enough to reflect the reality of farming on the ground”.
“This work gives the industry a tested, scalable foundation,” Forster said. “The moment to act is now.”
Cutting through the ‘regenerative’ noise
Rather than prescribing a fixed set of practices, SAI Platform’s approach has several defining outcome-based, not practice-based characteristics. The focus is on measurable outcomes rather than mandating specific farming techniques. Progress is assessed against shared environmental outcomes across four impact areas: soil health; water; biodiversity and climate.
This allows farmers to choose practices suited to their local agroecological and socioeconomic context, while still working towards aligned regenerative goals.
For participants, one of the programme’s most valuable contributions appears to be its role in clarifying what regenerative agriculture actually means in practice.
Rob Bray, Chief People & Sustainability Officer at Wildfarmed, said the company was drawn to Regenerating Together because of its focus on measurable outcomes and farmer-centric design.
“In testing the framework, we’ve seen its power to provide a clear, actionable roadmap that cuts through the noise of what ‘regenerative’ means,” Bray said. “That creates a critical opportunity to scale nature-friendly food systems while delivering outcomes for soil, water and biodiversity.”
Such clarity is increasingly important as regenerative claims come under greater scrutiny from regulators, investors and civil society, and as companies look to avoid accusations of greenwashing.
Scaling programmes while staying locally relevant
For global traders like Louis Dreyfus Company, the appeal lies in being able to operate across highly diverse geographies without fragmenting approaches.
Axelle Bodoy, Global Head of Regenerative Agriculture at LDC, said the pilot demonstrated that a common framework can support scale while remaining impactful at farm level.
“The pilot has shown that robust, common frameworks can help programmes scale up while remaining locally relevant,” she said. “They can deliver credible, measurable and consistent outcomes, benefiting all supply chain stakeholders.”
Bodoy also highlighted the potential for the programme to help optimise monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems and implementation costs – factors that are increasingly important for financing partners backing regenerative transitions.
Next steps: from pilots to broader adoption
SAI Platform will host the public launch of the next phase of the Regenerating Together Programme in June 2026, at its Annual Event in Saskatoon, Canada. The event will showcase new tools and resources, facilitate peer-to-peer learning, and invite wider participation from food and beverage companies.
With the pilot phase now complete, the organisation’s focus is firmly on accelerating adoption. For SAI Platform, the message is that regenerative agriculture does not need to be reinvented farm by farm – but nor can it be imposed wholesale.
Instead, the pilots suggest there is an adaptable route forward: a shared framework that gives global supply chains the consistency they need, while leaving room for farmers to apply regenerative principles in ways that make sense locally.
