Constellation Brands, Inc. announced a two-year commitment of $400,000 to The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to help fund TNC conservation projects focused on improving the quantity and quality of inflows to the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande is the fifth longest river in the world and supplies drinking and irrigation water for more than 6 million people and 2 million acres of land across the U.S. and Mexico.

These projects are aimed at helping to provide adequate and safe water supply for downstream users, including in Piedras Negras, Coahuila – a local community near Constellation Brands’ operations in Mexico.

Part of the funds will support TNC’s existing partnerships with state agencies, agricultural producers, and landowners to expand sustainable agriculture and grazing practices in the Rio Grande Basin and help landowners with technical assistance and cost-share programs. This program is designed to partner with agricultural producers to implement changes in water management practices to support conservation and provide meaningful benefits to both water quantity and quality in priority areas.

The remaining contribution will support an ongoing Groundwater Protection Program focused on protecting the regional aquifer systems that feed into the Lower Rio Grande, which are critical to maintaining its health and resiliency. By building strategic partnerships, investing in groundwater conservation science development, and developing groundwater conservation agreements with landowners, this project will be aimed at helping improve water management to protect the largest portion of borderlands water originating in Texas.