Nestlé’s KitKat move signals industry shift to regenerative sourcing

Nestlé’s KitKat regenerative wheat overview

• Nestlé partners with Wildfarmed to source regenerative wheat for KitKat
• Around 1.5 billion KitKat bars will be produced using British regenerative wheat every year
• Practices include limited tillage, soil cover, crop diversity, and living roots
• Move expands sustainability beyond cocoa to secondary ingredients like wheat
• Sets benchmark, pressuring competitors to accelerate traceability and regenerative sourcing efforts

Nestlé is making a major move into regenerative agriculture with its latest collaboration.

The food and beverage giant has teamed up with regenerative food and farming company Wildfarmed, to produce wheat for its most famous chocolate bar – KitKat.

Regenerative wheat in KitKats

Wildfarmed wheat is to be used in the 1.5 billion KitKat bars produced in the UK every year.

It’s sourced from Wildfarmed’s community of British farmers who follow a set of standards, aimed at “reducing environmental impact and bringing life back to soil”.

These practices focus on the key principles of regenerative agriculture including limiting soil disturbance, maintaining year-round soil cover, promoting plant diversity, and keeping living roots in the soil.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Wildfarmed,” says Dr Emma Keller, head of sustainability at Nestlé UK and Ireland. “As a large food and drink company with a diverse supply chain underpinned by a network of farmers, collaboration is essential to help us achieve our sustainability goals. Wildfarmed is helping us lead the charge to ensure that our much-loved KitKat bars are made with sustainability at their core.”

“Partnering with Nestlé to use regenerative British wheat is a big step forward in our mission to make regenerative farming the default, not the exception, and prove that nature restoration can sit at the heart of iconic brands,” adds Edd Lees, co-founder and CEO of Wildfarmed.

Nestlé says the collaboration is one chapter in its broader commitment to reduce its environmental footprint.

Sustainable supply chains

Nestlé’s decision to use sustainably sourced wheat in one of its most famous products signals a significant shift in its approach to the sourcing of key ingredients.

Sustainability efforts in confectionery have previously focused on cocoa – the category’s most scrutinised and volatile raw material – but this collaboration shines a spotlight on secondary ingredients like wheat, which are used at scale yet often overlooked.

By embedding regenerative practices into a staple component of one of the world’s most recognisable brands, Nestlé is effectively broadening the sustainability conversation across the entire confectionery value chain.

As one of the category’s biggest players, it’s setting a precedent for its competitors, who may need to accelerate their own efforts around ingredient traceability and regenerative sourcing to keep pace.