Regenerative Farming and $700 Million Have Made Your Oat Milk Political Now

The next time you grab a carton of Oatly, your purchase may be tied to something far less visible and far more meaningful than the over-the-top branding. It may be connected to how oats are grown in the ground itself—how soil is managed, how fields handle drought and flooding, and how farms adapt as climate conditions become harder to predict.

Oatly has launched the Future Agriculture Renovation Movement, known as F.A.R.M., an initiative focused on working directly with farmers on regenerative agriculture. The move arrives as the US Department of Agriculture rolls out a $700 Million pilot program aimed at accelerating similar practices across US farmland.

patpitchaya | Getty

What regenerative farming actually means

Regenerative agriculture is often talked about as a climate solution. That’s because it is a set of farming practices designed to rebuild soil rather than deplete it. Unlike conventional agriculture, which typically prioritizes short-term yield through heavy tillage and synthetic inputs, regenerative farming focuses on keeping soil covered, biologically active, and structurally intact.

In practice, that can mean rotating crops instead of planting the same one year after year, using cover crops like clover to protect and nourish soil between harvests, reducing or eliminating tilling so carbon stays stored underground, and integrating organic matter that helps soil retain water. Healthier soil absorbs rainfall more effectively during floods, holds moisture longer during droughts, and supports more consistent yields over time.

The climate relevance comes from carbon. Soil is one of the planet’s largest carbon sinks (after oceans and forests), but conventional farming has stripped much of that carbon away. Regenerative practices aim to reverse that loss by encouraging plants to pull carbon from the air and store it in the soil, where it can remain for years or decades if managed carefully. Researchers and policymakers increasingly see this as one of the few scalable ways agriculture can reduce its greenhouse gas footprint without shrinking food production.

For consumers, crops grown in healthier soil are better able to withstand extreme weather, which can help stabilize supply chains and reduce the kind of disruptions that have driven price volatility in recent years.

Oatly

Oatly’s F.A.R.M. initiative 

Oatly says its largest climate impacts occur upstream, particularly in growing oats. The F.A.R.M. initiative is designed to address that by working with farmers to test regenerative practices suited to different regions rather than applying a single global standard. Pilots are currently underway in the United States, Canada, Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom.

In some cases, the work has involved adding oats into corn and soy rotations, a change that can improve soil structure and reduce reliance on synthetic fertilizers. For participating farmers, the practices are not always new. Ben Dwire, a third-generation farmer in Arco, Minnesota, described the familiarity of the approach: “The whole idea of planting clover and other cover crops kind of got lost through the generations. These are actually all things my grandpa and great-grandpa did, so it’s cool that the old has become new again.”

Julie Kunen, Director of Sustainability for Oatly North America, has framed the initiative as a structural shift rather than a narrow sustainability goal. “We’re moving from a zero-sum sustainability concept to the concept of regenerative agriculture, which builds it back better. Improve soil health, improve agriculture, improve farmer livelihoods,” she said in a statement.

YayaErnst | Getty

The USDA’s $700 million regenerative farming investment

While Oatly’s work plays out through private sourcing, the USDA’s $700 million regenerative agriculture pilot brings federal backing to the same ideas. Announced earlier this month, the program directs $400 million through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and $300 million through the Conservation Stewardship Program, both administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The funding is intended to reduce the financial risk for farmers who want to adopt regenerative practices but are wary of short-term yield changes or upfront costs. By allowing producers to bundle multiple practices into a single application, the USDA aims to make participation less bureaucratic and more accessible.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins emphasized the focus on soil as economic infrastructure, not ideology. “Protecting and improving the health of our soil is critical not only for the future viability of farmland, but to the future success of American farmers,” she said in a statement. The program also connects regenerative farming to public health, with federal agencies planning research into how soil health, water quality, and food systems intersect with human health outcomes.

For shoppers, the takeaway is simple but significant. When regenerative agriculture is supported both by federal funding and by brands sourcing ingredients at scale, it becomes more likely that climate claims reflect real changes on farms. Not a new label on the carton—but an enduring shift in how the food behind it is grown.