WHAT IS CERTIFIED ORGANIC
Becoming certified organic isn’t a quick process—it takes three years as a transitional farm with only natural or other permitted substances and physical, mechanical, or biologically based farming methods. Produce can’t be called organic unless it’s grown on soil that had no prohibited substances applied for three years prior to harvest. The USDA awards organic certification only if these standards are met.
CALCULATING ORGANIC LAND SUPPORTED
Your Real Foodprint will show an estimate of the square feet of organic land supported based on the proportion of certified organic sources that Chipotle uses, on average, for each ingredient in your order.
How We back it up
We partnered with HowGood, an independent research company, with the world’s largest database on food sustainability. They assessed each of our 53 ingredients and compared them to the industry average agricultural impact against five key metrics (reduced carbon emissions, antibiotics avoided, water saved, improved soil health, and supported organic land). For organic land supported specifically, they also relied on these additional resources for measurement.
United States Department of Agriculture National Organic Program
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service
LOCAL FARMS
Your choices at Chipotle help support sustainable agriculture practices, like transitioning crops from conventional to organic, to ensure the land is healthy now and for future generations.
TRANSITIONING LAND
from conventional to organic is a costly and time-consuming, but worthwhile, effort. We’ve helped partners like McKaskle Farms, who provides us with our long-grain rice, and Coastal Farms, who sources all of our cilantro, make that change to serve the best ingredients possible.
THE BIGGEST IMPACT
We’re providing assistance to farmers to help them transition from traditional to organic farming. So far, we’ve seen the biggest positive impact with these ingredients, though we’re helping many of our partners transition our 53 real ingredients from conventional to organic.
Dairy for Cheese
Petaluma Creamery, one of our Monterey Jack suppliers, provides certified organic cheese and represents 18% of all of the Monterey Jack cheese we use.
Soybeans (Tofu)
It’s no big surprise, but organic growing practices help the health of soil by creating a thriving ecosystem from compost, not synthetic fertilizers, which can harm the soil and spread contamination and disease across crops. 100% of the soybeans for tofu that we use in our Sofritas are grown organically.
Cilantro
We’ve worked to build the supply of organic cilantro with our farmer partners. When we sought to purchase 100% organic cilantro, there simply wasn't enough. Through partnering with our suppliers, we’ve worked hard to build the supply of organic cilantro at scale.
In 2019, we purchased 50% of our cilantro organically, and 21% transitionally–meaning from farms that were using organic practices, but were not yet certified (which takes 3 years). This year we’ve grown those numbers to 65% organic and 21% transitional. We continue to invest in the future of organic cilantro and look forward to seeing increased organic percentages as transitional farms move to being officially certified organic.
Room for Improvement
While we already serve more organic ingredients than any fast food chain, we still don’t consider the job finished. Sourcing organic is one of the many ways we ensure that ingredients are raised responsibly.
Providing assistance to farms to transition from conventional to organic is a long-term investment, and one that we’re happy to make. Purchasing more transitional and organic ingredients will allow us to continue to invest in the positive impact this metric is making.
OTHER FARMING EFFORTS WE’RE MAKING
We’re thankful for our farmers and the hard work it takes to grow Food with Integrity. As partners, we’re helping farmers take the time-consuming and costly step of moving from conventional farming to organic. We’ve also partnered with the National Young Farmers Coalition to launch the Chipotle Seed Grants Program to support the next generation.
WHAT ELSE WE’RE WORKING ON
Your choices at Chipotle help support sustainable agriculture practices, like transitioning crops from conventional to organic, to ensure the land is healthy now and for future generations.
McKaskle Family Farms
Providing our organically-grown long-grain rice, we helped McKaskle through the transition from conventional to organic farming.
Local Grower's Program
helps local growers by providing and covering the cost of audits, building facilities or providing tools, and training them on new guidelines.
Calculate your real foodprint
Build your favorite Chipotle entrées in our Real Foodprint order simulator and we’ll show you the impact you’re helping to make when you choose Chipotle.
Reduced CARBON emissions
From farm to foil, we're reducing greenhouse gas emissions by optimizing our supply chain, compared to conventional ingredients.
What goes into this
Water Saved
We’re sourcing from farms with sustainable agriculture practices that save more water primarily through greywater reduction.
What goes into this