Sustainability, Collaboration, and Farmer Opportunities: Highlights from the SWOF Panel Discussion with Industry Leaders (Part 2)
As we shared previously, on Wednesday, September 6, 2023, the Iowa Soybean Association Board of Directors hosted a panel discussion with the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund® (SWOF) on growing market opportunities for farmers from various private sector sustainability initiatives. SWOF welcomed several partner representatives to speak on their expanding investments in this area.
This article is the second and final summary of insights from that discussion. Panelists included:
Dan Christenson, PepsiCo
Ryan Sirolli, Cargill
Andrew Utterback, Ingredion
A Shift to Add Value for Farmers
Agriculture is always evolving, and regenerative agriculture has advanced rapidly in recent years. Panelists reported that a large effort has been made to increase the value, profitability, and resiliency regenerative agriculture delivers to farmers.
Like many other corporations, Cargill’s sustainability work is driven by science-based targets, making them more measurable and outcomes-based. Ryan Sirolli noted how this has impacted how Cargill approaches its work. “We used to spend a lot of our time asking farmers to answer questions and surveys about their sustainability work. While this helped create greater transparency into their practices, it also put an extra burden on them to take the time to provide responses. It also failed to support continuous improvement of soil health systems by putting the focus on practices instead of outcomes created.” He credits this shift toward measurable results and a more farm-centric approach to the growing momentum.
Andrew Utterback from Ingredion, a leading global ingredient solutions provider, echoed this change in their approach, “We used to do a lot of check the box, fill out this survey, our rep might show up on your farm…and we realized that it was a one-way street. We were just taking information and not really giving any value back and that’s not the way to have a relationship that’s going to be resilient, you know? We talk about climate resilience; we want these farms to be resilient. We want our relationship with our suppliers to be resilient as well.”
Utterback and Dan Christenson of PepsiCo, both credited increased farmer engagement for the significant shift in their approach to sustainability. Christenson (who is originally from Marshalltown, Iowa) said, “Getting out there, talking to farmers, getting our executives out there to visit farms has enabled us to drive the adoption of regenerative practices.” He also explained that PepsiCo recognizes the importance of long-term relationships and works to ensure their farmer contracting options reflect this.
Adopting on-farm conservation practices such as reduced tillage and implementing cover crops can often have financial impacts. By focusing on providing resources, including financial assistance, and technical support through programs like SWOF, PepsiCo and other companies are working to make regenerative practices less risky and more accessible to farmers. Christenson said, “That’s the whole goal here, is how do we de-risk? How can we continue to be a valuable partner to our farming communities and help make potential practices seem less scary than they are today?”
Finally, the panelists highlighted the voluntary aspect of their overall strategy and SWOF’s program design as critical. Offering choices to farmers and letting the farmer decide what practices make the most sense for their individual operations and circumstances is essential. This approach aims to encourage farmers to embrace the practices willingly, based on your readiness and comfort level. This means the work can seem incremental, but it’s needed.
“If you want to try something out on 1% of your acreage to see how it works for you, test it, make sure that the agronomics bear out. Great! Let’s start there. Start small. And if that works, let’s build on that in the years to come,” Christenson encouraged. He also explained how a one-size fits all approach for all farmers simply will not work. Currently, the four biggest commodities PepsiCo sources in North America are potatoes, corn, wheat, and sugar. Each commodity is sourced from farms all over North America in very different growing conditions. “We can’t go to one of our potato farmers and say we want you to start going no-till, right? We’d get laughed out of the room. We recognize the diversity of agriculture. It’s critical that we listen and understand their needs, challenges and environment and offer solutions that work best for their farm specifically.”
More Work to be Done and Other Areas of Collaboration Needed
Several panelists acknowledged that while sustainable farming has advanced, there are still areas for continuous improvement. Early adopters who have been utilizing conservation practices, such as reduced tillage and cover crops, for several years, are not currently eligible for many program incentives, but they do see possibilities ahead to change that. Utterback from Ingredion mentioned a collaboration with an organization called the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform that is working on a Regenerative Agriculture Standard so that the work of early adopters could also be verified and rewarded.
They also touched on an opportunity for early adopters that could come about from the fuel industry measuring and incentivizing the carbon-intensity of Scope 3 Emissions from biofuels. Another idea floated by Utterback was rewarding early adopters on the insurance or banking side of things. If farmers could show that they’ve implemented practices to make their farms less risky, more resilient, could they be offered lower rates? They agreed that more collective dialogue involving farmers, companies, and government sectors is needed to find solutions.
When asked how the Iowa Soybean Association Board of Directors could use check-off dollars to maximize the benefit for farmers, the panel discussed several ideas. Ryan Sirolli suggested continued work in research and the need for a better understanding of metrics in the areas of soil health. He also acknowledged the potential innovation in scaling agricultural practices through new market opportunities. Another idea again focused on lenders and the importance of engaging with financial institutions to better assess risk calculations and improve operating notes.
Utterback suggested utilizing research to build more business cases that show how regenerative agriculture works and what it can do in the long run. This helps with convincing more farmers to adopt the practices and with convincing corporate leaders to continue funding projects like the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund. Additionally, he emphasized the importance of educating landowners, especially landlords, about agricultural practices to address cultural misconceptions and promote sustainability. Christenson highlighted the need for research to better understand grower’s perspectives, concerns, and barriers to the adoption of sustainable ag practices, as the social/cultural hurdle is difficult.
At the conclusion of the discussion, all panelists expressed optimism about the advancements and growth regenerative agriculture has experienced. SWOF’s longest partner, Ryan Sirolli shared great enthusiasm for the progress Cargill has made through the program and the momentum that is building. “In the first pilot there was such interest in an outcomes-based incentive and approach from farmers that we had to cap enrollment after just 45 days. The following year we saw similar enthusiasm as the program increased dramatically in size. The interest was far greater than any other approach I had seen in our efforts for the previous years. Fast forward to where we are today, and you look at the interest, and the discussion, the fact that we’re here having this conversation and you asked us to come in, that in and of itself is remarkable.”
This concludes our two-part summary series on how corporate sustainability goals and regenerative agriculture are supporting one another, and how the two can provide benefits for farmers. The Soil and Water Outcomes Fund and Iowa Soybean Association appreciate Cargill, Ingredion, and PepsiCo for engaging in this very important dialogue to better understand and further the success of our farmers.
Missed Part 1? Read it here.