The research is funded as part of Food for Tomorrow, a collaboration between the Society and PepsiCo which aims to harness the power of science, storytelling and education to inspire positive change throughout the global food system, with a focus on regenerative agriculture. Launched in 2025, the pilot supports an inaugural set of 10 Explorers diving into the future of food: their efforts encompass on-farm scientific research, breathtaking imagery and powerful stories of regenerative farmers leading change in their communities. An interactive data visualization tool will also be released later this year.
"For over a century, the Society has been funding innovative science to better understand our world. Regenerative agriculture is an exciting new area of focus for us," said Ian Miller, chief science and innovation officer at the National Geographic Society. "This work is deeply interconnected with many longstanding issues that we tackle: safeguarding freshwater and coastal ecosystems; restoring landscapes to support biodiversity, reduce our carbon footprint, and secure irrecoverable carbon reserves, and more."
Food and drink company PepsiCo has been working to scale regenerative agriculture globally and recently expanded a global goal to spread the adoption of regenerative, restorative or protective practices across 10 million acres by 2030.
"The global food system is under increasing pressure from climate change and extreme weather, and meeting this moment requires supporting the people at the heart of it - the farmers," said Jim Andrew, executive vice president and chief sustainability officer at PepsiCo. "Farmers get one chance each season to make a crop succeed. That's why strong, science-backed practices matter. By continuing to demonstrate what works, we can give farmers the confidence that regenerative agriculture not only helps build a more resilient food system but also strengthen their livelihoods."
Over the next two years, these Explorers will conduct research in real-world contexts and aim to find solutions that can help scale tailored regenerative agricultural practices. Targeted crop systems include wheat, maize/corn, potato, soy and coffee.
- In climate-stressed Spain, Ahan Dalal will partner with wheat and maize farmers to test locally rooted, regenerative agriculture practices such as biochar, cover crops and beneficial microbes under normal watering and drought scenarios, developing a blueprint for resilience that can spread across the Mediterranean.
- In the birthplace of coffee, Hewan Degu's work aims to protect its future — building the microbial evidence base for regenerative coffee and potato intercropping systems in Ethiopia and learning alongside farmers to guide on-farm application and uptake.
- On Indonesia's depleted maize fields, Al Greeny S. Dewayanti will test the soil regeneration benefits of intercropping sacha inchi, an omega-3-rich vine, while also incorporating DNA metabarcoding and an early-stage AI-powered farmer app combining indigenous knowledge with modern science and digital tools.
- Across maize, soy and wheat farmlands of southwestern Wisconsin, Omar de Kok-Mercado is rebuilding biodiverse corridors through a connected 'wild grid' of native prairie plantings on marginal farmland. The project blends ecological data with art and storytelling to advance evidence-based, landscape-scale regeneration.
- In Wisconsin, a critical hub for potato production in the U.S., Jamie Spychalla's on-farm research will study the benefits of integrating nitrogen-fixing alfalfa as a rotational, harvestable cover crop to mitigate climate-induced moisture stress, regenerate soils, and improve yields - engaging farming communities along the way.
The scientists join five other Food for Tomorrow storytelling-focused Explorers, who since mid-2025 have traveled the globe (12 countries and counting) capturing the challenges, successes and perspectives of real people on farms large and small and at various stages of their transition to regenerative agriculture. To date, these storytellers have conducted fieldwork at farms across 13 diverse crop systems (including wheat, rice, strawberries, lettuce and coffee), as well as livestock. Later in 2026, they will begin rolling out multimedia photo exhibitions, community engagement forums, journalistic articles, engaging social campaigns, short- and long-form videos, and more.
From profiles of changemaking farmers and ranchers transitioning to regenerative agriculture, to conducting rigorous scientific research in climate-stressed hubs for key crops, to large-scale tree planting efforts to claw back the desert, these Explorers aren't just telling the story of regenerative agriculture: they are helping shape its future.
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About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated nearly $94 billion in net revenue in 2025, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and drinks, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.
Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with pep+ (PepsiCo Positive). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that places sustainability at the center of our business strategy, seeking to drive growth and build a stronger, more resilient future for PepsiCo and the communities where we operate. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com, and follow on X (Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @PepsiCo.
CONTACTS:
National Geographic Society: Olivia Tarantino - [email protected]
PepsiCo: Katie O'Mahony - [email protected] [email protected]
SOURCE PepsiCo, Inc.
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