Agriculture
General Mills has a long history of working closely with farmers to promote sustainable agriculture.
Whether through our organic Cascadian Farm brand, Green Giant vegetables or the many growers who provide us with various grains to make other products, sustainable agriculture is a focus for us.
Being green comes naturally if you are Green Giant, who has a century-long commitment to sustainability.
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day in 2010, Green Giant contributed US$200,000 to The Nature Conservancy, a global conservation organization that works to protect ecologically important lands and waters.
The money is being used to improve agricultural practices along the Root River, a watershed in southeastern Minnesota that’s home to some of the best trout streams in the Upper Midwest.
The Nature Conservancy is working with area farmers – including some who grow vegetables for Green Giant – to develop ways to mitigate agricultural runoff and help ensure that groundwater is not contaminated.
Throughout its century-long history, Green Giant has worked to reduce its environmental footprint through measures such as:
- Packing vegetables in smaller, lighter cans, so it takes less fuel to deliver them to supermarket shelves.
- Using traditional seed breeding methods to double (spanning the last 35 years) the amount of sweet corn grown on an acre of land.
- Switching to more earth-friendly paperboard to package frozen vegetables, saving approximately 54,000 trees annually in the process.
