User:Fgsalas/Whole Foods Market

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Whole Foods Market, like many global grocery stores, has been impacted by climate change on its supply chains and operations. However, it has proactively responded by pursuing sustainable practices, notably regenerative agriculture, to combat climate change and promote environmental resilience.

Climate Change and Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market, like many other businesses in the food industry has experienced various impacts from climate change. A major area in which climate change has impacted Whole Foods has been in their supply chain and production. Extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, have disrupted crop yields and availability. Additionally, operational costs have increased as many companies in the nutrition industry have had to augment their investments in energy-efficient infrastructure and transportation.

To combat these adversities, Whole Foods Markets has adapted to a sustainable design to their business adopting climate-smart farming practices like composting and increasing forestation. In addition, Whole Foods has donated over 177 million meals to people in need in local communities to eliminate the obstacle that the increased cost of healthy nutrition creates.

Regenerative Agriculture
Whole Foods Market has been a leading advocate for innovative methods to make agriculture sustainable, which is seen in their regenerative agriculture efforts. The goal of regenerative agriculture is to improve soil quality, increase the amount and diversity of organic residues returned to the soil, and produce nourishing farm products profitable. Whole Foods Market, Inc. is renowned for its commitment to sourcing products from farms that employ regenerative method, which is reflected in the various awards they achieved in 2022, being named the Progressive Grocer Impact Award winner, being named one of the "Retailers of the Century" by the Progressive Grocer and being recognized by the DOE for achieving a 21% improvement in energy performance. By supporting regenerative agriculture, Whole Foods contributes to carbon sequestration, improved water retention, reduced erosion, minimal tillage, and enhanced biodiversity.

In 2022, Whole Foods Market collaborated with over 40 suppliers to review and approve more than 70 certified regenerative products and bring in an additional 200 that mention "regenerative" on their nutrition labels. Some products that have emerged from this agreement are the Whole Foods Market Dried Mangos, Organic Red Lentil, and Organic French Green Lentils.

Products supplied by regenerative farms have also seen significant growth in Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies. For example, between 2015 and 2019, sustainably marketed products have delivered 54.7% of CPG market growth. Sustainably marketed products have seen growth seven times faster than those that were not marketed as sustainable. This is because many shoppers believed that by purchasing these products, they were not only benefitting themselves nutritionally, but also contributing to a worthy cause of environmental conservation.

To further entice customers to purchase sustainable products, Whole Foods Market created the Trends Discovery Box, which is a curated collection of 10 products which are produced from regenerative farms.