Over the past decade, significant work has gone into turning regenerative agriculture from an emerging ambition into a practical transition across the food and beverage sector. Companies, farmers, supply chain partners and industry bodies have tested approaches, built knowledge and learned what works. That hard work is now beginning to pay off, with clearer alignment emerging around standards, outcomes and what credible implementation looks like in practice.

Common language is the missing piece

The problem the industry has faced is not that regenerative agriculture lacks a definition - it’s that it has had too many.

While most approaches have pointed in the same direction, without alignment on outcomes, metrics and verification, supply chains remain fragmented and progress has been difficult to scale.

Companies operating across multiple crops and regions have faced different on-farm challenges, leading to inconsistent requirements and expectations for farmers. This has made measurable outcomes and data difficult to compare, aggregate and use for reporting and claims. 

All of this misalignment risks slowing down transition, because stakeholders are left debating what counts as regenerative instead of implementing it.

Make no mistake, plenty of work is already underway and has been for a number of years. Carlsberg’s own pilots have played an important role in developing and maturing this agenda.

In Denmark, we have moved from pilots to scaled procurement of regeneratively grown barley across the Nordics. In France and the UK, regenerative barley is already part of production, while Finland has supported early pilot work tailored to Nordic conditions. Together, these examples show how a common framework can enable action across markets without forcing a one-size-fits-all model.

What RTP changes

At its core, the RTP is designed to tackle exactly this challenge, and move regenerative agriculture from ambition to execution. It provides an outcome-based framework, supported by metrics, tools and guidance, enabling companies, farmers and supply chain partners to work towards a shared understanding of progress.

That testing phase is significant. It shows that regenerative approaches can be applied across geographies and commodities, while reinforcing a critical insight: there is no single blueprint. Agriculture is inherently context-specific, shaped by soil types, climates and local farming realities.

Carlsberg’s own work reflects this need for local adaptation. 

And it’s where the RTP’s design is particularly relevant. It combines flexibility for local adaptation with a structured, outcomes-based approach that enables comparability and accountability across supply chains. That balance is essential if regenerative agriculture is to move beyond niche adoption and into mainstream practice.

The measurement challenge

While there is growing agreement on the direction of travel - improving soil health, biodiversity, water and climate outcomes - there has been less consensus on how to measure and verify progress consistently across different contexts.

To address this, the RTP provides a framework for assessment and a pathway towards verification, without overstating the maturity of the data or claiming to offer universally quantifiable outcomes at this stage.
Credibility will depend on moving towards more robust, transparent measurement systems while recognising that perfect data does not yet exist. Independent verification, consistent monitoring and clear reporting are central to building trust -both within supply chains and externally.

Why collective action matters

With more than 40 leading companies across the food and beverage sector having committed to the programme, RTP represents perhaps the largest coordinated effort to align regenerative agriculture approaches globally.
This collective action is essential. The transition cannot be driven by individual companies acting in isolation. It requires shared frameworks, consistent expectations and collaboration across value chains -including suppliers, farmers, financial actors and implementation partners.

It also requires a realistic view of the challenges ahead. Regenerative agriculture is not a silver bullet, nor a short-term solution. Financing the transition, supporting farmers through risk and uncertainty, and building the infrastructure for monitoring and verification remain significant hurdles.

What the RTP offers is not a complete answer, but a foundation for addressing these challenges more coherently. For companies already working on regenerative agriculture, the value is clear: alignment with a broader industry framework makes it easier to scale pilots, engage suppliers and integrate regenerative practices into long-term sourcing strategies.

Ultimately, the programme must make the transition to regenerative agriculture easier and more rewarding for farmers, creating the resilience and environmental benefits that need to materialise at scale.