General Mills today announced Gunsmoke Farms has received organic certification by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organics Program. Gunsmoke, a 34,000-acre farm outside of Pierre, South Dakota, had been managed conventionally for more than three decades before its transition to organic over the last three years using regenerative agriculture practices. The combination of cover crops, a diverse crop rotation, keeping a living root in the ground year round and minimizing tillage were instrumental in restoring the land to a holistic farming system that now grows spring wheat, winter wheat, alfalfa, oats, peas and Kernza.
“General Mills has been on our soil health journey since 2016 and working with Gunsmoke Farms solidified our belief that regenerative agriculture can be a transformative lever for farmers to be a part of the climate solution,” said Mary Jane Melendez, chief sustainability and social impact officer for General Mills. “This type of long-term, direct contracting is unprecedented for General Mills and the industry. If we truly aim to be a force for good, our role is to give farmers the tools to be more resilient – both environmentally and financially.”
Read the full story here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200917005094/en/General-Mills-Partnership-with-Gunsmoke-Farms-to-Transition-34000-Acres-of-Conventional-Farmland-to-Organic-Culminates-with-USDA-Certification