General Mills has announced a kick up in its plan to double the size of acreage for its organic sources.
As we have reported previously, the company had originally announced its intentions to hit $1 billion in organics by the fiscal year 2020 to meet the ever-increasing demand for a healthier and more naturally-grown market.
Now General Mills has followed up with a speedier goal that cuts that strategy by one year, meaning it would hit the billion mark in organics by fiscal 2019 instead, according to the StarTribune.
“To achieve growth we anticipate for our natural and organic brands, we will need a more robust pipeline of organic growers,” John Church, Executive Vice President for General Mills’ supply chain, according to the report.
Its current natural and organic brands include:
The company reports that its support of organic acreage has increased 120 percent in the last seven years, reporting $675 million in organic and natural sales for the last fiscal year and claiming a spot as one of the top purchasers of organic ingredients in North America, as well as the second largest purchaser of fruits and veggies.
General Mills sources the ingredients for its organic and natural products directly from farmers and ingredient companies, measuring 120,000 acres as of 2015.
This newly-accelerated plan means that the company is looking to more than double that, boosting the number to 250,000 acres in the next few years.