Kind Snacks is launching a three-year pilot project in regenerative agriculture, the Kind Almond Acres Initiative. This initiative builds off KIND's announcement last year of progress made to its prior commitment to source 100% of its almonds from bee-friendly farms by 2025.
The Kind Almond Acres Initiative will expand the brand's sustainable almond sourcing journey and provide key insights to help inform how it can source 100% of its almonds from orchards leveraging regenerative agriculture practices on a mass balance basis by 2030. These two commitments work hand-in-hand to better all aspects of almond farming, from the soil to the bees, and of course, almonds.
Almonds are Kind’s number-one ingredient, the lead ingredient in over 45 KIND products. Kind purchases millions of pounds of almonds each year, and this is why it has decided to test and learn how to grow its number-one ingredient more sustainably by launching the Kind Almond Acres Initiative.
The Kind Almond Acres Initiative will introduce a mix of new technologies with best practices from regenerative agriculture across 500 acres in California, where 80% of the world's almonds are grown. Implementing the practices on the ground is Kind’s partner, olam food ingredients (ofi), a global leader in food and beverage ingredients, which owns the almond trees on the project acres. Throughout this pilot, Kind hopes to gather the data and learnings needed to find the best combination of practices that will provide measurable benefits to the soil, the farm as a whole and the planet. The learnings from this pilot will help set environmental targets and help inform how KIND will reach its goal by 2030.
In tandem with the Kind Almond Acres Initiative pilot project, Kind is investing in the next generation of sustainable change agents by working with local UC Merced, an HSI (Hispanic-serving Institution) and one of the most sustainable universities in the country, to award the first-ever "KIND to the planet" scholarship.
Continuing its investment throughout its supply chain, Kind has become a member of the California Water Action Collaborative (CWAC), a network of leading environmental organizations, food/ag and beverage companies, and retail and tech companies that work together to pursue collective action projects that will improve California's water security for people, business, agriculture and nature.
To celebrate its newest sustainability commitment and the launch of Kind Almond Acres Initiative with consumers, Kind is inviting consumers to join its regenerative agriculture journey through several immersive experiences across multiple digital platforms:
Kind is partnering with Snapchat to create the platform's first-ever lens dedicated to regenerative agriculture in almonds. This experience will take Snapchat users on a virtual "visit" to Kind Almond Acres Initiative where they can learn more about regenerative agriculture and the new technologies taking place on the acres.
Available on kindsnacks.com only, Kind is debuting an interactive Almond Acres landing page that will transparently showcase the progress and results of Kind Almond Acres Initiative, as well as the ongoing sustainability partnerships with CWAC and UC Davis, KIND's long-term sustainability and research partner, helping to understand how pollinator health and regenerative agriculture can positively impact the almond industry. This landing page will also be another opportunity for people to virtually visit Kind Almond Acres Initiative with VR options and long-form videos.
"We know that regenerative agriculture can be challenging to understand,” Kelly Solomon, chief marketing officer at Kind, said in the announcement. “We know our consumers want to engage in learning how to be kinder to our planet, and that is why we're welcoming everyone into the living, learning lab that is the KIND Almond Acres Initiative. We believe it is our responsibility to lead the almond industry towards a kinder way to grow almonds, and we are so proud and excited to be the brand paving the way."
