Future-proofing its hero ingredient, KIND Snacks has announced its successful scaling of regenerative agriculture practices across the company’s almond supply chain.
Three years ago, KIND Snacks (KIND) launched the KIND Almond Acres Initiative – a regenerative agriculture pilot in partnership with olam food ingredients (ofi), an international leader in food and beverage ingredients and solutions.
Now, with the pilot having come to its conclusion, KIND has revealed the successful scale of regenerative agriculture practices that resulted along its almond supply chain. Specifically, in 2026, approximately 50 percent of its almond volume has been sourced from farms leveraging regenerative agriculture practices on a mass-balance basis.
This pilot program was the first step in the company’s commitment to source 100 percent of its hero ingredient from farms conducting these practices by 2030.
“We’re incredibly proud to hit the halfway mark in our almond sourcing pledge. The KIND Almond Acres Initiative has proven that regenerative agriculture is a scalable, operational engine. By sharing our outcomes and learnings, we are aiming to move the needle in encouraging the industry to build a more sustainable supply chain – one that’s better for the planet and for business,” says Daniel Calderoni, CEO of KIND North America.
The initiative was created to generate the data and insights needed to identify the most effective combination of practices and technologies for improving soil health, resource efficiency, and on-farm resilience. The results of the pilot program are assisting KIND in paving a sustainable future while contributing valuable insights that support broader adoption of regenerative agriculture across the industry.
The learnings directly showcase that regenerative almond production can deliver measurable environmental benefits while remaining viable at a commercial scale.
KIND is one of North America’s largest almond buyers and recognizes the significant role it plays in helping to advance more sustainable almond production. The company’s KIND Almond Acres Initiative focused its testing in California – home to approximately 80 percent of the world’s almond production – in order to study what works on the ground and at scale.
After three years of data collection, including information provided by ofi’s Carbon Trust certified Digital Footprint Calculator, key results include 50 percent of almond sourcing value from farms leveraging regenerative agriculture practices on a mass-balance basis; a 19.5 percent efficiency gain in water management; a 33 percent reduction in the need for nitrogen fertilizer; a 28 percent decrease in overall carbon intensity; and marked improvements in soil health metrics like soil organic carbon and decreased compaction.
With these extremely promising results, KIND is now ready to enter its next phase of future-proofing its regenerative agriculture supply chain.
“KIND is moving quickly from a test environment to large-scale implementation. In almond orchards, a variety of regenerative practices such as cover crops, lower-carbon fertilizers, compost, and biochar can directly enhance ingredient quality and resilience. We are proud to partner with KIND to help demonstrate a model that can be replicated and scaled across the broader industry,” notes Zac Ellis, Senior Director of Agronomy, ofi, North America.
As KIND continues to look toward the future, the company is excited to find more ways of supporting the almond industry as it works to improve its water footprint in California.
