In Australia, "Cool Critters" are the Unseen Heroes of Healthy Soil

CHICAGO, Dec. 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- As a company that depends on crops to make the iconic foods that people know and love, we think a lot about soil health. That's why we support programs that help farmers around the world take better care of it.

In Australia, Kellanova is a proud partner of the Cool Soil Initiative, a program focused on helping farmers improve soil health by increasing organic carbon levels and reducing greenhouse gas emissions on Aussie farms.

To help raise awareness of the importance of soil health, Kellanova Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) created the Cool Soil Critters, a campaign based on the insight that Australians aren't aware of the critical role soil plays in our ecosystem. New research commissioned as part of the campaign revealed that 39% of Australians don't know enough about the important role healthy soil has on ensuring crop resilience and food security. What's more, 91% of Aussies recognized the need for our children to learn more about soil health and its impact on food supply and biodiversity, and fewer than 5% recognized soil critters, such as insects and tardigrades, as one of the most important contributors to soil health.

To help highlight the incredible biodiversity beneath our feet and our unseen soil heroes in a way that was both educating and inspiring, we teamed up with artist Claus Stangl, winner of the 2022 Archibald Packing Room Prize, to create four stunning portraits of our Cool Soil Critters using real Aussie soil. The pieces bring the hidden world of soil critters to life, making soil science more accessible and engaging. They are set to be donated to Soil Science Australia.

Commenting on the findings and the new artworks, Director of Corporate Affairs, Kellanova ANZ, Renee McCarthy explains: "Through our partnership with the Cool Soil Initiative, we are on a mission to raise awareness of the importance of healthy soil and its crucial role in developing quality crops and a sustainable food supply from paddock to plate. Based on these new findings, Aussies want to know more."

Dr. Cassandra Schefe, Principal Scientist of the Cool Soil Initiative, added: "Investment from partners like Kellanova supports farmers to innovate their farming practices, which helps them to produce healthy soil and crops. There is more than meets the eye when it comes to our soil – it is something to be protected, and that's what we wanted to bring awareness to through this campaign."

We're proud our work promoting the campaign won gold in the Sustained Campaign category at the 2025 Golden Target Awards, Australia's longest-running communication & PR industry awards.

Click here to learn about Kellanova's commitment to biodiversity through our Better Days™ Promise.

SOURCE Kellanova