Whole Foods pledges half a million dollars to restore biodiversity on US farms

Whole Foods Market has teamed up with NGO Mad Agriculture to create a ‘national biodiversity highway’ aiming to restore native ecosystems across US farmland.

The organic food retailer has pledged US$500,000 in matching funds to catalyse US$1 million in collective investment from food system stakeholders in the programme this year. Companies committed so far include Applegate, Bob’s Red Mill, The Campbell’s Company, New Belgium Brewing, OLIPOP, UNFI, UNFI Foundation, west~bourne, and Yogi Tea.

1,000 acres of climate-resilient habitat

Whole Foods Market says the initiative will begin in and around the Lowery Creek Watershed in Wisconsin, and will seek to create a 1,000 acre ‘biodiversity highway’ of climate-resilient habitats that will restore biodiversity, improve soil and water health and strengthen food system resilience.

The highway will link farms, watersheds and wild areas to support pollinators and wildlife, as well as creating a buffer against climate impacts like flooding and erosion for farming communities.

The two organisations are building a practical model for reconstructing ecosystems based on regenerative agriculture principles, such as cultivating perennial crops and reducing or eliminating the need for tillage.

‘Rethinking how we support the people who grow our food’

“Teaming up with Mad Agriculture represents a meaningful step forward in our commitment to improving ecosystem health and fostering climate resilience,” said Jason Buechel, chief executive officer at Whole Foods Market. “This initiative is about rethinking how we care for the land and support the people who grow our food. As the program expands, it will forge a more connected, resilient landscape — supporting biodiversity and more sustainable farming for generations to come.”

Founding member organisations are invited to co-invest in the initiative, which will serve as an example for regenerative agriculture and collaborative supply chain transformation. 

“This initiative is laying the groundwork for a new kind of agriculture,” said Omar de Kok-Mercado, Director of Wilding at Mad Agriculture. “The biodiversity highway is a blueprint for the next era of American infrastructure. Not just pipes and roads but living systems that restore function to land. It operationalises perennial agriculture at scale, connecting ecological health to economic resilience. We’re not restoring the past — we’re engineering the future, one corridor at a time.”