Sustainable Agriculture

We are addressing this goal through use of hybrid tomato seeds that require less water, fertilizer, pesticides and fuel to harvest. Additional crops are being considered.

Heinz is successfully implementing sustainable agriculture practices to grow the foods that are used in our products. 

In fact, we’ve created our own hybrid tomato seed program, HeinzSeed, spent countless hours instructing growers on ways to make their operations more environmentally friendly, implemented strict traceability requirements to ensure food safety and improved the quality of life for hardworking farmers.   

Just as Henry John Heinz pioneered ketchup production, Heinz is leading the way in sustainable agriculture in developing nations. Our team of tomato experts travels the globe as part of an extensive education initiative to teach farmers how to grow crops more efficiently and sustainably, providing not only significant health and environmental benefits but also economic and social advancements. Heinz is proud to be one of the very few global companies that have made a long-term commitment to fund and direct sustainable agriculture practices around the world.

Flagship Farms

Food service partners are recognizing Heinz for our sustainable agricultural efforts. McDonald’s Europe acknowledged the environmentally sound techniques used by farmers who grow tomatoes for Heinz^® Ketchup and other Heinz products as part of its Flagship Farms program. Developed in cooperation with the Food Animal Initiative, this program showcases good agricultural practices that are environmentally sound, economically valuable and ethically acceptable. Only a limited number of farms have been selected from the McDonald’s supply chain to represent progressive agricultural practice.

One of those growers is José Augusto Santos Castanheira who farms 40 hectares of tomatoes for Heinz at Benfica do Ribatejo, Almeirim, Portugal. Mr. Castanheira uses HeinzSeed and Heinz Good Agricultural Practices for his tomato crops.