A widening “credibility gap” is emerging in the regenerative farming claims made by some of the world’s biggest food businesses, according to FAIRR.
The global investor network’s ‘Regenerative Agriculture: Moving from Ambition to Credibility’ report, released today, found many corporate regenerative farming programmes were contradictory and patchy in their coverage when compared with results from 2023.
The study, which analysed 78 publicly listed business with combined revenues of $3.3tn, revealed the proportion of companies setting quantified regenerative farming targets had fallen from 35% in 2023 to 28% in 2026.
Businesses such as Compass, JBS and Walmart were even found to have dropped previously disclosed targets or significantly revised their commitments, while six companies, including Sodexo and Yum Brands, no longer mention regenerative farming in their public disclosures at all.
FAIRR said this could reflect growing awareness of legal and reputational risk resulting from increased scrutiny over sustainability claims.
“Companies that set targets they cannot demonstrate or substantiate face increasing exposure,” FAIRR said. “However, where previously disclosed targets or commitments are no longer referenced, it raises important questions for investors around whether targets have been retired, revised or remain in place without updated public reporting.”
The organisation also identified several growing contradictions between stated ambitions and practices being deployed within corporate regenerative farming strategies, highlighted by pesticide use.
While 52% of companies identified reducing agrochemical inputs as a goal, FAIRR said many of the most widely deployed regenerative farming practices could rely on herbicides. These include cover crops and reduced, or no till, farming – used by 68% and 58% of companies respectively.
Moreover, FAIRR found none of the companies had set a target to reduce pesticide use in their regenerative farming programmes, with only Conagra, Danone, Nestlé and Sysco measuring herbicide use.
However, the organisation admitted there were “some grounds for cautious optimism”.
The share of companies measuring regenerative farming outcomes has risen sharply, from 16% in 2023 to 54% in 2026 and companies are connecting regenerative farming to their Scope 3 emissions strategies – 52% now make a quantitative or qualitative link, compared with 24% three years ago.
But the organisation said most measurement remained at project level, rather than across company operations, making it difficult to assess the true scale and impact of programmes. It also found that just 4% of companies have set outcome-based targets, despite 54% claiming they have begun to measure outcomes.
“Regenerative agriculture has real potential to help agri-food companies build resilience against climate and nature-related risks, but potential is not the same as progress,” said María Montosa Ródenas, technical specialist at FAIRR. “Our research shows that corporate strategies remain fragmented and under-resourced.”
She added: “The pesticide contradiction at the heart of many programmes is particularly striking: companies cannot credibly claim to be restoring nature while deploying practices that undermine that goal.
“Investors need to push for outcome-based targets and company-wide reporting, or the regenerative agriculture opportunity will remain largely unrealised.”
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