Perry Family Farm near Coaldale, Alta., made history recently by winning the inaugural PepsiCo Global Farmer Awards.
During an event at PepsiCo headquarters in Purchase, New York, finalists were selected across six award categories: sustainability, next-gen farming, leadership and advisory, heritage and growth, quality and farmer of the year, which the Perry Family Farm won.
WHY IT MATTERS: Regenerative agriculture continues to be at the forefront of $92-billion dollar PepsiCo as it celebrates its producers across North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific with inaugural Global Farmer Awards.
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“The award with innovation always impresses me. They do a lot of R&D and storage stuff, building machines from the ground up with algorithms with AI kicking out certain types of potatoes” said Chris Perry, who co-manages the Perry farm with brother, Harold.
Frito-Lay North America nominated the farm.
“It’s an impressive partnership and progressive farmers that are awesome to network with.”
The field of nominees included representation of small and large-scale farmers, multi-generational families and advisers across North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. Approximately 60 farmers and advisers from 19 countries were recognized for their achievements.
“It’s not just the (Perry) family. We are there, but it’s a farm award with the crew we have and their families that share our core values where sustainability is a huge part of that. It’s embracing some of the crazy, thinking outside the box,” said Chris.
The first-of-its-kind celebration recognized achievements in sustainability, innovation and leadership in agriculture among producers who have done business with PepsiCo. The company sources more than 50 crops and ingredients from more than 60 countries.
“Our business starts with farmers. They are the heartbeat of our supply chain and the foundation of the global food system,” Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo’s chair and chief executive officer, said in a press release.
The 5,000-plus acre, fourth-generation farm has been operating since its humble beginnings in 1909 and has supplied potatoes to Lay’s for more than 45 years, using innovative land stewardship practices in regenerative agriculture and renewable energy in its productivity practices.
They include composting, multi-species cover crops and the latest water-saving technology in irrigation. Grow the Energy Circle Ltd. is a multi-faceted bioenergy system founded by the Perry family that is a model of sustainable industry.
Harold Perry handles the farm production, which embraces multi-species cover crops that are not common in the area. Success has been found with potatoes that follow barley or winter wheat.
The farm does its best to grow a 15-species cover crop, planting it in mid-August. The biodiversity practices as a whole have netted Perry Farms increased disease suppression in its crops.
“This is out there for sure, keeping our soil covered with a green living plant for as many days as possible during the season,” said Harold.
“We are trying to get the cover crop a foot high in the air and a foot down below in the ground. Twenty per cent of that is still growing in the spring time, with winter crops like winter wheat. We green manure that in with our power hiller and plant our potatoes in that.”
There is also an on-farm bio-gas plant that uses organic waste to produce energy, leaving a nutrient-rich gestate that cuts down on commercial fertilizer use for the farm’s carbon-neutral potatoes.
“The bio-gas facility has been a huge investment for us and has been a challenge for us economically since Day One. You don’t get paid extra for that kind of stuff,” said Chris.
“But, these practices are very important to us.”
Along with potatoes, the Perrys produce green peas, sunflowers, seed canola, wheat and barley.
Recently, PepsiCo expanded its pep+ Positive Agriculture goal, aiming to drive regenerative agriculture and restorative and protective practices across 10 million acres by 2030, having already delivered more than 3.5 million acres globally as of 2024.
PepsiCo helped launch the Climate Resilience Platform, a digital tool that aims to support farmers with insights into climate conditions, potential impacts to yields and climate information.
STEP Up for Agriculture is a pre-competitive initiative developed in collaboration with Unilever and retailers to help strengthen the capacity and sustainability of farmer-facing support organizations by providing tools, training and funding to accelerate the adoption of regenerative practices and build resilient supply chains.
“The emphasis that PepsiCo is putting on the farmer, they are engaging us and really showing us how important the grower is to their whole operation,” said Harold.
“We do these things on our own, but it really aligns with so many values right now that PepsiCo is doing and celebrating. They are very forward thinking.”
