When Anheuser-Busch created Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold, America’s first mass organic beer, we hoped to change our category. After two years of explosive growth, we realized that we could and should do much more than provide drinkers with a better bottle of beer. To be a truly modern, meaningful brand, we had to push even further, embedding sustainability into every part of our business.

That insight inspired us to align our growth ambitions with the well-being of American farmers and use our influence to reshape the entire market for organic.

Anheuser-Busch’s business is sustainability. Because without grains like barley, there’s no beer. In 2018, this truth inspired us to create Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold, the first mass organic beer in America. But as our need for organic ingredients grew, we confronted a shocking reality: Barely 1% of U.S. farmland is organic and the supply of organic barley couldn’t keep pace with our growth.

Under pressure to grow more, faster, and cheaper, farmers must rely on dangerous pesticides, herbicides, and artificial fertilizers, contributing to an unsustainable system that’s harming biodiversity and destroying our ecosystems. Going organic is unfeasible for most; it takes three extremely difficult years of reduced yields, intense re-training, and diminished earnings. And they might not find a buyer on the other side.

By listening to our farmers, we developed a radical new operating model that will revolutionize our business, our category, and the entire agricultural system.

In 2018, Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold became Anheuser-Busch’s first USDA certified organic beer. “The purest beer ever brewed,” it was inherently disruptive: better for consumers, communities, and the planet. But it couldn’t sustain its triple-volume growth without additional supplies of organic barley.

What good would our environmental efforts be if Anheuser-Busch couldn’t sustain its first organic brand? Who would find our sustainability leadership credible if our business relied on environmentally damaging practices? We had to think bigger.

Motivated to prove that our sustainability commitments were more than just greenwashing, Anheuser-Busch seized the opportunity, leveraging our status as one of the world’s largest buyers of grain to remake the market for organic. With Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold, we could fundamentally reimagine our role, from corporate buyer to grassroots organic change agent with purpose woven into every facet of operations.

That revelation took us to rural Idaho, where we spent time getting to know farmers and understanding why they weren’t going organic. We learned that making more organic farms required real support for farmers.

Growers told us that they wanted to transition to organic. Like our consumers, they wanted to avoid dangerous pesticides and help the environment. But the transition takes three difficult, expensive years for soil to return to its organic state. Farmers worried they didn’t have the know-how, that reduced yields during the transition would decimate their earnings, that they wouldn’t find a buyer once they earned organic certification.

Instead of a campaign, we came up with a long-term investment. One that inspires farmers to go organic, partners with them to remove the biggest barriers in their path, and provides consumers with meaningful ways to contribute. All while promoting our product today and ensuring a brighter future tomorrow.

Contract for Change leverages the resources and influence of the world’s biggest brewer to fundamentally address the primary barriers to the organic transition. Farmers sign on and:

Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold pledges to be their first organic customer post-transition.

Anheuser-Busch agrees to buy their transitional crops at a 25% premium, so they don’t lose money.

Receive in-depth training from trusted organic organizations like the Organic Trade Association.

Contract for Change was offered to American farmers through a hyper-targeted campaign, using local media and supported by national PR outreach. To drive engagement, we partnered with organic trade groups to discuss the program in farm communities. We even mailed paper copies of the contract to farmers across America. Then, we used 60 seconds of Super Bowl airtime to invite consumers to join in: For every six-pack purchased, Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold would convert an additional six square feet of farmland to organic.

In less than two years, we’ve begun transitioning 104,000 acres—tripling America’s organic barley acreage by 2023. 175 farmers have signed the Contract for Change to date. We’ve pledged more than $1 million for their transitional crops. By going organic, they’ll keep 12,000 pounds of toxic herbicides from the environment annually, helping progress toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: smaller carbon footprints, improved soil health, and cleaner air and water.

These farms will grow organic crops for generations, producing ingredients for our beer and hundreds of other products and brands, improving the world’s access to all kinds of foods that help reduce the risks of cancer, allergic disease, and obesity.

By leading the change, Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold’s business grew 18% during the campaign, and by 2023, the brand projects to expand production by 25%, keeping pace with explosive demand.