Landscape Enterprise Networks (LENs)

Summary

Landscape Enterprise Networks (LENs) are an initiative launched through a collaboration between Nestlé and 3keel, with additional support from Diageo and PepsiCo, to promote sustainable agriculture and improve the environmental performance of supply chains.  LENs now include multiple strategic and regional partners, across Europe. As the name suggests, LENs brings together beneficiaries of landscape scale environmental change together with farmers in an aggregation model.  LENs broker negotiations and transactions between groups of businesses with common demands for NbS, and groups of land managers – farmers – who can deliver those solutions. The programme then directs funds and technical assistance to farmers to help them transition to more regenerative agronomic practices, and to establish NbS – such as tree-planting or the creation of wetland habitats. The program also involves collaboration with local governments, non-governmental organisations, and other regional stakeholders to ensure LENs: (1) support and complement the delivery of sustainable agriculture and land management policies, and (2) shape ecosystem service markets that are responsive to regional needs and conditions. Figure 1. Structure of LENs

Currently, there are regional LENS trading groups in East Anglia and Yorkshire in England, in West Transdanubia in Hungary, Greater Poland and Lubusz in Poland, and Veneto e Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy. There will be a new LENs initiative in the Leven region of Scotland in 2025. New LENs regions are established by match-making businesses with land dependences in overlapping geographies.  For example, in LENs Yorkshire Nestle Purina, PepsiCo, and Diageo have overlapping sourcing regions, with farms supplying feedstock to all of their respective manufacturing facilities, and Yorkshire Water is interested in water quality and quantity management in the same locations.  In Vento e Friuli Venezia Giulia, Nestle Purina and The Prosecco Consortium source wheat and grapes from overlapping farms. Match-making multiple businesses in this way provides the basis for sharing costs, and for defining and delivering more joined-up, whole-rotation and whole-landscape solutions. The volume of LENs transactions is growing by 80%, year on year, across LENs regions; reaching EUR 15million in 2024, involving 350 farmers, and delivering regenerative farming practices and NbS on 45,000 hectares of land.

Replicating and Scaling

The LENs model has been replicated following its initial implementation in England to Hungary, Poland and Italy. In all these settings the structure of the transactions is similar. This structure is set around a four-stage process

1. A shared demand specification is defined, matching the overlapping needs of the various demand parties; typically based on a combination of outcomes such as Scope 3 GHG emissions, supply chain resilience, improved nutrient management
2. Groups of farmers propose packages of on-farm activities designed to deliver those outcomes
3. Deals are negotiated, by LENs, to create multi-party contracts linking demand and supply
4. Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) arrangements are established and contracted, according to LENs protocols (which align with external protocols, such as FLAG and other SBTi protocols).

The LENs model enables aggregation on both the demand and supply sides for achieving landscape-level environmental outcomes in diverse regions. On the demand side, companies with overlapping sourcing regions and shared environmental objectives can collaborate to financially support large-scale impacts. To replicate this model in new regions, businesses need to identify peers with similar environmental goals within the same geographical area and begin building a technical understanding of their common interests. On the supply side, the LENs model establishes a governance structure that facilitates collaboration among farmers. Successful replication requires farmers to be willing to adapt their management practices and work collectively to achieve landscape-scale impacts. Engaging service providers with expertise in local agricultural practices is crucial to ensure that selected interventions are effective in meeting environmental goals and align with the needs of the participating farming communities. In addition to aligning businesses and farmers, LENs can support civil society, governments, and other stakeholders in achieving their environmental objectives. By involving these stakeholders early in the process, LENs can help design interventions that address a broad range of environmental outcomes while meeting regional needs and priorities. Reviewing relevant legislation, environmental targets, and land-use plans ensures that projects contribute to broader environmental goals and complement existing policies. The LENs model is planned to expand into Ireland and Spain in 2025.  

Lessons Learned

• The LENs program brokers negotiations between groups of businesses with common demands for NbS and groups of land managers—farmers—who can deliver those solutions. The model illustrates opportunities in matching the needs of various stakeholders across supply chains to ensure that nature-positive outcomes can be reached alongside beneficial economic outcomes. The LENs approach of building multi-party contracts ensures that these specific needs – whether related to net zero targets, supply chain resilience, or nutrient management – are addressed while directing funds and technical assistance to relevant stakeholders, in this instance farmers.
• Aggregating farmers into groups can help them – especially small-scale farmers – access and navigate private nature markets, negotiate with their buyers, and improve their aggregated impact to landscape scale.
• Similarly, aggregating buyers can help spreading costs and de-risking nature-related investments for companies, while creating a multiplier effect of environmental outcomes.

Updated as of October 2024